Introduction

Microsoft Power BI is a set of tools, software services, and connectors that work together to transform disparate data into visually stunning and interactive insights. Power BI can operate with both simple and complex data sources, such as cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data warehouses. Power BI allows you to effortlessly connect to your data sources, display your findings, and share and publish them with anybody.

Connecting to an Excel worksheet or a local database with Power BI is straightforward and quick. It can also be robust and enterprise-ready, with advanced modelling and real-time analytics capabilities. As a result, it may be utilized in a wide range of settings, from a personal report and visualization tool to the analytics and decision engine powering group initiatives, divisions, or entire organizations.

Because Power BI is a Microsoft tool with built-in Excel connections, many of the functionalities will be recognizable to Excel users.

The parts of Power BI

Power BI is made up of three parts: a desktop application for Windows called Power BI Desktop, an online SaaS (Software as a Service) called Power BI Service, and mobile Power BI apps for Windows phones and tablets, as well as Apple iOS and Google Android devices.

These three components—the Desktop, Service, and Mobile apps—are the backbone of the Power BI system, allowing users to efficiently generate, share, and consume actionable insights.

Use of Power BI and roles

The way you use Power BI may be determined by your job title. For example, if you’re a project stakeholder, you might want to check out the Power BI Service or the Mobile app to see how the business is doing. If you’re a developer, on the other hand, you’ll be utilizing Power BI Desktop a lot to publish Power BI desktop reports to the Power BI Service.

In the following courses, we’ll go through these three components in further depth: desktop, service, and mobile apps.