Power BI Interview Questions For Freshers

1. What is Power BI?

Power BI is a business analytics tool developed by Microsoft that helps you turn multiple unrelated data
sources into valuable and interactive insights. These data may be in the form of an Excel spreadsheet or cloud-
based/on-premises hybrid data warehouses. You can easily connect to all your data sources and share the
insights with anyone.

2. Why should we use Power BI?

Because Power BI provides an easy way for anyone, including non-technical people, to connect, change, and
visualize their raw business data from many different sources and turn it into valuable data that makes it easy
to make smart business decisions.

3. Difference between Power BI and Tableau

Both Tableau and Power BI are the current IT industry's data analytics and visualization giants. Yet, there are a
few significant differences between them. You will now explore the important differences between Tableau
and Power BI.

Tableau Power BI

Power BI uses DAX for

Tableau uses MDX for measures and dimensions
calculating measures

Tableau is capable of handling large volumes of data Power BI is qualified only to

 handle a limited amount of data 

Power BI is suitable for both

Tableau is best suitable for experts
experts and beginners

Power BI User Interface is

Tableau User Interface is complicated
comparatively simpler

Power BI finds it difficult, as its

Tableau is capable of supporting the cloud with ease. capacity to handle large volumes
of data is limited.

4. Difference between Power Query and Power Pivot

The differences between Power Query and Power Pivot are explained as follows:

Power Query Power Pivot

Power Pivot is all about getting and

Power Query is all about analyzing data.
Transforming data.

Power Pivot is an in-memory data

Power Query is an ETL service tool.
modeling component
5. What is Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is an open-source application designed and developed by Microsoft. Power BI Desktop will
allow users to connect to, transform, and visualize your data with ease. Power BI Desktop lets users build
visuals and collections of visuals that can be shared as reports with your colleagues or your clients in your
organization.

6. What is Power Pivot?

Power Pivot is an add-on provided by Microsoft for Excel since 2010. Power Pivot was designed to extend the
analytical capabilities and services of Microsoft Excel.

7. What is Power Query?

Power Query is a business intelligence tool designed by Microsoft for Excel. Power Query allows you to import
data from various data sources and will enable you to clean, transform and reshape your data as per the
requirements. Power Query allows you to write your query once and then run it with a simple refresh.

8. Describe the components of Microsoft’s self-service BI solution.

Self-service business intelligence (SSBI) is divided into the Excel BI Toolkit and Power BI.

9. What is self-service BI, anyway?

SSBI is an abbreviation for Self-Service Business Intelligence and is a breakthrough in business intelligence. SSBI
has enabled many business professionals with no technical or coding background to use Power BI and
generate reports and draw predictions successfully. Even non-technical users can create these dashboards to
help their business make more informed decisions.

10. What is DAX?

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It's a collection of functions, operators, and constants used in
formulas to calculate and return values. In other words, it helps you create new info from data you already
have.

11. What are Filters in Power BI?

The term "Filter" is self-explanatory. Filters are mathematical and logical conditions applied to data to filter out
essential information in rows and columns. The following are the variety of filters available in Power BI:

 Manual filters

 Auto filters

 Include/Exclude filters

 Drill-down filters

 Cross Drill filters

 Drillthrough filters

 Drillthrough filters

 URL filters–transient

 Pass-Through filters

12. What are Custom Visuals in Power BI?

Custom Visuals are like any other visualizations, generated using Power BI. The only difference is that it
developes the custom visuals using a custom SDK. The languages like JQuery and JavaScript are used to create
custom visuals in Power BI.

13. What is GetData in Power BI?

Get Data is a simple icon on Power BI used to import data from the source.

14. Mention some advantages of Power BI.

Some of the advantages of using Power BI:

 It helps build an interactable data visualization in data centers

 It allows users to transform data into visuals and share them with anyone

 It establishes a connection for Excel queries and dashboards for fast analysis

 It provides quick and accurate solutions

 It enables users to perform queries on reports using simple English words 

15. List out some drawbacks/limitations of using Power BI.

Here are some limitations to using Power BI:

 Power BI does not accept file sizes larger than 1 GB and doesn't mix imported data accessed from
real-time connections.

 There are very few data sources that allow real-time connections to Power BI reports and
dashboards.

 It only shares dashboards and reports with users logged in with the same email address.

 Dashboard doesn't accept or pass user, account, or other entity parameters.

16. What are some differences in data modeling between Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel? 

Power Pivot for Excel supports only single directional relationships (one to many), calculated columns, and one
import mode. Power BI Desktop supports bi-directional cross-filtering connections, security, calculated tables,
and multiple import options. 

17. Name the different connectivity modes available in Power BI? 

There are three main connectivity modes used in Power BI.

SQL Server Import

An SQL Server Import is the default and most common connectivity type used in Power BI. It allows you to use
the full capabilities of the Power BI Desktop. 

Direct Query

The Direct Query connection type is only available when you connect to specific data sources. In this
connectivity type, Power BI will only store the metadata of the underlying data and not the actual data.

Live Connection

With this connectivity type, it does not store data in the Power BI model. All interaction with a report using a
Live Connection will directly query the existing Analysis Services model. There are only 3 data sources that
support the live connection method - SQL Server Analysis Services (Tabular models and Multidimensional
Cubes), Azure Analysis Services (Tabular Models), and Power BI Datasets hosted in the Power BI Service.

18. What are the various types of refresh options provided in Power BI? 

Four important types of refresh options provided in Microsoft Power BI are as follows:

 Package refresh - This synchronizes your Power BI Desktop or Excel file between the Power BI
service and OneDrive, or SharePoint Online.

 Model or data refresh - This refreshes the dataset within the Power BI service with data from the
original data source.

 Tile refresh - This updates the cache for tile visuals every 15 minutes on the dashboard once data
changes.

 Visual container refresh - This refreshes the visible container and updates the cached report
visuals within a report once the data changes.

19. Name the data sources can Power BI can connect to? 

Several data sources can be connected to Power BI, which is grouped into three main types:

 Files

It can import data from Excel (.xlsx, .xlxm), Power BI Desktop files (.pbix) and Comma-Separated Values (.csv). 
  Content Packs

These are a collection of related documents or files stored as a group. There are two types of content packs in
Power BI:

 Content packs from services providers like Google Analytics, Marketo, or Salesforce and Content
packs are created and shared by other users in your organization. 

 Connectors

Connectors help you connect your databases and datasets with apps, services, and data in the cloud.

20. What is a dashboard in Power BI? 

A dashboard is a single-layer presentation sheet of multiple visualizations reports. The main features of
the Power BI dashboard are:

 It allows you to drill through the page, bookmarks, and selection pane and also lets you create
various tiles and integrate URLs

 A dashboard can also help you set report layout to mobile view.

21. Explain how relationships are defined in Power BI Desktop? 

Relationships between tables are defined in two ways: 

 Manually - Relationships between tables are manually defined using primary and foreign keys.

 Automatic - When enabled, this automated feature of Power BI detects relationships between
tables and creates them automatically.

22. Can you have more than one functional relationship between two tables in a Power Pivot data model?

No. There can be multiple inactive relationships, but only one active relationship between two tables in a
Power Pivot data model. Dotted lines represent inactive relationships, and continuous lines represent active
relationships.

23. Can you have a table in the model which does not have any relationship with other tables? 
Yes. There are two main reasons why you can have disconnected tables:

 The table is used to present the user with parameter values to be exposed and selected in slicers 

 It uses the table as a placeholder for metrics in the user interface

24. What is the CALCULATE function in DAX?

The CALCULATE function evaluates the sum of the Sales table Sales Amount column in a modified filter
context. It is also the only function that allows users to modify the filter context of measures or tables.

Moving ahead, you will step up to the following Power BI Interview Questions from the Intermediate Level.

Power BI Interview Questions For Intermediate Level

25. Where is data stored in Power BI? 

Most of the time, power BI gets assisted by the cloud to store the data. Power BI can use a desktop service.
Microsoft Azure is used as the primary cloud service to store the data.

1. Azure SQL Database

2. Azure Blob Storage

26. What is row-level security?

Row-level security limits the data a user can view and has access to, and it relies on filters. Users can define the
rules and roles in Power BI Desktop and also publish them to Power BI Service to configure row-level security.

27. Why should you apply general formatting to Power BI data?

Users can use general formatting to make it easier for Power BI to categorize and identify data, making it
considerably easier to work with.
28. What are the different views available in Power BI Desktop? 

There are three different views in Power BI, each of which serves another purpose: 

Report View - In this view, users can add visualizations and additional report pages and publish the same on
the portal.

Data View - In this view, data shaping can be performed using Query Editor tools.

Model View - In this view, users can manage relationships between complex datasets.

29. What are the various versions of Power BI?

 Power BI Desktop 

 Power BI service

 Mobile Power BI apps for iOS and Android devices

30. Explain the building blocks of Microsoft Power BI.

The important building blocks of Power BI are as follows:

Visualizations

Visualization is the process of generating charts and graphs for the representation of insights on business data.

Datasets

A dataset is the collection of data used to create a visualization, such as a column of sales figures. Dataset can
get combined and filtered from a variety of sources via built-in data plugins.

Reports

The final stage is the report stage. Here, there is a group of visualizations on one or more pages. For example,
charts and maps are combined to make a final report. 
Dashboards

A Power BI dashboard helps you to share a single visualization with colleagues and clients to view your final
dashboard.

Tiles

A tile is an individual visualization on your final dashboard or one of your charts in your final report. 

31. What are the critical components of the Power BI toolkit?

The critical components of Power BI are mentioned below.

 Power Query

 Power Pivot

 Power View

 Power Map

 Power Q&A

32. What do you mean by the content pack?

A content pack is defined as a ready-made collection of visualizations and Power BI reports using your chosen
service. You'd use a content pack when you want to get up and running quickly instead of creating a report
from scratch.

33. Define bi-directional cross filtering.

Bidirectional cross-filtering lets data modelers to decide how they want their Power BI Desktop filters to flow
for data, using the relationships between tables. The filter context is transmitted to a second related table that
exists on the other side of any given table relationship. This procedure helps data modelers solve the many-to-
many issue without having to complicated DAX formulas. So, to sum it up, bidirectional cross-filtering makes
the job for data modelers easier.

34. What are the three fundamental concepts of DAX?

Syntax

This is how the formula is written—that is, the elements that comprise it. The Syntax includes functions such as
SUM (used when you want to add figures). If the Syntax isn't correct, you'll get an error message.

Functions

These are formulas that use specific values (also known as arguments) in a particular order to perform a
calculation, similar to the functions in Excel. The categories of functions are date/time, time intelligence,
information, logical, mathematical, statistical, text, parent/child, and others.

Context

There are two types: row context and filter context. Row context comes into play whenever a formula has a
function that applies filters to identify a single row in a table. When one or more filters are applied in a
calculation that determines a result or value, the filter context comes into play.

35. Why and how would you use a custom visual file?

You will use a custom visual file if the prepackaged files don't fit the needs of your business. Developers create
custom visual files, and you can import them and use them in the same way as you would the prepackaged
files.

36. What are some familiar sources for data in the Get Data menu in Power BI?

A few familiar data sources are Excel, Power BI datasets, web, text, SQL server, and analysis services.

37. What are the categories of data types? 

 All

 File

 Database

 Power BI

 Azure
  Online Services

 Other

38. Name some commonly used tasks in the Query Editor.

 Connect to data

 Shape and combine data

 Group rows

 Pivot columns

 Create custom columns

 Query formulas

39. What do you mean by grouping?

Power BI Desktop helps you to group the data in your visuals into chunks. You can, however, define your
groups and bins. For grouping, use Ctrl + click to select multiple elements in the visual. Right-click one of those
elements and, from the menu that appears, choose Group. In the Groups window, you can create new groups
or modify existing ones.

40. Explain responsive slicers in Power BI.

On a Power BI final report page, a developer can resize a responsive slicer to various sizes and shapes, and the
data collected in the container will be rearranged to find a match. If a visual report becomes too small to be
useful, an icon representing the visual takes its place, saving space on the report page.

41. What is query folding in Power BI?

Query folding is used when steps defined in the Query Editor are translated into SQL and executed by the
source database instead of your device. It helps with scalability and efficient processing.

42. What is "M language."

M is a programming language used in Power Query as a functional, case-sensitive language similar to other
programming languages and easy to use.

Power BI Interview Questions For Experienced 

43. What are the major differences between visual-level, page-level, and report-level filters in Power BI?

Visual-level filters are used to filter data within a single visualization. Page-level filters are used to work on an
entire page in a report, and different pages can have various filters. 

Report-level filters are used to filter all the visualizations and pages in the report.

44. List the most common techniques for data shaping.

 Adding indexes

 Applying a sort order

 Removing columns and rows

45. How is the Schedule Refresh feature designed to work?

Users can set up for an automatic refresh over data based on daily or weekly requirements. Users can schedule
only one refresh maximum daily unless they have Power BI Pro. The Schedule Refresh section uses the pull-
down menu choices to select a frequency, time zone, and time of day.

46. What information is needed to create a map in Power Map?

Power Map can display geographical visualizations. Therefore, some location data is needed—for example,
city, state, country, or latitude and longitude.

47. Which in-memory analytics engine does Power Pivot use?

Power Pivot uses the xVelocity engine. xVelocity can handle huge amounts of data, storing data in columnar
databases. All data gets loaded into RAM memory when you use in-memory analytics, which boosts the
processing speed.

48. Mention important components of SSAS

Following are some of the important Components of SSAS:

OLP Engine

An OLAP Engine is used to extensively run the ADHOC queries at a faster pace by the end-users

Data Drilling

It describes data Drilling in SSAS as the process of exploring details of the data with multiple levels of
granularity.

Slicers

The data Slicing process in SSAS is defined as the process of storing the data in rows and columns.

Pivot Tables

Pivot Tables helps in switching between the  different categories of data stored between rows and columns

49. What are the three fundamental concepts of DAX?

1. Syntax: This is how the formula is written—the elements that comprise it. The syntax includes
functions such as SUM (used when you want to add figures). If the syntax isn't correct, you'll get
an error message. 

2. Functions: These are formulas that use specific values (also known as arguments) in a certain
order to perform a calculation, similar to the functions in Excel. The categories of functions are
date/time, time intelligence, information, logical, mathematical, statistical, text, parent/child, and
others. 

3. Context: There are two types: row context and filter context. Row context comes into play
whenever a formula has a function that applies filters to identify a single row in a table. When one
 or more filters are applied in a calculation that determines a result or value, the filter context
comes into play.

50. Name the variety of Power BI Formats.

Power BI is available mainly in three formats, as mentioned below.

1. Power BI Desktop: Open-Source version for Desktop users 

2. Power BI Services: For Online Services

3. Power BI Mobile Application: Compatible with mobile devices

51. What are the different stages in the working of Power BI?

There are three different stages in working on Power BI, as explained below.

1. Data Integration

2. Data Processing

3. Data Presentation

Data Integration

The primary step in any business intelligence is to establish a successful connection with the data source and
integrate it to extract data for processing.

Data Processing

The next step in business intelligence is data processing. Most of the time, the raw data also includes
unexpected erroneous data, or sometimes a few data cells might be empty. The BI tool needs to interpret the
missing values and inaccurate data for processing in the data processing stage.

Data Presentation

The final stage in business intelligence is analyzing the data got from the source and presenting the insights
using visually appealing graphs and interactive dashboards.
52. Which professionals use Power BI the most?

Beginners and experts prefer Power BI in business intelligence. Power BI is used mainly by the following
professionals.

 Business Analysts

 Business Owners

 Business Developers

Business Analysts

A business analyst is a professional who analyses the business data and represents the insights found using
visually appealing graphs and dashboards

Business Owners

Business owners, decision-makers, or organizations use Power BI to view the insights and understand the
prediction to make a business decision.

Business Developers

Business Developers are just software developers who get hired for business purposes to develop custom
applications and dashboards to help the business process be smooth.

53. What is the advanced editor?

Advanced editor is used to view queries that Power BI is running against the data sources importing data. The
query is rendered in M-code. Users wanting to view the query code select “Edit Queries” from the Home tab,
then click on “Advanced Editor” to perform work on the query. Any changes get saved to Applied Steps in the
Query Settings.

54. What gateways does Power BI have and why should you use them?

Gateways function as bridges between the in-house data sources and Azure Cloud Services.
  Personal Gateway: Used only by one person, data can be imported, and is only valid on Power BI
Service.

 On-Premises Gateway: This is an advanced form of the Personal Gateway, supporting Direct Query
and usable by multiple users to refresh data.

55. Mention some applications of Power BI

There are multiple applications of Power BI; some of them are as follows:

 Business Analysis

 Data Analysis

 Database Administration

 IT Professional

 Data Science

56. How can you depict a story in Power BI?

Every individual chart or visualization report generated is collected and represented on a single screen. Such an
approach is called a Power BI Dashboard. A Dashboard in Power BI is used to depict a story.

57. What are KPIs in Power BI?

KPI is abbreviated as Key Performance Indicator. Any professional organization has teams and employees
follow the KPI protocols. The organizations set up KPIs for all the employees. These KPIs act as their targets.
These KPIs are compared to previous performance and analyze the progress.

58. What is a Slicer?

Slicers are an integral part of a business report generated using Power BI. The functionality of a slicer can be
considered similar to that of a filter, but, unlike a filter, a Slicer can display a visual representation of all values
and users will be provided with the option to select from the available values in the slicer’s drop-down menu.
59. Explain Power BI Designer.

It is a combined solution offered to upload the reports and dashboards to the PowerBI.com website for
reference. It consists of Power Pivot, Power Query, and Power Table.

60. How do you reshape data in Power BI?

Power BI offers a wide variety of data source connectivity options. Data Editor is one of the tools used to
manipulate rows and columns of the data and helps you reshape it according to the requirements.

Power BI Interview Questions - Beginner Level

Let's start with some commonly asked Power BI interview questions and answers for beginners.

1. What is Power BI? And why is it used for?

Power BI is a Business Analytics solution by Microsoft used to visualize business data from hundreds of data
sources and share insights across your organization. It is a cloud-based Self-Service BI tool that collects
applications, connectors, and software services used to organize raw data into informative content.

The most prominent uses of Power BI are:

 Allows real-time dashboard updates.

 Prebuilt dashboards and reports for Saas solutions

 Provides a secure and reliable connection to your data in the cloud or on-premises

 Offers hybrid configuration, quick deployment, and a secure environment.

 Explore data using natural language queries.

2. What are the main differences between self-service BI and Managed Enterprise BI?

Managed Enterprise BI Self-Service BI

Here, data flows from many sources, and there is no order for
Enables companies to ingest data seamlessly from any d
companies to ingest and manage data sources.

There are time constraints and a lack of proper information when it

Analyzing data is easy. 
comes to analyzing data.

Users could generate actionable and intuitive dashboard

Complex programming skills are required to generate reports.
instantaneously without executing complex programmin

Companies are unable to run business operations effectively, as they With data ingestion falling into order, companies can pr
cannot report and analyze data and collaborate valuable insights and conduct business operations with ease.
 from it.

3. How does Power BI work?

The primary purpose of Power BI is to scale business growth by putting information together in a more
efficient way. It brings your company data forward in a seamless, comprehensive interface. Employees and
team members come forward in a streamlined fashion with access to identical information that has been
translated into simplified reports, charts, diagrams, and more. Power BI Works more efficiently by improving
your operational efficiency.

4. In what formats does Power BI available?

 Power BI Desktop: for desktop computers.

 Power BI service: an online SaaS (Software as a Service)

 Mobile Power BI apps: for iOS and Android devices

5. Describe the building blocks of Power BI

The building blocks of Power BI are:

 Visualizations - A visual representation of data like a chart or map.

 Data Sets - A collection of data that Power BI uses to create visualizations.

 Reports - A collection of visualizations that appear together on one or more pages.

 Dashboard - A Power BI dashboard collects visuals from a single page that you can share with others.
Often, it’s a selected group of visuals that provide quick insight into the data or story that you’re
trying to present.
  Tiles - It’s a single visualization on a report or a dashboard. It’s a rectangular box that holds an
individual visual.

6. What are the major components of Power BI? And what do they do?

These are various Power BI components.

 Power Query - Data mash-up and transformation tool.

 Power Pivot - In-memory tabular data-modeling tool.

 Power View - Data visualization tool.

 Power Map - 3D Geo-Spatial data visualization tool.

 Power BI Q&A - Natural Language Question and Answering Engine

 Power BI Desktop - A powerful companion development tool for Power BI.

7. Name some of the popular types of filters available in Power BI?

 

8. What is the use of the “Get Data” icon in Power BI?

When users in Power BI click on the icon “Get Data”, a drop-down menu displays all data sources from which
data can be ingested. Data can directly get ingests from sources such as Excel, XML, PDF, JSON, CSV, and
SharePoint folder databases and formats such as SQL, SQL Server Analysis Services, IBM, Access, Oracle,
MySQL, and much more.
 

9. How to create and manage relationships in Power BI Desktop?

As the name suggests, relationships in Power BI are used to define connections or the relation between two or
more tables. To perform analysis on multiple tables, relationships are used.

To create and manage relationships in Power BI Desktop:

 On the Home tab, select Manage Relationships > New.

 In the Create relationship dialog box, in the first table drop-down list, select a table. Select the column

you want to use in the relationship.

 In the second table drop-down list, select the other table you want in the relationship. Select the

other column you want to use, and then choose OK.

10. Differentiate Power BI vs Excel

Parameter Power BI Excel

Power BI is not so handy for tabular style Excel is better at handling tabula
Tabular reports
reports reports.

Duplicate Table Cannot display duplicated tables  Allows to display duplicated tab

Offers beautiful, personalized, and Doesn’t offer advanced cross-fil

Reports
interactive reports  between charts.

Offers advanced features in cross-filtering Doesn’t offer advanced cross-fil

Cross filtering 
between charts. between charts.
 Analytics Offers simple analytics Offers high-level analytics

Ideal for dashboards, KPIs, alerts, and

Excel does have some new char
Applications  visualizations, including analysing your data
they can’t connect to the data m
visually.

11. Are Power View and Power Query the same?

Power View can be used to download data to Excel as well as make nice transformations.

Example: Filter, merge multiple sources, calculate, etc.

Power View enables you to present the data in reports

12. Can you tell me what the difference between Power BI personal Gateway and Data Management
Gateway is?

Power BI Personal Gateway is used for reports that are deployed in Powerbi.com. On the other hand, data
management is an app that installs the gateway on source data machines to deploy reports on Sharepoint and
schedule to refresh automatically.
 

13. Explain DAX

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is a collection of operators, functions, and constants used to
calculate formulas and return values. In other words, it helps you create new info from data you already have.

14. SUM() vs SUMX(): What is the difference between the two DAX functions?

The sum function (Sum()) takes the data columns and aggregates them totally but the SumX function (SumX())
lets you filter the data which you are adding.
SUMX(Table, Expression), where the table contains the rows for calculation. Expression is a calculation that will
be evaluated on each row of the table.

15. List the benefits of using variables in DAX.

 Improve performance

 Improve readability

 Reduce complexity

 Simplify debugging

16. What is the Power Map?

Power BI is a business intelligence and Analytics tool for non-technical and technical users to manage, analyze,
visualize and share data with others. One of its key features is visualization - that is, presenting data and
insights using appealing visuals. Among the visuals available in power BI  are maps. 

17. How to create and use Maps in Power BI?

There are 4 types of core or built-in map visuals:

  Map (Basic)

 Filled Map

 Shape Map

 ArcGIS Maps

18. Explain the filled map in Power BI?

Power BI utilizes two built-in map charts map and a filled map. A filled map shows data points with geospatial
areas rather than points on a map. Areas can be continent, country, state, city. Working with a filled map,
however, is not as easy and convenient as the map chart is 

19. What data sources can you connect to Power BI?

The Power BI data sources are extensive, which are divided as follows:

Files: Data can be imported from Power BI Desktop files (.pbix), Excel (.xlsx, xlxm), and Comma Separated
Value (.csv).

Content Packs: It refers to the collection of related files or documents that are stored as a group. There are
two types of content packs in Power BI: those from service providers including Google Analytics, Salesforce, or
Marketo, and those created and shared by other users in the organization.

Connectors: To connect databases and other datasets, including Database, Azure SQL, and SQL Server Analysis
Services tabular data, etc.

Check out Top Power BI Projects Ideas For Practice

20. Explain about Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is a free desktop application that can be installed on your computer. It cohesively works with
the Power BI service by providing advanced data modeling, shaping, exploration, and creating reports with
highly interactive visualizations. It enables users to save the work to a file or publish their reports and data
right to your Power BI site to share with others.

Below are the distinct Excel BI add-ons.

 Power Query to find, edit and load external data

 Power View for designing interactive and visual reports

 PowerPivot to analyze data modeling

 Power Map for displaying insights in 3D Map

21. Is Power BI free to use?

Power BI is available in two versions: Power BI Free and Power BI Pro.

Users can use Power BI for free. However, the Power BI Pro subscription avails more from Microsoft Store. The
subscription offers an enhanced version of various features available with the free Power BI account. Most
business users use the subscribed account as it provides more data refreshers per day and other features than
the free version.

22. How to perform query tasks in Power BI Desktop?

Power Query is available in Power BI Desktop through the power query editor. To open the power query
editor, select Edit Queries from the Power BI Desktop home tab.
The ribbon in Power Query Editor consists of five tabs - home, transform, add column, view, and help. 

Visit here to learn Power BI Online Course in Hyderabad

23. Can we store data in Power BI? If so, where does it get stored?

Power BI stores data in a few different locations. All the data stays secure through measures such as
encryption and password protection. It mainly depends on the channel that you used to import the data. Data
is stored in a few places, but it all boils down to one of the main two locations: the cloud and your desktop.

24. How do you create a group in Power BI?

To perform grouping in power bi, please select the fields you want to group, and right-click on it will open the
context menu. Please select the Group option from the menu.

Once you click on the group option, Power BI will automatically group those items, as shown below. That's it;
we did the grouping. If you observe closely, the legend section is replaced by group, and colour is placed in the
details section.

25. What is the current version of Power BI?

Power BI Desktop is supported on Windows 8 or newer versions of Windows. Download the Power BI Desktop
version that matches the architecture (x86 or x64) of your Windows OS.

26. Explain what M language is in Power BI?

M is a query formula language used in Power BI Query Editor to prepare data before loading in the Power BI
model. 
Power Query works with Excel, Analysis Services, and Power BI workbooks. Its core functionality is to filter and
combine, i.e., to mash up data from one or more rich collections of supported data sources. Any such data
mashup is expressed using Power Query M Formula Language.

27. Can you explain a few ways of how a Power Query can transform the data?

Power Query is available through getting & Transform in Excel 2016 or Power Pivot. 

28. Which data sets can be used to create dashboards with streaming data tiles?

 Streaming datasets

 Hybrid Datasets

29. What are the different views that Power BI Desktop contains?
  Report View

 Data View

 Relationship View

30. What do you know about Row Level Security? And how do you implement it?

Row-level security restricts the data that users view and access based on filters. To configure row-level
security, users can define rules and roles within Power BI Desktop and publish them to Power BI Service. Also,
the username() function can restrict data in the table to the current user.
However, to enable row-level security, a Power BI Pro subscription account is essential, and Excel sheets can
be used when converted to the .pbix file format.

Following are the ways to implement Row Level Security in Power BI:

 Define roles and rules in Power BI Desktop

 Validate the roles within Power BI Desktop

 Manage security on your model

 Validating the role within the Power BI service

31. Explain about Bidirectional Cross-Filtering in Power BI?

One of the most important features of Power BI is  Bidirectional cross-filtering. This feature allows you to apply
filters on both sides of a table relationship, using right-to-left and left-to-right options for their calculations.
Through this, modelers can know how exactly particular relationships can work in multiple contexts.

32. Name some top features of Power BI

 Quick Insights

 Acquiring data

 Real-time information

 Natural language questions

 Content the way you want

 Quick decisions

 View reports on the Go

 Freedom for Integration

 Sharing

33. Explain Power BI Query Editor

Power BI Query Editor is used to transform or edit data files before they are loaded. The Query Editor plays the
role of an intermediate data container where you can transform data by selecting rows and columns, splitting
rows and columns, pivoting and unpivoting columns, etc.

The modifications done by the Query Editor are not reflected in the actual datasheet.

34. Describe Power BI Designer

Power BI is a stand-alone application to make Power BI reports and upload them to Powerbi.com; it does not
require excel. It is the combination of Power Pivot, Power View, and Power Query.

35. What are the different types of gateways available in Power BI? Why would you use them?

The Gateway acts as an extension between azure cloud administration and on-premise data sources. There are
three major types of Gateways listed as follows:

On-premises data gateway

Allows multiple users to connect to various on-premises data sources. You can use an on-premises data
gateway with all supported services with a single gateway installation. For complex scenarios, this gateway is
best suited.

On-premises data gateway (personal mode)

This data gateway allows one user to connect to sources that can’t be shared with others. This gateway is best
suited to scenarios in which you only create reports and don’t need to share any data sources with others.

The virtual network data gateway

This data gateway allows multiple users to connect various data sources that are secured by virtual networks.
For complex scenarios in which multiple people access multiple data sources, this data gateway is highly
preferred.

36. Can we create geographic maps using Power BI?

Yes, Power BI can display geographical visualizations. That’s why some kind of location data is needed.

For example, state, country, or latitude and longitude.

37.  Explain z-order in Power BI?

Z-order is a design strategy used to arrange visuals over shapes. It can also be defined as a method applied to
implement when reports consist of multiple elements. Moreover, this can also be used to refresh the display
when items in a report are changed.

38. What is the primary requirement for a table to be used in Power BI?

In Power BI, the primary requirement for the table is that it contains unique rows. It must also contain location
data, which can be in a Latitude/Longitude pair.

You can use address fields instead, such as street, city, etc., which Bing can geolocate.

39. What is the difference between Power BI, Power Query, and Power Pivot?
 Power BI Power Query Power Pivot

Business Intelligence tool Import and shape data Data modeling and calculations

M and DAX languages supported M language supported DAX language supported

Incredible visualization options Easy to use interface Handles millions of rows of data.

Powerful tools to import and Modeling tools for efficient data

Simple built-in interactive options
clean data storage and analysis

All Excel users can benefit from Powerful DAX calculations going
Powerful DAX calculations
this tool beyond standard Excel

40. Name some important tools of Power BI

 Power BI Desktop  

 Power BI Service

 Power BI Data Gateway

 Power BI Report Server

 Power BI Mobile Apps

41. Is there any process for refreshing Power BI reports uploaded to the cloud?

Of course, Power Bi reports can be refreshed with Data Management Gateway and Power BI Personal
Gateway.

42. What are content packs in Power BI? And why would you use one?

In Power BI, content packs are used to share objects, such as reports, dashboards, or datasets with individuals
within your organization. The sharing takes place over the Power BI website and can be shared with multiple
users. No one can change the original content in the content pack. Also, users have “read-only” access to the
Power BI content shared with them.

43. How is data security implemented in Power BI?

 Power BI applies models with Row Level Security.

 Dynamix security involves using USERNAME functions in definitions.

 A DAX expression can be applied to tables filtering their rows at query time.

 A table is typically created in the model that relates to specific dimensions and roles.

44. What do you know about many-to-many relationships in Power BI?

Many-to-many relationships involve a bridge or junction table that reflects the combinations of two
dimensions. Either all possible combinations or those combinations that have occurred.
A relationship with many-to-many cardinality in Power BI is composed of three features:

 Composite models: Allows a report to have two or more data connections, including DirectQuery

connections or Import. With composite models, you can establish relationships with a many-many

cardinality between tables.

 Relationships with a many-many cardinality: This approach removes unique values in tables.

 Storage mode: You can specify which visuals require a query to back-end data sources. This feature

improves performance and reduces back-end load.

45. What are the key differences between a Power BI dataset, a report, and a dashboard?

Dataset  Report Dashboard

A series of Power Query queries

A series of visualizations, filters, A way of pulling visualizations
that have been shaped in a DAX
and static elements on a canvas. together from several reports.
model.

A Power BI dashboard is a single

A Power BI dataset can have Each report can have multiple
page, often called a canvas, that
many data sources. sheets.
uses visualizations to tell a story.

A data set can have one report, The data set and your report are A dashboard is a tool for pinning
and a report can have one data going to have a one-to-one visuals from different reports
set. relationship.  and other sources of data.

46. List some Edit interactions options in Power BI.

 Filter: It thoroughly filters the visual/tile based on the filter selection of another variable.

 Highlight: Highlights only the related elements on the visual

 None: Ignores the filter selection from another tile/visual.

47. How can you convert SSRS to Power BI?

Following are the ways to integrate SSRS with Power BI:

 SSRS report items such as charts can be pinned to Power BI dashboards.

 By clicking the tile option in Power BI dashboards will bring users to SSRS reports

 To keep the dashboard tile refreshed, a subscription is created.

 Power BI reports will be published to the SSRS portal.

48. What is the Time Intelligence function?

It is a function that allows manipulating data using periods.

49. How do I prepare for Power BI certification?

Mindmajix instructor-led training completely prepares you for the certification. We provide two industry-
specific projects in the course, which helps you have hands-on experience on all possible scenarios that are
part of certification.

50. Is Power BI a good career?

Five major reasons why Power BI will create a good career path for you:

 Gartner’s framework for the Analytics and BI Magic Quadrant 2021.

 There is a big market for Microsoft Power BI Consultants in almost every industry.

 In perspective, Qlik and Tableau (both high in Gartner ranking) have a market cap close to 1% of

Microsoft.

 Top companies offering lucrative Power BI career opportunities.

Variety of job roles available:

 Power BI Analyst/Developer

 Data Analyst

 Business Analyst

 Business Intelligence Analyst

 Business Intelligence Developer

 Business Intelligence Manager

Power BI Interview Questions - Intermediate Level

51. What are the Parts of Microsoft's Self-Service Business Intelligence Solutions?

Microsoft Self-Service BI has two parts:

 Excel BI Toolkit: Allows users to create reports interactively through data importing from distinct data

sources as well as model data according to the requirement.

 Power BI: It is an online solution that empowers users for sharing interactive reports and queries that

you have created with Excel BI Toolkit.

52. What is the Differentiate between Power BI and Power BI Pro?

Power BI offers distinct kinds of features to help you get started in searching for data in a completely new way.
Power BI Pro, on the other hand, caters to some additional features like scheduling data, live data sources,
storage capacity, complete interactivity, and much more.

53. Define Excel BI Toolkit?

Excel BI Toolkit allows users for creating an interactive report by importing data from a distinct range of
sources and model data according to requirements.

54. What is the Cost of Power BI?

Both Power BI Desktop and Power BI are free of cost. For Power BI Pro, users have to pay $9.99 per month
after a 60-day free trial.
55. What are the basics needed for using Power BI?

To use Power BI, you need to have a  web browser and a work email address. 
work email addresses finishing in .mil and .gov are not supported currently.

Visit here to learn Power BI Certification Course in Bangalore

56. What is the need for signing up with a work email?

Power BI does not have email addresses provided by telecommunications providers and consumer email
services, thus there is a need of signing up with work email.

57. Name the work email addresses that are currently supported?

Work email addresses that are finishing with .org and .edu are currently supported.

58. Is there any support by Power BI available for mobile devices?

Yes, Power BI supports mobile devices. It consists of apps for iOS devices, Windows 10 devices, and Android
smartphones. You can install Power BI apps from the below app stores:

 Google Play

 Apple Store

 Windows Store

59. What is Visualization?

Visualization is a process to represent data in pictorial form like tables, graphs, or charts based on the specific
requirement.

60. What is a Report?

The report is a Power BI feature that is a result of visualized data from a single data set. A report can have
multiple pages of visualization.

61. What is Power Pivot and what is the filter written in Power BI?

Power Pivot is an in-memory component that enables storing compressed data. It is used to build data models,
relationships, create formulas, calculate columns from different resources.

Filters are applicable in:

 Visualization level

 Report Level

 Page-Level

62. What data sources can Power BI connect to?

The following data sources that support DirectQuery in Power BI are as follows:

 Amazon Redshift

 Azure Data Explorer

 AtScale (Beta)

 Azure SQL Database

 Azure HDInsight Spark

 Google BigQuery

 Azure SQL Data Warehouse

 HDInsight Interactive Query

63. Why do we need BI?

You can take data and create reports at the click of a button. You can take data and create reports with a
button click. It helps in attracting new customers to service and monitor existing customers. You can keep track
of information and set your goals accordingly. In general, building an ETL solution (Extraction, Transformation,
and Loading) ultimately helps to make better decisions. The ROI is very high Helps to make unwanted data into
progressive information.

64. Does Power BI store data?

Datasets are the data sources that are uploaded or connected to databases. These sources include Excel
workbooks and Power BI Desktop files. The following are also included in your data capacity. Reporting
Services on-premises visualizations are pinned to a Power BI dashboard.

65. What must be installed to use Power BI?

To use the Power BI service for free, you need a work email and a web browser. With this, you can explore
data as well as create reports in Power BI Desktop. The mobile app can be downloaded from the following
stores:

Google Play, App Store, and Windows Store.

66. How one can get started with Power BI?

There are some resources to get assistance and get started with Power BI. They are as follows:

 Webinars

 Power BI Blog

 You can get started with an article on Power BI

 You can get started with a video on YouTube

 Last but not least, joining a related community and getting answered
67. What is SSBI?

SSBI stands for Self-Service Business Intelligence. It can also be termed as accessing data analytics to empower
business users to divide, clean, and interpret data. SSBI has made it easy for end-users to access their data and
create various kinds of visuals to acquire useful business insights. Anyone who has basic data knowledge can
build reports for creating spontaneous and shareable dashboards.

68. What is a Dashboard?

The dashboard is used to visualize the strategic data of one or multiple reports at a glance.

69. What is the CORR function and when is it used?

CORR is a correlation function that provides a correlation between two distinct variables ranging from -1 to 1.

70. What are the advantages of Power BI?

Here are the main advantages of Power BI

 Power BI integrates well with the existing application

 It contains rich and personalized Dashboards.

 publishing reports in a secure way

 Quick accessibility to data means there is no speed and memory issue

71. What are the data destinations for Power Queries?

There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

 Load to a table in a worksheet

 Load to the Excel Data Model

72. What are the different connectivity modes in Power BI?

 Import

 Direct Query

73. What is the data source filter?

A data source filter is a parameter of data filtering before loading into machines.

74. What are the Different Products in the PowerBI family?

Below are different Power BI services/products:

 Power BI Desktop
  Power BI Services

 Power BI Mobile

 Power BI Gateway

 Power BI Premium

 Power BI Report Server

 Power BI Embedded

75. What is Power View?

Power View is a data visualization technology, which lets you create interactive graphs, charts, maps, and
other visuals to bring life to your data. It is available in Excel, SQL Server, SharePoint, and Power BI.

76. Which language is used in Power Query?

A new programming language is used in a power query called M-Code. It is easy to use and similar to other
languages. M-code is a case-sensitive language.

77. How to import the data on the Power BI desktop?

Go to getting data Sources and click on your required sources (Excel, SQL, CSV) then Load it. Click on the Data
view to view that data.

To choose the table click on the fields and you can pick a visualization to generate a report.

78. Which datasets are used to create a dashboard with streaming data tiles?

Streaming datasets (we need to have data that is cached in memory before we use streaming data sets)

Hybrid Datasets

79. How Dynamic filtering in Power BI is performed?

Dynamic Filtering in Power BI is done by the following steps:

 Once all the data are set up publish the detailed report to Power BI

 Publish it to Group Work Space

 Create Filter Link

 Create a DAX calculated Column

 Public Overview Report

80. What is the procedure to buy Power BI Pro?

Power BI license can be purchased at powerbi.com. However, you can also get assistance from Microsoft
partners to aid using Power BI implementation.

81. Is the Power BI service accessible on-premises?\

The user cannot avail of the service as an internal or private cloud service. However, with Power BI and Power
BI Desktop, the user can connect to their on-premise data sources securely.

82. Which is the language used to calculate column/calculated field in Power Pivot?

Data Analysis Expression (DAX) is used to calculate column fields in Power Pivot.

83. What are the column values that DAX supports?

 It is not capable of inserting or modifying data

 It cannot be used to calculate rows, though you can calculate measures and calculated columns

84. Explain the Power Pivot Data Model?

It is a model that is made up of data types, tables, columns, and table relations. The data tables are generally
constructed to hold data for a business entity.

85. Define Power Query?

Power Query is an ETL tool to clean, shape, and transform data without any code using intuitive interfaces.
With this:

 You can import data from various sources like databases from files

 Append and join data from a wide range of sources

 You can shape data as needed by adding and removing it

86. Name the language that is used in the power query?

M-code which is a new programming language is used in Power Query. This language is easy to use and is quite
similar to other languages. Also, it is case-sensitive.

90. Name the data destinations for Power Query?

Two destinations are there for the output we receive from the power query. They are:

 Load to Excel Data Model

 Load to a table in a worksheet

91. Explain the Power BI Designer?

Power BI Designer, a standalone app that is used to create reports in Power BI and to upload them to
Powerbi.com. It is a combination of Power View, Power Pivot, and Power Query.
92. What is the use of the split function?

The split function is used for splitting the string database on the given delimiter.

93. Name all the platforms for which the Power BI app is available?

Power BI app is available for:

 Android

 iPhone and iPad

 Windows tablets and Windows Desktops

 Coming for Windows phone soon

94. What is the difference between older and newer Power BI?

There is a new design tool that is used in the new Power BI called Power BI Desktop. It is a standalone
designer, including Power Pivot, Power View, and Power Query in the back end. Whereas, Older Power BI
consists of excel add-ins. In the newer Power BI version,  there are several graphs available including treemap,
line area chart, waterfall, combo chart, etc.

95. Is it possible in the power pivot data model to have more than one active relationship between two
tables?

No, it is not possible. There cannot be more than one active relationship in the power pivot data model
between two tables. It is possible to have only one active and many inactive relationships.

96. What are the general data shaping techniques?

The common data shaping techniques are:

 Removing Columns and Rows

 Adding Indexes
 Applying for a Sort Order

97. What are the KPIs in Power BI?

KPIs are Key Performance Indicators, which evaluate the organization’s performance in distinct areas by
evaluating measurable goals and values. A KPI has a measure or base value that is evaluated against target
values. It includes a comparison of the performance with the target. The KPI also helps you evaluate the
analysis performances with their graphical representation. Thus, KPIs will show whether your goals have been
met or not.

98. What could be the difference between Distinct() and Values() in DAX?

We can use both Distinct() and Values() functions to return the values into a column or cell on the worksheet.
The difference between them is that the Values() function returns blank values along with unique values,
whereas the Distinct() function returns only unique values.

99. State the advantages of the Direct query method?

The advantages of the Direct query method are listed as follows:

Users can build huge data sets of data visualizations using the Direct Query Method, but the Power BI desktop
supports data visualizations on smaller sets alone. There is no limit to the dataset for the direct query method
and a 1GB dataset limit is not applicable in this method.

100. What is the parameter in power bi?

If you want to put a scenario and based on that if you want to see the visuals, the best is the What-if
parameter. It helps you to forecast data and perform advanced analytics. For example, if you have set up the
product discount from the what-if parameter from 1 to 10. And users can change the values and see the
changes in profit, sales, revenue, margin, etc. that help in detailed analysis.

Power BI Interview Questions for Experienced Professionals

101. What is the incremental refresh?

Incremental refresh is used to refresh the newly added data to avoid truncating and loading data.

102. What are the three main tabs in the Reports development Window?

The major tabs in the Reports development Window are as follows:

 Relationship tab

 Data Modeling Tab

 Report Tab

103. How many types of default Graphs (Visualizations) are available in Power BI?

Around 26 Views

104. What are Slicers in Power BI?

 Slicers are the visual filters , which are present in the report page of Power BI. It helps us to sort and

filter information on a packed report

 Slicers unlike filters present as a report visual and you can select values on it while analyzing the

report data

105. What is the major difference between a Filter and a Slicer?

Using Normal filters users were not allowed to interact with dashboards or reports, but using slicers we can
interact with dashboards and reports.

106. What is a parameter in Power BI?

A Parameter in Power BI is a dynamic filter that is used in the calculation fields. It is based on the parameter
value result that can vary.
107. Difference Between New Measure and New column?

A new column is an area in Power Bi where the physical data is stored when logic is applied, whereas, the
measure is where the calculations are performed on the fly based on dimensions. Measure, unlike Column,
won't store any physical data.

108. What are the different joins in Power BI?

 Horizontal Joins to append data from multiple tables

 Vertical Joins to merge the data from multiple tables

109. What is the Embed Code?

There is an option in the Power BI service, which publishes to the web to generate a link address for the Power
BI report and can be shared across clients.

110. How do you Hide and Unhide a Specific Report in Power BI?

In the menu bar, choose the Selection pane and hide/unhide the report and the action to pass to the
bookmark.

111. How do you compare Target and Actual Values from a Power BI report?

A gauge chart is used to compare two different measures where the Target and Actuals are inferred.

112. What are Power Query's major Data Destinations?

There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

 Load to a table in a worksheet

 Load to the Excel Data Model

113. Can we Refresh Data Reports that are uploaded to the Cloud?

Yes, you can refresh the data reports which are uploaded to the cloud. Power BI personal gateway and Data
management gateway helps you acquire the same.

114. How are a Power BI Dashboard and Report different from each other?

To understand the difference between Power BI Dashboard and Report, let’s run through some quick points.

Capability Report Dashboard

Pages Can be of one or more pages. Consists of one page only

Can have data tiles from one or

Data sources It has a single dataset per report.
datasets or reports.

Filtering Can perform slicing, filtering, and Cannot filter or slice reports.
 highlighting.

Set alerts No option for setting alerts. Enable setting email alerts

Enables to set only one dashboa

Featured reports No option for creating a featured dashboard.
featured dashboard.

Provides options to view dataset tables, Cannot view or access underlyin

Accessing tables and fields in datasets
values, and fields. tables and fields.

115. How to Toggle Between Two Option and Make it Interact with the rest of the Visualizations in a
Report?

Toggling is an action that is achieved in Power BI reports when there exist two or more dimensions. With
“Enlighten Slicer”, you can show this in Power BI and can be imported from Marketplace.

116. What does rank() do?

Rank() calculates regular competition rank thus returning identical values. You can ask for ascending or
descending values in the second argument accordingly.

117. How do I Prepare for a Power BI Interview?

The main aspect to learn before attending any PowerBi interview is “how the data representation and general
business intelligence is going to work!”

118. Is Business Intelligence a Good Career?

One of the great reasons for choosing a career in BI is the on-demand outlook. According to a report from the
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for expert BI managers and analysts is expected to soar to 14% by
2026, with the overall need for data professionals to climb to 28% by 2020.

119. Is Power BI better than Tableau?

Both Tableau and Power BI allow the user to connect to distinct data sources. However, Tableau provides
better support to connect to a different data warehouse, and Power BI is heavily integrated with Microsoft’s
portfolio like the Azure cloud platform.

120.  Is Power BI hard to Learn?

Any data analyst can quickly connect with any data source, summarizing the findings into simple reports
without any programming experience. With Power Pivot built into the Power BI, analytics measures were
developed using DAX query language from Microsoft.

121. Is Power BI hard to use?

Power BI doesn’t require users to write SQL code like BI tools but requires MS Excel knowledge.

122. Is Data Analyst a Good Career?

Data is useless without proper analytics. Any professional with analytical skills can easily master the ocean of
Big Data and become a crucial asset to the organization, boosting the business as well as career. There are
several on-demand job opportunities in Big Data management and Analytics and are constantly growing.
123. What are the essential applications of the Power BI?

Power BI is mainly used by:

 PMO - Project Management Office

 Developer & Database Administrator

 Business & Data Analyst

 IT Team, IT Professional

 Data Scientist

 Consumer for End User Report

124. Is Power BI better than Excel?

Power BI is a more powerful tool compared to Microsoft Excel. Power BI is easy to use and is much more
flexible while Microsoft Excel is not so handy to use. Power BI is mostly used for data visualization and
dashboard sharing to a large number of users while Microsoft Excel is mostly used for in-depth driver analysis.

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125. How do I export from power BI to excel?

In Power BI, a user can export any dashboard or visual. To export your data, choose the ellipses (3 dots) on the
top-right side of any visualization and choose the icon: Export data. Your data is exported as an a.CSV file. You
can even save and open the file in Excel.

126. How do you manage a role in Power BI?

Follow these steps to manage a role in Power BI

 Step 1: Import data into the Power BI Desktop report

 Step 2: connection

 Step 3: Select the Modeling tab

 Step 4: Select Manage Roles

 Step 5: Select Create

 Step 6: Provide a name for the role

 Step 7: Select the table that you want to apply a DAX rule

 Step 8: Enter the DAX expressions

 Step 9: After creating a DAX expression, select the checkbox placed above the expression and validate

the expression
  Step 10: Select Save

127. How do you answer behavioral interview questions?

These can be answered in four simple steps as follows:

 Step 1: Situation. Describe the situation or set the scene

 Step 2: Task. Describe the issue or problem you were confronted with

 Step 3: Action

 Step 4: Results

128. What is the difference between Power BI vs Tableau?

Here are key differences between Power BI vs Tableau

Feature Power BI Tableau

Data visualization Focuses only on modeling and reporting Best tool

Very expensive since it uses dat

Cost Less expensive
warehousing

Machine Learning It is associated with Microsoft Azure. It has python Machine learning.

User Interface Simple and easy to use Use a customized dashboard

Data handling It drags down slow when handling huge data Handles bulk data

TCS Power BI Interview Questions

129. What is the Power BI Service?

Power BI Service is a cloud-based analytics solution that helps you to create dashboards and publish, design
reports, collaborate and share the reports with internal and external stakeholders.

130. What is a summarize function in DAX?

Summarize is a DAX function that gives an aggregated result from a table.

This is how you can use summarize function:

 Summarize(<table>,<grouping column>,[<name>,<expression>])

 Table - a DAX expression that returns a table

 grouping column - the column name you want to use for grouping

 name - the name of the new aggregated column

  expression - generates the aggregated column.

131. Can you export Power BI report data into any other format like SSRS?

Yes, you can export a Power BI report data to another file format, such as PowerPoint, PDF, Image, Microsoft
Word, or Microsoft Excel, or export the report by generating an Atom service document, listing the Atom-
compliant data feeds available from the report.

132. What is the difference between the measure and the calculated column?

The difference is the context of evaluation. A measure is evaluated in the context of the cell evaluated in a
report or in a DAX query. While the calculated column is computed at the row level within the table it belongs
to.

133. Have you faced any performance issues in your project?

This is one of the important Power BI questions. As a developer, while developing projects, you may face one
or two performance issues based on the type of data you use. Explain how you overcome those issues.

Cognizant Power BI Interview Questions

134. Describe a time when Power BI limited or enhanced your success on a project?

There is a limitation to export data for large data sets in Power BI

135. What is your go-to DAX function for time intelligence?

DATEDADD is the most versatile function used for time intelligence. However, pretty much of the time
intelligence can be recreated with DATEDADD.

136. How do you improve the performance of your data models?

Following the tidy data philosophy, column usage should be limited. Also utilizing the star schema to limit joins
will also improve the model.

Disabling unused tables from loading also helps. Also using lookups can also improve overall functionality.

137.  How can You Change the Value Measure to Show Multiple Measures Dynamically?

You can dynamically change and switch functions to show multiple measures using harvesting measures.

138. How Important is Power BI?

Dashboards, datasets, and reports are the heart of Power BI, and they enable users to create personalized
dashboards combining cloud-born and on-premises data in a single view. It allows monitoring the most
important data enterprise-wide and from all their business apps.

Explore Power BI Sample Resumes Download & Edit, Get Noticed by Top Employers!

Power BI DAX Interview Questions

1. Why is DAX so important?

Importing data into Power BI Desktop is an easy task. You can even create reports that share valuable insights
without using DAX formulas in it. But if you want to analyze the growth percentage of different date ranges
and across product categories or calculate year growth compared to market trends? DAX formulas support this
capability. DAX stands for Data Analysis Expression language. Knowing how to use DAX formulas helps you to
get the most out of your data. DAX works on operators, functions, and constants to further extend your model.

2. How does Power BI DAX work?

The three fundamental concepts of Power BI DAX are Syntax, Context, and Functions.

Syntax:

It comprises various components that make up the formula. To understand the DAX formula, let’s break down
each of the elements into a language.

Total Sales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount])

 Total Sales is the Measure name.

 The equals sign (=) indicates the start of the DAX formula.

 SUM is used to add the values of a given field.

 The parenthesis () is used to enclose and define arguments in an expression

 Sales are the table referenced

 The referenced column [SalesAmount] is an argument with which the SUM function identifies the

column on which it has to aggregate a SUM.

Context:

 It is one of the essential concepts of DAX. There are two types of Contexts - Row Context and Filter

Context.

 The Row-Context is applied whenever a formula has a function that filters to identify a single row in a

table.

 Filter-Context is used when one or more filters are applied in a calculation. 

Functions:

Functions are structured, predefined, and ordered formulae. They complete calculations using arguments
passed on to them.

3. Explain the DAX function

A DAX function is a predefined formula that performs calculations on values provided to its arguments. The
arguments in a function should be in a specific order and can be a column reference, text, numbers, constants,
etc. Every function performs a particular operation on the values enclosed in an argument. There can be more
than one argument in a DAX formula.
Some of the most commonly used DAX functions:

Date and Time Functions

These functions carry out calculations on the date and time values.

Ex: DATE, CALENDER, HOUR, MINUTE

Time Intelligence Functions

These functions are used to evaluate values over a fixed period.

Ex: DATESBETWEEN, ENDOFQUARTER, CLOSINGBALANCEMONTH

Information Functions

These functions provide particular information on the data values included in rows and columns. It checks the
given condition in a function for the given value and returns TRUE or FALSE.

Ex: ISERROR, CUSTOMDATA, ISNONTEXT

Logical Functions

These functions are used to evaluate an argument or expression logically.

Ex: AND, FALSE, IFERROR, IF

Mathematical and Trigonometric Functions

These functions are used to perform all sorts of mathematical functions on the reference values.

Ex: DIVIDE, FACT, ACOS

Statistical Functions

These functions carry out statistical and aggregation functions on data values in a DAX expression.

Ex: AVERAGE, COUNT, GENERATE

Text Functions

These are similar to the string functions of Excel.

Ex: FIND, LEFT, FIXED, FORMAT

Parent-Child functions

These are used for data values that are a part of a parent-child hierarchy.

Ex: PATH, PATHITEM

Table functions
In DAX formulas, these functions are used to apply operations and conditions on entire tables.

Ex: FILTER, VALUES, DISTINCT

Other functions

There are a bunch of functions that do not fit in any particular category.

Ex: GROUPBY, EXCEPT, GENERATESERIES

4. Tell something about DAX Calculation Types.

DAX formulas can also be called DAX Calculations as they calculate an input value and return a resultant value.
The calculations that you can perform using DAX in Power BI are  Calculated Measures and Calculated
Columns.

Calculated Measures: They create a field having aggregated values such as a sum, percentages, ratios,
averages, etc.

Calculated Columns: They create a new column in your existing table. The only thing is there should be at least
one function in the calculated column. When you want to create a column with filtered or sorted information,
calculated columns are used.

5. What’s the main purpose of using the Calculate function?

Calculate functions allow you to modify the filter context of tables or measures. You can perform the
following:

 Override filter context from queries

 Remove present filter context from queries

 Add to existing filter context of queries

Frequently Asked Power BI Interview Questions

1. What skills are needed for Power BI?

Required Skills for Power BI Developer:

 First and foremost, a Power BI Developer should be familiar with business intelligence, data analytics,

and data science.

 Should have good knowledge of data visualization, charts, and graphs.

 Knowledge of mathematical expressions

 Comprehensive knowledge of data design, data modeling, and data management.

 Ability to build dashboards

2. What language does Power BI use?

 DAX and M are the two languages supported by Power BI to filter, handle and visualize data.

 DAX is an analytical data calculation language used for analyzing data in the Data View phase.

 n the flip side, M is a query formula language used in Power BI Query Editor to prepare data before

loading in the Power BI model.

3. Is Power BI enough to get a job?

Power BI works with the advanced version of excel, so one needs to have an excellent knowledge of MS Excel
and to build interactive dashboards to get hired. 

4. What is Q&A in Power BI?

Q&A in Power BI allows you to explore data using natural language capabilities and obtain answers in the form
of graphs and charts. You'll find Q&A on dashboards in the Power BI service.

5. Which company Power BI Interview questions are listed?

In our Power BI interview questions and answers blog, we have gathered interview questions from various
MNCs around the globe and curated the best and frequently asked questions with answers. Power BI Interview
questions of Wipro, Deloitte, Mindtree, Microsoft, Cognizant, TCS, Amazon are covered in the blog.

Tips to Prepare for Power BI Interview

Power BI Interview Preparation

Here are a few tips for acing your Power BI interview:

 Research the company: 

Learn everything there is to know about the organization. Tailor your responses specific to the company's
needs.

 Review the job specifications: 

Look over the responsibilities of the role. Brainstorm at least one example from your previous experience that
matches the requirements listed. When the interviewer asks a question about that criterion, you'll be prepared
with an example.

 Brush up on your knowledge: 

You may be asked questions about business intelligence processes, methodologies, or best practices. Review
your knowledge in essential areas, through books, videos, tutorials, and more.

 Practice common questions: 

While you can't predict what the company will ask, familiarizing yourself with common interview questions will
help you prepare.
Most Common Power BI FAQs

1. Does Power BI need coding?

No coding is required to use Power BI. It’s a data visualization tool to create business intelligence dashboards.
However, Power BI has formula languages like M and DAX that executes operations similar to programming
languages.

2. Is Power BI enough to get a job?

Yes, Power BI has a great scope. It has numerous benefits for any organization, and even novices can get jobs
as a Power BI Developer at the junior level. There are various analytics focussed companies that readily hire
talented Power BI Freshers these days.

3. How to become a Power BI developer?

To become a Power BI Developer, you must have key data visualization skills and an ability to glean insights
from large data sets. Companies across all industries have made huge investments in big data, building out
their analytics departments in numerous industries, making Power BI a field ripe with opportunities. This trend
is projected to continue in the foreseeable future.

Here, are the five steps to become a Power BI Developer:

1. Learn Power BI fundamentals

2. Develop your practical data analytics skills by working on projects.
3. Create visualisations and practise presenting them.
4. Build a portfolio of your work as a Power BI Developer.
5. Apply for Power BI jobs 

4. Is Power BI a good career option?

Yes, Power BI is a very good career. Simply put, there has never been a more exciting time to work with data.
Every day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created, and the rate is only increasing. As organisations' data
collecting develops in extent and sophistication, it's inevitable that they'll want to make use of it, and Power BI
pros are at the forefront of this trend.

5. Why is Power BI so popular?

On-premises or in the cloud, Power BI provides a scalable and unified platform for data collection, refinement,
analysis, and presentation. Through interactive dashboards and data-rich, easy-to-understand reporting, it
provides organizations with a 360-degree view of their operations. It is a part of Microsoft Business Intelligence
(MSBI) suite, and it includes a variety of services, products, and applications.

6. How much do Power BI developers make?

Power BI jobs will offer you handsome salaries and give you a chance to work with top MNCs. In the United
States, the average annual pay for a power bi developer is $105,000, or $53.85 an hour. Entry-level jobs start
at $92,625 per year, with the highest-paid individuals earning up to $135,000 per year.

7. Are Power BI Developers in High Demand?

Power BI Developers are already in great demand, and that demand is projected to rise even more in the near
future. By 2026, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a 27.9% growth in demand for data skills. 
8. What are the skills a Power BI developer should possess?

To break into the data field, formal education is mandatory. A bachelor's degree in Computer Science,
Administration, or a closely related field is necessary. Aside from academic qualifications, the position of a
Power BI Developer demands a lot.

Some of the key skills are listed below:

 Hands-on experience in data preparation, data gateway, and data warehousing concepts.
 Knowledge of the Microsoft Business Intelligence Stack, which includes Power BI, SSAS, SSRS, and
SSIS.
 Experience with a self-service tool.
 knowledge in JavaScript libraries and SQL

9. What does a Power BI Developer do?

A Power BI developer is responsible for the development and administration of BI tools, as well as a complete
understanding of the BI system. The primary responsibility of a Power BI developer is to transform raw data
into actionable insights through interactive and user-friendly dashboards and reports. A Power BI developer is
crucial to the company because of their strategic, executive, and management tasks and responsibilities.

10. What certifications are offered by Power BI?

 Exam PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst

 Exam DA-100: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI
 Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate

11. What are the roles & responsibilities of a Power BI developer?

The specific responsibilities that a Power BI Developer performs vary widely based on the industry and the
organization for which they work. A Power BI developer should expect to encounter some or all of the roles
and responsibilities listed below:

 Build Analysis Services reporting models.

 Using Power BI desktop, build visual reports, dashboards, and KPI scorecards.
 Data analysis skills
 In Power BI, use row-level data security and learn about application security layer models.
 On the Power BI desktop, run DAX queries.
 Use the data set to do advanced level calculations.
 Develop custom visuals for Power BI.
 Integrate Power BI reports into other applications
 Should be well-versed with secondary tools like Microsoft Azure, SQL data warehouse, PolyBase,
Visual Studio, and others.

12. What are the job profiles that a Power BI developer can look for?

There are a variety of job profiles available due to Power BI's popularity:

 Power BI Developer
 Power BI Analyst
 Power BI Business Analyst
 Power BI Data Analyst
 Power BI Software Engineer
 Senior Business Intelligence Analyst
13. How to Learn Power BI?

Because of Power BI's ubiquity, there are a plethora of resources for aspiring professionals to understand all
aspects of the platform, from the basic information to advanced.

Here is a list of different ways you may use to learn Power BI, whether you're just getting started or want to
brush up on your existing knowledge.

 Microsoft hosted webinars

 Microsoft’s guided learning resources
 Visit the official Power BI online community
 Microsoft’s Youtube training videos
 Power BI’s development team’s blog
 Various online courses offered by e-learning sites.

1. What is Power BI?

Power BI is a collection of Business Intelligence tools, techniques, and processes that are used to extract

valuable information from the raw business data by connecting, transforming, and visualizing raw data sets

from multiple sources.

It provides the right tools to create interactive dashboards and live reports that can be shared and published

on various platforms to help business users and stakeholders make better decisions. With the competitive and

highly categorized information, planners and decision-makers can track their performance in the market.

2. Why use Power BI?

Power BI provides a simple setup to connect, transform, and visualize the raw business data from multiple

sources. Even non-technical users can extract valuable information from their business data and use it to make

better decisions. It provides a secure cloud service that enables the user to view dashboards, reports and share

them with other business users and stakeholders in real-time analysis.

Power BI provides AI features in the form of Power Query and Power Q&A. With Power Query, you can create

the dashboards by simply typing in the columns and the visuals you want to include. While Power Q&A allows

you to analyze your data by giving voice commands.

Small businesses can use Power BI Desktop to visualize their business data without spending their time and

money in maintaining a separate team for data analysis.

3. What is the difference between Managed Enterprise BI and Self-service BI?

The limitations of Managed Enterprise BI led to the birth of Self-service BI. There are significant differences

that separate them.

Managed Enterprise BI Self-service BI

Here, data flows in from a plethora of sources and, for this This enables companies to ingest data from any
reason, there is no order in which companies ingest and data source, seamlessly. Companies take in data
manage their data sources. from any source in any format.

Companies fail to conduct their business operations, With data ingestion falling into order, companies
effectively, as they are not able to report and analyze data are able to process data and, consequently,
and collaborate for collecting valuable insights from it. conduct business operations with ease.

There are time constraints and a lack of proper Analyzing data is easy, and it is done implicitly.
information when it comes to analyzing data. Time constraints are hence alleviated.

Third-party vendors are employed to help companies make There is no need for third-party vendors anymore
the most out of their data sources, leading to budget and all associated constraints are eradicated.
problems and slow productivity.

Complex programming skills are necessary for generating Users could generate intuitive and actionable
reports. dashboards almost instantaneously without
executing complex programming codes.
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4. What exactly is Self-service BI?

Self-service BI or Self-service Business Intelligence (SSBI) is an approach to data analytics, reporting, and

visualization that enables users to generate easy-to-understand, intuitive, and actionable dashboards, almost

instantaneously.
The most striking feature of SSBI is the fact that users are not required to be adept at technical expertise when

it comes to data reporting. Using available filters and data manipulation options, they can influence data as per

their business needs and further create reports. There are two parts to Microsoft SSBI:

 Excel BI toolkit

 Power BI

Learn more about  Power BI Business Intelligence Tools!

5. Why are you interested in Power BI? What makes you think that Power BI would be a great career

option?

A cloud-based data reporting and visualization tool, Power BI makes it possible for users to generate reports

online. Once reports are generated, users can share them with their colleagues in their workplace. This aspect

of Power BI makes it quite popular among business users. And therefore, Power BI is both an interesting and

promising career option.

6. Mention the important features of Power BI.

Features of Power BI are many. The most notable ones are:

  It allows users to transform data into visuals and share those visuals with colleagues.

 It allows users to explore and analyze data from all sources (in an all-in-one view).

 It allows users to scale across organizations with built-in governance and security.

 Once an output is generated, users can display the same in multiple devices that are compatible

with the Power BI application.

 With Power BI natural language processing or Power BI Q&A, users can perform queries on

reports using simple English words.

7. Is Power BI free to use?

Well, users can use Power BI for free. However, the best of Power BI can be availed with the  Power BI Pro

subscription account. This can be purchased from the Microsoft Store. The subscription account basically offers

an enhanced version of several features that are available with the Power BI free account. Most business users

use a subscribed account as it offers more data refreshes per day and other features as compared to the free

version.

8. What are the versions of Power BI?

Power BI currently comes in three versions:

 Microsoft Power BI Free/Desktop – This version is for users who want to get business insights

from their data with visualizations.

 Microsoft Power BI Pro – This is the full version of Power BI. It allows users unlimited reporting,

sharing, and viewing of reports.

 Microsoft Power BI Premium – This version provides a license for all users in an organization.

Go through the  Power BI Course in London to get a clear understanding of Power BI!

9. What is Power BI Desktop?

Power BI Desktop is a Windows desktop-based application for personal computers, primarily for designing,

generating, and publishing reports to the cloud. Used as an on-premise version of Power BI, Power BI Desktop

can run on PCs and work full-fledged even when the system is not connected to the Internet. Just when users
want to publish their reports to the cloud or share with colleagues, they are supposed to connect to the

Internet. Power BI Desktop is basically the first application that users jump into when they board on Power BI.

10. What are the major components of Power BI?

There are five different components of Power BI.

 Power Pivot: Fetches and cleans data and loads on to Power Query

 Power Query: Operates on the loaded data

 Power Q&A: Makes it possible for users to interact with reports using simple English language

 Power View: Lets users create interactive charts, graphs, maps, and other visuals

 Power Map: Enables the processing of accurate geographic locations in datasets

Career Transition

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11. What is the purpose of the ‘Get Data’ icon in Power BI?

When users click on the Get Data icon in Power BI, a drop-down menu appears and it shows all data sources

from which data can be ingested.

Data can actually be directly ingested from any source including files in Excel, CSV, XML, JSON, PDF, and

SharePoint formats and databases such as SQL, Access, SQL Server Analysis Services, Oracle, IBM, MySQL, and

much more. Also, Power BI datasets and Power BI data flows are compatible. Data can also be taken in from

Azure and other online sources.

12. How can we filter data in Power BI?

Data can be filtered using various filters that are available in Power BI, implicitly. There are basically three

types of filters, namely, Page-level filters, Drillthrough filters, and Report-level filters.

 Drillthrough filters: With Drillthrough filters in Power BI Desktop, users can create a page in

their reports that focuses on specific entities such as suppliers, customers, or manufacturers.

 Page-level filters: These are used to filter charts that are present on individual pages.

 Report-level filters: They are used to simultaneously filter charts that are present on all pages of

a report.

Learn more about Power BI from this Power BI Training in New York to get ahead in your career!

13. How is Power BI different from other BI tools?

Power BI provides better features and data manipulation tools as compared to other BI tools like Tableau. A

single user can connect with multiple data sources without any experience in coding and data analytics. As a

product of Microsoft, Power BI is closely integrated with other Microsoft tools such as Office 365, SharePoint,

and Bing.

In the free version of Power BI Desktop, the user can analyze datasets of up to 1GB in storage along with

10,000 rows of data steaming every hour. Moreover, it provides features like Power Query which allows the

user to easily visualize the datasets by giving the command in the natural English language.

14. MSBI vs Power BI

Below are the key differences between the MSBI and Power BI:

MSBI Power BI

SSRS in MSBI is used to integrate the processing Power Bi is a collection of BI tools and techniques that allows
components and programming interfaces to the user to create dashboards and reports by transforming
test and share the reports on various devices. the raw business data into visually interactive charts, maps,
and graphs.

It cannot access the data from cloud storage. Can access the data from both On-premise and cloud storage.

MSBI can handle large datasets without putting Power BI can handle datasets of a maximum of 10MB or
much stress on the computer systems. 33,000 rows. The user has to run direct queries if the data
exceeds the limit.

SSRS in MSBI can only be used to create Power BI is used to create data models, reports, and
visualizations and reports. dashboards, which you can access and share via Power BI
Apps and web browsers.

15. Power BI vs Tableau

Below are some of the major differences between Power BI and Tableau:

Power BI Tableau

Power BI can handle a limited volume of datasets. Can handle huge datasets without affecting the
performance of the system.

Can be used by both naive and experienced users. Used by experienced professionals for data analytics
purposes.

Power BI has an easy-to-learn interface that helps The interface is difficult to understand by a non-technical
the user to visualize the data and create reports. user.
Provides an easy way for embedding the reports. It’s a real-time challenge for embedding reports in
Tableau.

Power BI uses Data Analysis Expression(DAX) to Tableau uses Multidimensional Expressions(MDX) to

build formulas and expressions for measuring the create complex calculations and measure columns and
columns. dimensions.

16. What are the essential applications of Power BI?

Power BI is used by the following professionals and departments:

 Project Management Office: Power BI is used by project managers to identify the current

situation of various business units. It helps them to see the overall performance of the team and

track the progress of various projects.

 Business and Data Analysts: Business Analysts use Power BI to analyze the raw business data at

greater speeds and efficiency. They prepare the data by cleaning and transforming it based on

specific requirements and prepare live reports to express the raw in the form of visual insights.

 Database Administrators: By using PowerShell or Microsoft 365, the database administrator can

increase the Power BI embedded capacity and assign the roles to different team members. With

Power BI, the Database Administrators can set the passwords and decide who can access the

reports and dashboards in Power BI.

 IT Professionals: IT professionals can use Power BI to create stunning visualizations and

dashboards to track their performance and visualize various log files for the meetings. It also

helps them to find out the areas where the team needs to work on and improve their

performance.

 Reports for the consumer: With Power BI, the business user can add custom reports to various

applications designed from the consumer’s perceptive. For example, you can create a report

that shows your daily sales down in different countries and add it to your social media profiles,

websites, and applications. This will show the consumer your product’s popularity and will

motivate him to buy it.

Do you know Why Power BI is one of the  best Business Intelligence Tools!

17. Advantages of using Power BI?

Here are a few advantages of using Power BI over other applications:

 ETL/Data Recovery Suite: Power BI has a robust set of tools for implementing the

ETL(extraction, transformation, and loading the datasets) capabilities. Data preparation and

transformation are very important before moving to the visualization part. Power BI allows the

user to directly build reporting datamarts and remove any ambiguities present in the datasets.

 Custom Visualization: Power BI provides you the flexibility of creating custom visualizations and

adding them to your dashboards and live reports. Custom reports help the planners and

decision-makers to identify the problems and make the best decision to improve their

performance in the market.

 Q&A Capability: Power BI is capable of executing natural language queries with the help of

Power Query and Power Q&A. Power Bi use AI and Natural Language Processing(NLP) algorithms

to process the commands given by the user and produce the desired results.

 Easy to use: You don’t need to be an expert to visualize your data and create reports in Power

BI. It has a simple interface that allows even a non-technical user to transform the raw data into

visually interactive dashboards and reports.

 Price: Compared to other BI and data visualization tools, Power BI is highly affordable. Small

businesses can use power BI for free and take smart decisions to improvise their performance in

the market. Moreover, Power BI Pro comes with an array of features for just $10 a month.

Courses you may like

18. What are the building blocks of Power BI?

Below are the building blocks of Power BI:

 Visualizations: These are the visual representations of the raw data collected from varied data

sources. Visualizations can be different types such as line graphs, donut charts, pie charts, bar

graphs, maps, etc.

 Datasets: It’s a collection that Power BI uses to create visualizations and reports. Datasets in

Power BI can be of different types such as Excel sheets, CSV files, Oracle tables, and more.

 Reports: A report in Power BI is a collection of visualizations bought together on a single or

multiple pages. Each visualization in a report shows the specific aspect of the data based on the

requirements. For example, profit by-products, sales by country, city report, etc.

 Dashboards: Dashboards are single-layer presentations with one or more visualizations

embedded on a single page. Dashboards can be shared on various platforms like Power BI Apps

to provide live information.

 Tiles: Tiles are the single visualizations in a dashboard or report. For example, a pie chart, line

graph, or any other visualization is a single tile in Power BI.

Next up on this top Power BI interview questions and answers, let us check out some of the top Power BI

questions that come under the intermediate category.

19. What is Power BI Dashboard?

Power BI Dashboard is a canvas that helps in creating a story with visualizations and templates to better

understand the data. It contains all the highlights of the data in the form of a one-page report.

20. What are formats in Power BI?

The different formats in Power BI are as follows:

 Power BI Desktop – Power BI Desktop can be downloaded and installed on your PC. You can

connect it to the data source, transform the data, and analyze and visualize it with the help of

templates.

 Power BI Services – Power BI Services is a Service-as-a-platform or a cloud based service.

 Power BI Mobile App – The Power BI App is available for iOs, Android, and Windows.

21. What are custom visualizations?

Power BI Pro users can create their own visualizations from the custom visualizations library. First, a

development project will have to be created and then the visual can be tested in Power BI services. As soon as

the custom visualization is created, it is thoroughly tested before posting. It is saved as a .pbiviz file before

sharing.

Learn more about  Power BI Integration with Azure!

22. What are the parts of Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence solution?

Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence solution has two parts:

 Excel BI Toolkit – It helps users create interactive reports using imported data from various data

sources. Data can be modeled according to what is needed in the report.

 Power BI – It helps users share the interactive reports created using Excel BI Toolkit.
23. Is Power BI an effective solution?

Power BI is a cloud-based business intelligence tool. It helps analyze and visualize raw data imported from

various data sources. It integrates data visualizations with data analytics, to help businesses make better

decisions centered around data. Power BI is easy to use and processes data in a reliable and easy-to-

understand way.

Power BI can work on different platforms and be shared on the cloud. All of this makes it an affection solution.

24. What do you understand by Power BI services?

Power BI Services is a Service-as-a-platform or a cloud-based service. It can be used to analyze, and visualize

data aligned with sharing business insights efficiently.

25. How can you refresh data in Power BI?

Data can be refreshed in the Gateway in Power BI by scheduling Refresh.

26. What is Power Pivot?

An add-in for Microsoft Excel 2010, Power Pivot enables users to import millions of rows of data from various

sources into one Excel Workbook. Users can create calculated columns, measure using formulas, and create

relationships between heterogeneous data. They can also build PivotCharts and PivotTables. Users can analyze

data effectively to help in making timely business decisions without any help from IT.

Check out how to build an impressive  Power BI Developer Resume!

27. What is Power Query?

Power Query is an ETL tool. It can help shape, transform, and clean data with the help of intuitive interfaces

and no need for coding. Power Query can help with the following:

 Importing data from various data sources like files, databases, social media data, big data, etc.

 Appending and joining data from several sources.

 Adding or removing data to shape it according to requirements.

28. What is Power View?

Power View is a technology for data visualization that allows users to create interactive graphs, charts, maps,

and other visualizations that help bring data to life. Power View is available in SharePoint, Excel, Power BI, and

SQL Server.

29. Differentiate between Power BI and Excel.

Parameter Power BI Excel

Tabular Power BI is not very good at handling Excel is better at handling tabular reports.
reports tabular reports.

Duplicate Power BI can’t display duplicate tables. Excel allows users to display duplicate tables.
table

Reports Power BI allows interactive, personalized Excel users cannot perform advanced cross-filtering
reports. between charts.

Analytics Power BI offers simple analytics. Excel offers advanced analytics.

Applications Power BI is ideal for KPIs, alerts, and Excel has new charts now but they can’t connect to
dashboards. data model.

Learn a step-by-step guide on exporting Power Bi data to excel from our blog!

30. Explain the filled map in Power BI.

Power BI comes with two built-in maps – chart maps and filled maps. A filled map will show you data points on

geospatial areas instead of just showing points on a map. Working with a filled map can be a lot more difficult

than working with a chart map.

31. How to perform query tasks on the Power BI desktop?

You can use Power Query on the Power BI desktop via the power query editor. To open it, you need to go to

Edit Queries from the home tab of the Power BI desktop.

32. How do you create a group in Power BI?

You first have to select all the fields you want to group then, right-click on it and open the context menu. You

can select the Group option from the menu and Power BI will automatically group these items.

33. Explain what M language is in Power BI.

M is a query language formula that is used in Power BI Query Editor. It helps in preparing data before loading it

into the Power BI model. The main function of Power Query is to mash-up data from one supported source to

another. These data mashups are expressed with the help of Power Query M Formula Language.

34. What is the Time Intelligence function?

The Time Intelligence function allows users to manipulate data with the help of periods.

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35. Where is data stored in Power BI?

When data is ingested into Power BI, it is basically stored in Fact and Dimension tables.

 Fact tables: The central table in a star schema of a data warehouse, a fact table stores

quantitative information for analysis and is not normalized in most cases.

 Dimension tables: It is just another table in the star schema that is used to store attributes and

dimensions that describe objects stored in a fact table.

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36. What are content packs?

Content packs are packaged reports, dashboards, and datasets, which can be shared with other Power BI users

in the organization. When a content pack is connected on the Powerbi.com portal, report items are merged

into workspace lists.

The most notable features of content packs are as follows:

 Provide access to specific groups or entire organizations

  Can be customized with a title and a description to help users select the right pack

 Users who have access to the content pack can create new dashboards from the contents

37. What are the different views in Power BI Desktop?

There are three different views in Power BI, each of which serves a different purpose:

 Report View: Users can add visualizations and additional report pages and publish the same on

the portal from here.

 Data View: Data shaping can be performed through Query Editor tools.

 Relationship View: Users can manage relationships between datasets in this view.

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38. What is row-level security?

Row-level security restricts the data that a user can view and has access to, based on filters. For configuring

row-level security, users can define rules and roles in Power BI Desktop and publish the same to Power BI

Service. Also, the username() function can be used alongside table relationships to restrict the data to the

current user.
However, for enabling row-level security, a Power BI Pro subscription account is required, and Excel sheets can

only be used when they are converted to the .pbix file format.

39. What is DAX? What are the benefits of using variables in DAX?

DAX or Data Analysis Expressions can be used to query and return data by a table expression. It is a formula

language that is used to perform basic calculations and data analysis on the data in Power Pivot. Also, it is used

to compute calculated columns, calculated fields, and measures. However, data cannot be inserted or

modified using DAX.

DAX Syntax:
Total Sales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount])

Where ‘Total Sales’ is a ‘Measure’; ‘SUM’ is a ‘DAX Function’, and ‘Sales[SalesAmount]’ represents the

referenced table and the referenced column name.

Benefits of using variables in DAX:

 Variables can be reused in DAX queries, thus avoiding additional queries of the source database.

 Variables make DAX expressions understandable.

40. What is bidirectional cross-filtering in Power BI?

Bidirectional cross-filtering in Power BI Desktop allows data modelers to determine how they want filters to

flow for data using relationships between tables. With bidirectional cross-filtering, the filter context is

propagated to a second related table on the other side of a table relationship. This can help data modelers

solve the many-to-many problem without writing complicated DAX formulas. Thus, bidirectional cross-filtering

simplifies the job for data modelers.

41. How are relationships defined in Power BI Desktop?

If there are no null values or duplicate rows, relationships between tables can be defined in two ways:

 Manually: Users can manually define relationships between tables using primary and foreign

keys.

 With the autodetect feature: When enabled, this inherent feature of Power BI detects

relationships between tables and creates them automatically.

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42. What do you know about Power BI Query Editor?

By using Power BI Query Editor, users can load data from a wider number of data sources and apply

transformations to them, including adding new columns and measures.

Power BI Query Editor comprises four tabs:

Query Editor Tab Use Case

Home  Import data from Query Editor into the New Query group

 Use the Parameter group to create and manage parameters

 Include a function to refresh the preview data for the
 current table, or all tables, in the dataset

 Manage columns, reduce rows, and sort groups

Transform  Change the data types of columns, rename columns, replace

values, and fix errors in the Any Column group

 The structured column group provides options for working

with the nested data

 Run R Script function enables to run R Queries directly on

Power BI Query Editor

Add Column  Use Add Custom Column to create a new column using a DAX

formula

 Use Conditional Column to add a column based on the values

in another column

 Use

the From Number group to apply statistical, standard, and

scientific functions to numerical columns

View  Show or hide Query Editor Settings

 From here, the Advanced Editor window can be opened

to view and edit the query code

43. What is Advanced Editor in Power BI?

Advanced Editor can be used to see the query that Power BI runs against data sources to import data.

 The query is written in M-code, the Power Query Formula Language

 To view the query code from Power BI Desktop, choose Edit Queries from the Home tab

 From either the Home or the View tab, click on Advanced Editor to work on the query. The

Advanced Editor window opens, displaying the code for the currently selected query

 When we make transformations to our data in Query Editor, the steps are saved to the Applied

Steps in the Query Settings

 These steps are also applied to the code in the Advanced Editor
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44. Why should general formatting be applied to data in Power BI?

By formatting data, users can help Power BI categorize and identify data, making it much easier to work with.

 Enter a custom formula to create a new column, including calculations using values from the

other columns

 To create a new column, click on Add Custom Column

 In the new column name box, type the name of the column and add the formula to the custom

column formula box; for example, [ShipDate] – [OrderDate]

 Select a column from the available columns list and click on Insert or double-click to add it to the

custom column formula text box. Then, click on OK

 The new column is appended to the table, and the formula is visible in the Formula Bar

Custom Column Formula:

= Table.AddColumn(#"Sorted Rows",
"DaysOrderToShip", each [ShipDate] -
[OrderDate])

The above code is the formula to create a custom column, which calculates the days from when an order was

placed to when it got shipped.

45. Name the different connectivity modes available in Power BI?

There are three main connectivity modes available in Power BI:

 SQL Server Import: It’s the default and most commonly used connectivity option in Power BI.

With SQL Server Import, the user can fully utilize the Power BI Desktop. You can easily connect

the SQL Server data with Power BI and run queries on it.

 Direct Query: Direct queries can be executed on datasets exceeding the recommended size. In

this case, Power BI will only store the metadata of the source and execute direct queries on it.

However, it limits the operations you can perform to prepare your data for reporting.
  Live Connections: Power BI Service can be used to connect with live data sources such as SQL

Server Analysis Services, Power BI Datasets hosted by Power BI Service, and Azure Analysis

Service. In a live connection, all the interactions will be done using direct queries.

46. What are the different types of refresh options available in Power BI?

There are four types of refresh options available in Power BI:

 Package Refresh: It synchronizes your data in Power BI Desktop or Excel files between Power BI

service and SharePoint Online and OneDrive.

 Model or Data Refresh: Refresh the data available in Power BI Service with the data stored in

the original data source.

 Tile refresh: This feature updates the cache for Power BI tiles every 15 minutes on the

dashboards.

 Visual Container Refresh: Used to refresh the visual containers and the visuals of cached reports

once the data is changed.

47. What data sources can Power BI connect to?

Power BI can connect to various data sources but it can be categorized as follows:

 Files: Power BI can import data from files like .csv, .xslx, .pbix, and .xlxm.

 Content Packs: Content packs are a collection of related files or documents, stored as a group.

Power BI has two types of content packs – from service providers like Google Analytics, or

Salesforce, and the ones created and shared by other users in the organization.

 Connectors: Connectors to databases and other datasets like Database and SQL, Azure SQL, etc.

48. What is a comprehensive working system of Power BI?

Power BI’s working system comprises four steps:

 Data Importing: The first step is to import the data and then convert it into a standard format.

 Data Cleaning: Once the data is assembled, it needs to be transformed or cleaned to remove

unwanted data.
  Data Visualization: In this step, the data is visually represented on the Power BI desktop in the

form of reports and dashboards with the help of powerful visualization tools.

 Save and Publish: Once your report is ready, you can save and publish the reports. These can be

shared with users through mobile apps and the web.

49. What are the different types of filters in Power BI reports?

There are various filter types in Power BI:

 Visual-level Filters – These filters work on single visualizations. They reduce the amount of data

the visualization can see. These filters can filter calculations as well as data.

 Page-level Filters – These filters work on the report-page level. Different pages in the same

report can have different page-level filters.

 Report-level Filters – These filters work on an entire report. They filter all visualizations and

pages included in the report.

50. What are the types of visualizations in Power BI?

The following are some types of visualizations that are available in Power BI:

 Bar and Column Charts: You can use these visualizations to look at a specific value across

various categories.

 Area Charts: Area Charts help look at the magnitude of change over time.

 Card: Cards can be used to show the aggregate value of particular data points.

 Doughnut and Pie Charts: These charts help you visualize the relationship between parts of a

whole.

 Maps: Maps show quantitative and categorical data with spatial locations.

 Matrix: Matrix is a type of table that helps see aggregate data easily.

 Slicers: A slicer is used to filter other visuals on the page.

51. Why and how would you use a custom visual file?

A custom visual file helps users if none of the already existing visuals fit the needs of the business. These are

usually generated by developers and they can be used just like prepackaged files.
52. What are the various types of users who can use Power BI?

 Report Consumers: They consume reports according to their particular needs.

 Report Analyst: They require detailed data for their analysis of the reports.

 Self-Service Data Analyst: They need an in-depth analysis of the data to work with.

 Basic Data Analyst: They are able to build their own datasets.

 Advanced-Data Analyst: They can write SQL queries and bring hands-on experience in Power BI.

53. What is the maximum data limit per client for the free version of Power BI?

A free Power BI version allows users 10 GB of storage space in the cloud for hosting Power BI reports. The

maximum size allowed for a report in the cloud is 1 GB.

54. Where do you reshape data in Power BI?

Data can be reshaped in Data Editing.

55. Which is a single-page canvas that uses visualizations to depict a story?

Power BI Dashboard.

56. List out some drawbacks/limitations of using Power BI.

Some limitations of Power BI are as follows:

 Complex in nature

Power BI has been designed a little complex. Users need to know in-depth about Power BI

before they can start working on it.

 Large Data

Power BI isn’t capable of handling large data and might time out while processing it. It cannot

process data larger than 1 GB.

 Limited Sharing of Data

Only users who are on the same domain or have their email addresses listed on Office 365 can

receive the files you share.

  Limited Data Source

Power BI allows real-time connection with very limited data sources.

57. What are the most common DAX functions used?

Here are some of the most commonly used DAX functions:

 SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG, COUNTROWS, DISTINCTCOUNT

 IF, AND, OR, SWITCH

 ISBLANK, ISFILTERED, ISCROSSFILTERED

 VALUES, ALL, FILTER, CALCULATE,

 UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT, NATURALINNERJOIN, NATURALLEFTEROUTERJOIN,

SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, ISEMPTY,

 VAR (Variables)

 GEOMEAN, MEDIAN, DATEDIFF

58. What are the three fundamental concepts of DAX?

Three fundamental concepts of DAX are as follows:

 Syntax: It is the formula that includes the functions. If the syntax is wrong, the result will show

an error.

 Functions: These are arguments that a specific order to perform.

 Context: Contexts are of two types – Row Context and Filter Context. Row Context is applied

when a formula has a function that applies a filter to identify a row in a table. Filter Context is

applied when one or more filters are used to get a value.

59. What are the purpose and benefits of using the DAX function?

DAX or Data Analysis Expression is a functional language that can create calculated columns and/or measures

for smarter calculations to limit the data the dashboard has to fetch and visualize.

60. What are the different Excel BI add-ins?

The most important Power BI add-ins to Excel are as follows:

 Power Query – Power Query helps in editing, loading, and finding external data.

 Power Pivot – Power Pivot is mainly used in data analysis and data modeling.

 Power View – Power View is used to design interactive and visual reports.

 Power Map – Power Map helps display insights on 3D maps.

61. What is Power Pivot Data Model?

Power Pivot Data Model is made up of data tables, types, table relations, and columns. The data tables are

constructed to hold data for some business entities.

62. Can we have more than one active relationship between two tables in Power Pivot Data Model?

There can’t be more than one active relationship between two tables. There can be more than one

relationship between two tables but only one of them can be active.

63. What is query folding in Power Query?

When the steps defined in Power Query are rendered in SQL and implemented by the source database instead

of the client machine, it is known as query folding. Query folding is important for performance processing and

scalability.

64. Can SQL and Power Query/Query Editor be used together?

Yes, SQL and Power Query/Query Editor can be used together by defining an SQL statement as the source of a

Power Query/Query Editor function. This helps ensure a good database query has reached the source. It also

helps avoid any unnecessary complexity and processing by the client machine.

65. Which language is used in Power Query?

M-code is a new programming language used in Power Query. It’s really easy to use and pretty similar to other

programming languages.
66. What are the primary requirements for a table to be used in Power Map?

The primary requirement is to have unique rows. The table also needs to have location data. The location data

can be in the form of latitude/longitude pair, address fields, etc.

67. What are the data sources for Power Map?

The data sources can be Excel or external. To prepare the data you have to make sure all the data is in the

Excel table format, with each row depicting a unique record. The row/column headings must contain text and

not actual data. This is important to make sure Power Map interprets it correctly while plotting geographical

coordinates.  You can use meaningful labels to make the category and value field handy when you’re designing

your tour in the Power Map Tour Editor pane.

If you want to load data from an external source, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Excel, click Data, and then the connection you want to add from the Get External Data

group.

2. A wizard will open. You can follow the steps given.

3. On the final step of the wizard, check the Add this data to the Data Model.

68. Is Power BI available on-premises?

No. Power BI isn’t available on-premises as a private cloud service. But, you can securely connect your on-

premises data sources with Power BI and Power BI Desktop.

69. What is Power BI Q&A?

Power BI Q&A is a language tool that helps with data querying and obtaining the required results. Q&A renders

your questions and reveals a restated query about what it requires from your data.

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70. What are the most common data shaping techniques?

The most common data shaping techniques are:

 Removing Columns and Rows

 Adding Indexes

 Applying a Sort Order

71. What is the difference between Calculated Columns, Calculated Tables, and Measures?

Calculated Columns Calculated Tables Measures

●     Added to tables by applying ●     Created using DAX formula to ●     Use other DAX functions to
DAX formula on the existing define values create complex calculations
data
●     Created in both Report and Data ●     Used for highlighting running
●     DAX formula defines values views totals, comparing sales, sales
in new columns rather than forecasting, and other purposes
●     Work well for intermediate
querying data sources
calculations and the data that users ●     Created in both Report and Data
●     Useful when data sources want to be stored in the model views
do not contain data presented
 
in the desired format

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72. Which In-memory Analytics Engine is used in Power Pivot?

The primary in-memory analytics engine behind Power Pivot is xVelocity. This engine handles large amounts of

data as it stores data in columnar databases. In in-memory analytics, all data is loaded to RAM memory, and

therefore, the processing speed is really fast.

73. What is Power BI Designer?

A powerful and flexible new tool under the Power BI umbrella, Power BI Designer empowers users to create

intuitive reports and dashboards, easily and quickly and also lets the users change visual views of their data at

their fingertips for better analytics and informed decision-making. This designer is a host of drag-and-drop

capabilities that help users place content exactly where they want it on the report canvas in a well-structured

layout.
74. Is it possible to refresh Power BI Reports after they are published to the cloud?

Yes, it is possible. Gateways can be used to do so.

 For SharePoint: Data Management Gateway

 For Powerbi.com: Power BI Personal Gateway

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75. What gateways are available in Power BI, and why use them?

A gateway basically acts as a bridge between on-premise data sources and Azure Cloud Services.

 Personal Gateway: Data can be imported and valid on Power BI Service only. Also, this gateway

can only be used by a single person.

 On-premises Gateway: This gateway is the advanced form of Personal gateway. It supports

Direct Query, and multiple users can use this for refreshing data.

76. How can geographic data be mapped into Power BI Reports?

Through a map chart and a filled map chart, Power BI makes it possible for users to visually map geographic

data, both globally and regionally.

 Power BI integrates with Bing Maps to find default coordinates for locations in a process known

as geocoding.

 This integration means that users do not need to provide longitude and latitude coordinates.

77. What happens when you click on a single data point in one of the multiple visuals in a report?

When we do that, data gets selected and copied to the clipboard. Further, the copied data can be pasted

anywhere as per the requirement of the user.

78. What is z-order in Power BI?

Z-order is a design strategy that is used for arranging visuals over shapes. Also, z-order can be defined as an

implementation method that can be applied when reports have multiple elements. Further, this can also be

used to refresh the display after the order of items in a report is changed.

79. What is the prerequisite for connecting to a database in Azure SQL Database?

There is only one prerequisite for this. Before connecting to a database in Azure SQL Database, users should

configure firewall settings to allow remote connections.

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80. What are some ways that Excel experience can be leveraged with Power BI?

In Power BI, the excel experience can be leveraged in the following ways:

 Power BI Publisher for Excel:

o The charts, tables, and ranges can be pinned to Power Bi Service.

o Datasets and reports stored in Power BI Service can be used to connect with the

publisher for Excel.

 Excel workbooks can be used for Power BI report creation by exploring the models in tables in

Excel.
  Pivot models of Excel workbooks can be imported to Power BI Desktop models and to save both

time and effort.

 You can upload Excel workbooks in Power BI and view them on a web browser, Power BI

Desktop, or Power BI Apps.

 Like any other report, Excel reports can be shared on Power BI Service with other users.

81. How is the FILTER function used?

The FILTER function gives back a tabler with a filter applied for all of its source table rows. The FILTER function

is used as a parameter for other functions.

FILTER can have a negative impact on large source tables as it is an iterator.

A complex filtering logic can be applied, for example,

FILTER(ATable,[SalesMetric] > 1000)

82. What is the CALCULATE function in DAX?

The CALCULATE function helps calculate the sum of an entire column. It can be modified using filters.

Syntax:
CALCULATE ( [, [, [, … ]]] )

Expression: The expression that has to be evaluated.

Filter: The filter is a boolean expression or a table expression that is supposed to define a filter.

83. What is special or unique about the CALCULATE and CALCULATETABLE functions?

These are the only functions that allow you to modify the filter context of tables or measures.

 You can add to the existing filter context of the queries.

 You can override the filter context from the queries.

 You can remove the existing filter context from the queries.

Limitations:

 Filter parameters will only be able to work on one column at a time.

  Filter parameters will not be able to reference a metric.

84. What is the common table function for grouping data?

SUMMARIZE()

 This is the main groupby function in SSAS.

 You should specify tables and groups by columns instead of metrics.

SUMMARIZECOLUMNS

 It is the new group by function in SSAS and Power BI desktop. It is also more efficient.

 You should specify groups by table, expressions, and columns.

85. How would you create trailing X month metrics via DAX against a non-standard calendar?

You will have to use the following:

 CALCULATE function to take over the filter context of measures.

 ALL to remove the existing filters on the date dimension.

 FILTER to identify which rows of the date dimension you would use.

CONTAINS can also used.

86. What are some of the differences between data modeling between Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot

for Excel?

The differences between Power BI Desktop data modeling and Power Pivot data modeling are as follows:

Power BI Desktop Power Pivot

Supports bi-directional cross-filtering relationships. Supports only single relationships.

Security roles can be defined in Power BI Desktop. Security roles cannot be defined in Power Pivot for Excel.

87. What are data destinations for Power Queries?

There are two different data destinations for Power Queries:

  You can load to a table in a worksheet.

 You can load it to the Excel Data Model.

88. What are some common Power Query/Query Editor transforms?

Filtering rows, Adding new columns, Grouping, Choosing/Removing columns, Changing data types, Splitting a

column into multiple columns, etc.

89. What are query parameters and Power BI templates?

Query parameters are used to give a local Power BI Desktop report with a prompt to the users. This helps

specify the values they’re interested in.

 The query and calculation can use parameter selection.

 PBIX files can also be exported as Power BI Templates (PBIT).

 The Template files will contain everything from the PBIX files except for the data.

Templates and parameters help share small template files and limit the amount of data that is loaded into the

local PBIX files. This improves the experience as well as processing time.

90. Why do we need Power Query when Power Pivot can import from mostly used sources?

Power Query helps users pull data from various sources, manipulate it according to their requirements, and

load it onto Excel. It is better to use Power Query over Power Pivot as with Power Query you don’t just get to

load data, you can also manipulate it according to your needs.

91. Name some commonly used tasks in the Query Editor.

 Shape Data – You can transform your data according to your needs, to shape and clean it.

 Pivot Columns – You can pivot columns and then create a table with the aggregate values.

 Connect to Data – You can get data from various sources and transform it.

 Group Rows – You can group the values of various different rows in a single value by

summarizing.

 Advanced Editor – You can modify data using Advanced Query Editor.
  Create Custom Columns – You can create custom columns with the help of custom formulas.

92. What are the data management gateway and Power BI personal gateway?

Gateways bridge the gap between data sources on-premise and Azure cloud service.

Let’s look at the features of both of these separately.

Power BI Personal Gateway:

 No central managing, Only Power BI service, Only import

 Can only be used by one person

Data Management Gateway:

 Supports direct query and import

 Multiple users can use the gateway to develop content

 Monitor and control centrally

93. What happens when you click the Infocus mode of a tile on the Power BI dashboard on the browser?

When you click the Infocus mode of a tile, it expands the tile and the tiles take full space.

94. How do you consolidate inquiries in Power BI?

Inquiries in Power BI are consolidated using Join Queries.

95. What is a calculated column in Power BI and why would you use them?

Calculated columns are DAX expressions. They are calculated during the model’s refresh process/processing of

every row of the particular column. It can also be used like any other column of the model.

Calculated columns consume more memory and reduce query performance. They also reduce

refresh/processing performance if they are applied on large tables.

96. How is data security implemented in Power BI?

A DAX expression has to be applied on a table that filters its own rows at query time. Dynamic security will

involve using USERNAME functions in defining security roles. Finally, a table will be created within the model

that will relate users to specific dimensions and roles.

97. What are many-to-many relationships and how can they be addressed in Power BI?

Many-to-many relationships include a junction or a bridge table that reflects combinations from two

dimensions.

 Bi-directional relationships can be utilized in PBIX.

 CROSSFILTER function is utilized in Power Pivot in Excel.

 DAX is used to check or transform the filter context.

98. Why might you have a table in the model without any relationships to other tables?

There are usually two reasons for doing that:

 An unrelated table can be used to provide the user with parameters that need to be exposed

and selected in slicers.

o DAX metrics can retrieve this information and use it in other calculations or

metrics.

 An unrelated table can also be used as a placeholder for UI metrics.

99. What are the differences between a Power BI dataset, a Report, and a Dashboard?

Power BI Dataset Report Dashboard

It is the source that is used to It is a Power BI Desktop file that It is a collection of visuals taken from
create reports and visuals. contains one or more pages of various reports.
reports.

Data is inside the model or a It is built to get an interactive, in- It is built to get aggregate important
Direct Query connection to the depth analysis of particular visuals and metrics from different
source. datasets. datasets.

100. What are the three Edit interactions options of a visual tile in Power BI Desktop?
The three edit interaction options are:

 Filter – It completely filters a visual tile on the basis of the filter selection of another visual tile.

 Highlight – It highlights the related elements on the visual tile and greys out the unrelated

elements.

 None – It ignores the filter selection from another visual tile.

101. How does SSRS integrate with Power BI?

There are a few ways SSRS can integrate with Power BI:

 Some report items like charts can be pinned on Power BI dashboards.

 If you click on the tile in the Power BI dashboard, it will take the user to the SSRS report.

 Users will soon be able to publish Power BI reports on SSRS portals.

3. Why use Power BI?

Here are four primary reasons for using Power BI tool:

 Pre-built dashboards and reports for SaaS Solutions.

 Power BI allows real-time dashboard updates.
 Offers Secure and reliable connection to your data sources in the cloud or on-premises
 Power BI offers fast deployment, hybrid configuration, and secure environment.
 Helps you in data exploration using natural language query

4. What are the important components of Power BI?

Important components of Power BI are: 1) Data Integration, 2) Data Processing, and 3) Data Presentation

5. What is Dax Function?

It is a formula expression language called (DAX) that can be used with various visualization tools like Power BI.
It is also known as a functional language, where the full code is kept inside a function.

6. What are the data types of Dax?

Data types of Dax are: 1) Numeric, 2) Boolean, 3) DateTime, 4) String, and 5) Decimal.

7. What are the essential applications of the Power BI?

Power BI is mainly used by:

 PMO – Project Management Office

 Business & Data Analyst
 Developer & Database Administrator
 IT Team, IT Professional
 Consumer for End User Report
 Data Scientist

8. What are the drawbacks of using Power BI?

Here, are the main drawbacks of Power BI:

 Dashboards and reports only shared with users having identical email domains.
 Power Bl does not mix imported data, which is accessed from real-time connections.
 Power BI can’t accept file size larger than 1 GB.
 Dashboard does not accept or pass user, account, or other entity parameters.

9. Name out three important Power BI tools

Three important power BI tool are:

 Power BI Desktop—It is used for desktop computers

 Power BI service—It is an online software as a service tool

 Mobile Power BI apps—They are used for iOS and Android devices.

10. What are the important components of the Power BI toolkit, and what do they do?

 Power Query: It allows you to discover, access, and consolidate information from different sources.
 Power Pivot: A modeling tool.
 Power View: It is a presentation tool for creating charts, tables, and more.
 Power Map: Helps you to create geospatial representations of your data.
 Power Q&A: Allows you to use natural language to get answers to questions.

11. What types of data types are available in Power BI?

Important Data sources used in Power BI Desktop are:

 All
 File
 Database
 Power BI
  Azure
 Online Services
 Other

12. What is grouping? How can you use it?

Power BI Desktop allows you to group the data into small chunks. For grouping, you should use Ctrl + click to
select multiple elements in the visual. Right-click one of those elements which appear in groups window.

13. Explain the term responsive slicers.

On a report page, you can easily resize a responsive slicer to various sizes and shapes, and the data contained
in it should be rearranged according to it. In case if the visual becomes too small to be useful, an icon
representing the visual ability to take its place, thus saving the space on the report page.

14. Define the term ‘M language.”

It is a programming language used in Power Query. It’s a functional, case-sensitive language which is similar to
other programming languages and easy to use.

15. What information is required to create a map in Power Map?

Power Map can display visualizations which are geographical in nature. That’s why some kind of location data
is needed, for example, city, state, country or latitude and longitude.

16. What are the important features of Power BI dashboard?

 It allows you to drill through the page, bookmarks, and selection pane.
 It allows you to create various tiles like web content, images, textbox, and integrate URLs.
 Allows you to set report layout to mobile view.

17 What are the steps to go to Data Stories Gallery in Power Bi communities?

Steps to go to Data Stories Gallery:

 First, open PowerBI.com in a favorite browser.

 By hovering on Learn
 Click on Community
 Scroll down little, and you will find Data Stories Gallery.
 Anyone can submit her or his Data Story as well.

18. Where incremental licensing refresh feature is accessible?

Incremental refresh feature mainly used for high-end scalability of data by publishing only on that workspace
in Power BI Service where Premium capacity is needed.
19. How can you analyze Power BI reports data in excel?
You need to follow the below-given steps:

 Open Power BI Admin portal, go to tenant settings and select -> Analyze.
 Check that Power BI Administrator has enabled Excel option or not.
 Then at the upper right corner, click settings to download and install Excel updates.
 Next, go to the left-hand side navigation pane, go to the workspace, click on the dataset, click on
Eclipses (three dots) and select Analyze in Excel.
 Download ODC file, save, and double click on it.
 After that needs to provide power BI user id and password.

20. What is Power Pivot, and what are the filter writes in Power BI?
Power Pivot is an in-memory component which offers highly compressed data storage. It helps you to build a
data model, creating formulas, relationship, calculated columns from various resources.

Filters are applicable in:

 Visualization level
 Page Level
 Report Level

21. How can you perform Dynamic filtering in Power BI?

Dynamic Filtering in Power BI is done using the following steps:

 Once all the data are set up, publish a detail report to Power BI.
 Publish it to group workspace.
 Create a filter link
 Create a DAX calculated column.
 Public overview report

22. What is Power Pivot Data Model?

It is a model that contains data writes, tables, sections, and table relations. These data tables help you to
develop for holding data for a business substance.

23. What is Power Query?

Power query is an ETL tool which helps you to clean, shape, and modify data utilizing instinctive interfaces
without doing anything.

24. Which programming language is used in Power Query?

M-code is a new programming language that is used in power query. It is similar to other programming
languages and easy to use.
25. List out benefits of using Variables in DAX.
Here, are benefits of using DAX function:

 By declaring and evaluating a variable, the variable can be reused multiple times in a DAX expression,
which helps you to avoid additional queries of the source database.
 Variables can make DAX expressions more useful and logical.
 Variables is only scoped, which should be measure or query which can’t be among measures.

25. What are Tiles in Power BI?

Tile is an important feature of power BI services and can be said as a picture of the data which can be pinned
to the dashboard.

26. What is on-premise gateway?

On-premise gateway acts as a bridge which helps you to transfer the data, which is on-premise (not on the
cloud) safely and securely.

27. Name two types of connectivity modes in Power BI?

Two types of connectivity modes used in Power BI are:

 Import
 Direct Query

28. Explain the term data alerts.

Alert works on data that is refreshed, Power BI looks for an alert, and it reaches the alert threshold or the limit
then the alter will be triggered.

29. What is the calculated column?

It is a calculating expression of DAX which allows calculation on data stored in a new column.

30. What is query collapsing?

The process of converting the steps in power query editor to SQL and executing it by the source database is
called query collapsing.

31. Explain data source filter.

It is a parameter to filter the data into machines.
32. What is content packs?
These are pre-built solutions build for popular services as a major part of the Power BI experience.

33. What are the types of filters available in Power BI Reports?

Important filters of Power BI reports are:

 Visual-level Filters
 Page-level Filters
 Report-level Filters

34. What is Bookmark?

Bookmark in Power BI helps you to capture the configured view of a report page in a specific time. This
includes filter and state of visual which can use a short cut to come back to the report that you can add as a
bookmark.

35. What are the advantages of using a variable in Power BI?

Variables help you to create more logical Queries and which should be used for multiple DAX functions.

36. Why use selection pane in Power BI?

Selection Pane helps you to take control over visuals which require to be displayed and which should not be
displayed. It allows you to combine multiple visual pages in the group and is also used in bookmarking.

37. How to handle Many to Many relationships in Power BI?

You can use Crossfiltering option in Power BI to address the Many to Many relationships.

38. Explain x-velocity in memory.

It is the main engine which is used in power pivot. It allows you to load the large set of data into Power BI data.

39. Explain the term Custom Visuals.

Graphs or visual which are not included in Power BI desktop are imported for better visualization.

40. Is it possible to have created multiple active relationships in Power BI?

No, we can’t set multiple active relationships in Power BI.

41. State the main difference between District() and Values() in DAX?
The only difference between two functions is that with District help you to calculate the null values.

42. State the major differences between MAX and MAXA functions
If you want to calculate numeric values, then use MAX. However, if it is for non numeric values, then you
should use MAXA.

43. Is on-premise access possible in Power BI?

No, it is not possible to access Power BI services on private or internal service cloud. However, by using Power
BI desktop, you can connect with the on-premises data sources.

44. What is the major difference between the old version and a new version of Power BI tool?
The latest version has more robust features, and it is famous with the name Power BI Desktop. This is an all in
one solution for Power View, Power Pivot, and Power Query in the backend. Power BI offers many add-ins for
Excel, which is useful for better visualizations.

45. Explain the term incremental refresh?

Increment refresh is a newly added data so that there is no need to truncate or load the entire data.

46. Is the Power BI tool available for free?

You can access Power BI for free. However, if you wish to use all the feature of Power BI, then you can use its
pro subscription account. The subscription account offers an enhanced version of several features that are
available with Power Bi free account.

47. What kind of data can you store in Power BI?

In Power BI, you can store mainly two types of data.

Fact Tables:

The central table in a star schema of a data warehouse is a fact table that stores quantitative information for
analysis, which is not normalized in most cases.

Dimension Tables:

It is a table in the star schema which helps you to store attributes and dimensions which describe objects that
are stored in a fact table.

48. State the main difference between Filter and Slicer.

If you are using the normal filter user cannot interact with the dashboard. On the other hand, slicer allows
users to have an interaction with Reports as well as Dashboards.
49. What is the Embed Code?
Power BI online contains an option for publishing on web that will generate a link address for the Power BI
report. You can share these links to others, which is called embed code.

50. What are the method to hide and unhide a specific report in Power BI?
To hide and unhide specific report, you have to go to selection Pane in the menu bar, and press hides/unhide
toggle button to bookmark.

51. How can you compare Target and Actual Value from a Power BI report?
You need to use Gauge chart to compare two different measure.

52. Can you create multiple dynamic connections between two tables?
No, we can’t create more that one multiple dynamic connections.

53. What is the use of Power BI designer?

Power BI Designer allows users to create intuitive reports and dashboards, easily and quickly. It also helps
users to change visual views of their data at fingertips for better analytics and informed decision-making.

54. Can you refresh Power BI reports after they are published to the cloud?
Yes, it is possible. Gateways can be used to do so.

 For SharePoint: Data Management Gateway

 For Powerbi.com: Power BI Personal Gateway

55. What is Custom Visuals?

Custom Vizual are those visual which are not available in BI desktop, which are imported from the market for
the purpose of better visualization.

56. What are the gateways that available in Power BI?

The two gateway method available in Power BI are:

 On-premises information door

 On- premises information door ( personal mode)

57. What is natural language search choice?

The natural language search choice is language-based learning for communicating with information as a part of
Power BI suite for Office 365 advertising.

58. Can you join two unique information source in the same Power BI dashboard?
Yes, we can join two unique information source in the same Power Bi dashboard. We can also merge
comparable reports in your Power Bi account into using single dashboard.

59. Why is TOP N not accessible for the Page and Report Level Filter?
ToP N is not accessible for the Page and Report Level Filters because their channels are associated with
different visuals.

60. Explain the collect function.

Collect function excludes null value. It does aggregate spatial values. You can’t transform data to another
format.

61. How can you differ COVAR and COVARP?

The main difference between the two is that: COVAR directly gives the same co-variance, whereas COVARP is
the population covariance.

62. How can you assign SSRS with Power BI?

Here are the steps to integrate SSRS with Power BI:

 SSRS Report Items like charts can be pinned to Power BI dashboards.

 A subscription is created to keep the snapshot of data in dashboard refreshed.
 Power BI reports will soon able to publish to SSRS portal.

63. Explain z-order in Power BI?

Z-order is a design strategy which is used for arranging visual over shapes. It can be defined as an
implementation method which can be applied whenever reports have multiple elements.

64. What is the only prerequisite for connecting to a database in Azure SQL Database?
The only prerequisite for before connecting to a database is that the user need to configure firewall setting to
allows remote connections.

65. Name out some important DAX functions used in Power BI.
Sum, Max, AVG, Distinct, Count, Calculate, Datediff are some important widely used DAX functions.
66. What is X-speed in-memory investigation motor used for Power Pivot?
The primary motto behind power turn is the x Velocity in-memory analytics engine. It allows dealing with the
various measures of information as it stores data in the columnar database.

67. Name widely recognized information forming systems.

The most widely recognized information forming systems are:

 Removing columns and rows

 Adding indexes
 Applying for a sort order

68. What happens by clicking on a single information point in one of the various visual in a report?
When you click on single information point data gets select and copied to the clipboard. Moreover, the copied
data can be pasted in any place according to your requirement.

69. What is CORR function? When we use it?

CORR is a correlation function. It gives a correlation between two variables. It mostly ranges from -1 to 1.

70. State the difference between Count and CounD function.

Count function returns to count, excluding NULL values whereas Countd returns distinct values which exclude
NULL values.

71. Explain DATEDD function in Power BI.

DATEDD function helps you to convert any input to a date format. This input can number, string, or a data type
input.

72. What does DATENAME function do?

DATENAME function shows the name of the specific part of the date that is given.

73. What is the DATEPART function?

It returns date function as an integer. However, DATENAME function does the same thing, except it returns the
name of the part of the date.

74. What does DATEDIFF function do?

This function gives a difference between 2 dates based on the specified Date part.
75. What is the use of ENDSWITH function?
ENDSWITH function helps you to return the logical result to the given string. In case If the sub-string is
available at the end of the sub string, then it returns TRUE.

76. What is IFNULL function?

If the value is not NULL iFNULL function result is the first expression, if it is not, then it will return the second
expression.

77. What is the use of INDEX Function in Power BI?

INDEX function helps you to retrieve the index of the respective row.

78. What is the main difference between LTRIM and RTRIM?

LTRIM function helps you to remove the white space from the LEFT of the string. RTRIM helps you to remove it
from the right the last index.

79. What is the use of MID function?

MID function returns the string character from the specified index position.

80. How can you apply percentile function in Power BI?

PERCENTILE function allows you to returns the data value of the specific percentile number.

81. What is the SIGN function?

Sign function returns the direction of the values. If it returns 1, if positive then 1, if 0 then 0.

82. What is the use of statewith function?

This function returns the logical answers TRUE if the sub-string is the starting string for the superstring. If it is
not, it will return false.

83. What is the use of split function?

SPLIT function is used to split the string database on the given delimiter.

84. What is the need of signing up with business email?

Power BI is not supporting, the email address given by telecommunications or consumer email service
providers. Thus, there is need for signing up with work email.
85. Name the market place where you can download the Power BI mobile apps.

 App store
 Google Play
 Window Store

86. In which year Microsoft invented Power BI Embedded?

In, the year 2016 Microsoft discharged new administration which is named as Power BI Embedded.

87. What area do you go to change and reshape data in Power BI?
Data Editing helps you to change and reshape data in Power BI.

88. Data Category settings should be used for mapping information to geographic areas in Power BI?
Scope and Longitude (e.g. 47.6080, – 122.3351)

89. What do you use as a consolidate inquiry in Power BI?

Join Queries are used as a consolidate inquiries in Power BI

90. What is the option to unpivot data in the question proofreader?

Unpivot line is a choice to unpivot any data in the question proofreader.

91. What is the process to refresh Power BI reports when it is uploaded into the cloud?
Power BI, reports can be refresh using Data management, gateway, and Power BI Personal Gateway.

92. What visual would you need to use to show solitary esteem?
Disseminate Plat is a visual you should use to show solitary esteem.

93. Which of the following Power BI memberships allows you the right permit to see Power BI content with
the various Power BI applications?
Power BI Premium P1 is an application which gives this type of solutions for you.

94. Which field composes can be added to the Field well of a Slicer visual?
Computing segments should be made with a DAX articulation.
95. What is the M dialect capacity to sort a segment in inquiry supervisor?
The command for this purpose is Sort-> Table

96. Which Power in BI visual is ideal for estimating execution against an objective?
Projectile Power Bi visual is most fitting for this purpose.

97. What context style is allowed by Power BI DAX?

Power BI DAX content style is both Row and Filter.

98. In, Power Bi, where do you discover the Q&A highlight?
You will get at the highest point of a report in the Power BI benefit.

99. How can you dynamically change the value measure to show multiple measures?
You can do this by using harvesting measure and switch function.

100. What is self-service business intelligence?

Self-service Business Intelligence SSBI is a method to deal with data investigation which empowers business
clients to channel, fragment, and break down their data, without top to the bottom specific information.

101. What is Power BI DAX style?

It is both Row and Filter Context

Top Power BI Interview Questions and Answers

Here are the Power BI interview questions and answers for experienced professionals to take your preparation
to the next level:

Q.1. What is SSRS? How is it different from Power BI?

Ans. SSRS stands for SQL Service Reporting Service. It is a server-based reporting generating platform. SSRS is a
part of Microsoft’s SQL Server suite. It is similar to Power BI in a lot of ways, but it is more of a conventional
tool. SSRS is mainly used for enterprise visualization of data and generating, viewing and sharing reports. It has
a programming interface with an integrated set of processing components. SSRS has less graphical, drag and
drop features and more programming-based tools for the report making. Due to this, users need to put in
more manual efforts.
Here are some basic differences between Power BI and SSRS:

 Power BI is free, SSRS requires SQL Server license. However, you require purchasing Power BI
Premium license for Power BI Report Server.
 Power BI cloud-based while SSRS is server-based.
 Power BI is more modern and graphical whereas, SSRS is conventional and programming based.
SSRS requires manual effort and time to create reports and do analysis.
  We can use data from the cloud in Power BI. With SSRS, we can only use on-premise data.
 Power BI now has Cortana integrated for AI-based natural language, Q&A about your data and
reports in Power BI. SSRS does not have this feature.
 In SSRS, you need to purchase a license, define requirements and scope, customize your
software, deploy, develop reports in a coding interface, schedule data refreshes, etc.
 Power BI has a graphical interface with the drag-and-drop capability to create reports. You can
work with unstructured data, use modern rendering, publish, integrate and collaborate easily
across platforms.
Q.2. What are paginated reports?
Ans. A paginated report is an organized, document style page to page report. Paginated reports are saved as
paged documents where we can expand the document vertically and horizontally to view the complete data.
These reports are pixel-perfect with a fixed layout. They can be the best options when we want to print a
report from a PDF or Word file. The extension used for paginated files are .RDL.
Q.3. What are ‘Measures’ in Power BI? How can we create them?
Ans. Measures are formulas that are calculated to yield results of complex queries (specific to the purpose and
values it is used for). Generally, measures are used in aggregational calculations such as sum, average,
minimum value, maximum value, counts, etc. The resultant values are in RAM storage because measures are
used relatively and may have different values when used in different scenarios and contexts.
Measures  in Power BI are used to create advanced solutions and models for data analysis and reporting. They
perform real-time calculations based on your interactions with data on your report.
We can create new measure fields for analyzing in Power BI Desktop easily. We can also create a new measure
field using New measure option and select this option in two ways:
 One, by right-clicking on the table’s name in which we wish to add the measure field and
select New measure.
 Second, by going to the Modeling tab and clicking on New measure option.
Then in the formula bar, we need to enter the name of our measure and write the expression for the measure.

Q.4. What do you understand by the Power BI Gateway?

Ans. Power BI Gateway is a software that is used to access data situated in an on-premises network from the
cloud. Gateways act as a gatekeeper for the on-premises data source. If anyone needs to access on-premises
data from a cloud or web-based app, the request goes through the gateway. All the connection requests are
attended by the gateway and access is granted based on the user’s authentication and requirements.
Gateways do not transfer data from the on-premises source to the client platform. It only connects that
platform directly to the on-premises data source for the clients to directly access data from it. Gateways are
used to facilitate connections between a single data source or multiple data source to the on-premises data
source.

Q.5. What is Bidirectional cross-filtering in Power BI?

Ans. The bidirectional cross-filtering feature enables a free flow of filtering conditions between data tables. In
Power BI, some data models are simple, with a star schema type association. Whereas some data models are
complex having tables with many to many relationships. Thus, by using the bidirectional cross-filtering feature,
a modeler can let the filtering conditions be applied on both sides of a relationship or association. The filters
have a certain direction and can be applied to values in different tables according to the relationship that the
tables share with each other. Bidirectional cross-filtering gives a lot of flexibility to the data modelers to create
models and apply filtering conditions on data tables with many to many relationships.
Q.6. What is Power BI Designer?
Ans. Power BI Designer is a stand-alone companion application of Power BI. It consists of Power Query, Power
Pivot and Power View, all together in one application. Power BI Designer is used to create Power BI reports and
other elements and to work with data. We can download Power BI Designer from the Power BI Site. The
reports created in Power BI Designer can be later published on the Power BI Service.
Q.7. What is DAX in Power BI?
Ans. DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is a formula language with such expressions or formulas that
are used for data analysis and calculations. These expressions are a combination of functions, operators, and
constants. The expression is evaluated as one formula that yields appropriate results (value or values). With
the help of the DAX language, analysts can discover new ways to calculate data values they have and come up
with fresh insights. Power BI Desktop offers a library having about 200 DAX functions to perform complex
calculations.
DAX formula syntax and sample formula:

A. Name of the new measure

B. An operator indicating the start of the DAX formula and equating the two sides
C. DAX function
D. The parenthesis (). Used to enclose and define arguments.
E. Reference table name
F. Reference column name
G. Another operator

A sample DAX formula is:

ProjectedSales2019=SUM(Sales[TotalSales2018])*1.08
This DAX formula commands the system to calculate the product of the sum of TotalSales2018 and 1.08 (8%
increase) and store the value in a new field or column known as ProjectedSales2019.

Q.8. What is Power Query? Which language is used in the Power Query?
Ans. Power Query is an Excel add-on. It is a self-service ETL tool (Extract, Transform and Load) which is used
to import data, transform, shape/clean data and load it for analysis. Power Query provides an interactive user
interface to manage and work with data. We can import data from multiple data sources such as Big Data,
files, databases, social media, etc. We can join data from different sources and make one single dataset. Also,
we can transform the data by adding, removing and shaping our datasets as per our requirement.
The programming language used in Power Query Editor is known as M-code. It is easy to learn case sensitive
language.
Q.9. What are some key points about DAX usage in Power BI?
Ans. Some key points about DAX:
 DAX is a functional language. That means, its complete code is always a function.
 An executable DAX expression generally contains conditional statements, nested functions,
value references, etc.
 DAX formulas have two primary data types; Numeric and Non-numeric or Others. The numeric
data type includes integers, decimals, currency, etc. And, the non-numeric consists of  strings
and binary objects.
 DAX expressions are evaluated in an inward to outward fashion. That is, it starts from the
innermost function going to the outermost one at the very last. We should formulate our DAX
expressions in proper order so that the system reads it properly.
 We can use values of mixed data types as inputs in a DAX formula. Data type conversion will
take place automatically during execution of the formula.
Q.10. Which table functions will you use to group data in Power BI?
Ans. There are two main DAX functions which we can use to group data in Power
BI; SUMMARIZE() and SUMMARIZECOLUMNS:
 The SUMMARIZE function is used to group data by columns.
 The SUMMARIZECOLUMNS function is generally used in Power BI to group data by columns,
expressions, and tables.
Q.11. What are query parameters? What are Power BI Templates?
Ans. Query parameters are the parameters which we can use as/in queries in Power BI query editor. We can
create new parameters in Power BI Desktop  and later use them in queries, data models and reports. Query
parameters contain a selected set of data values from the entire dataset.
Power BI Templates are data-less PBIX files, that is, empty Power BI templates in which we can use our data.
Such PBIX files are exported as template files (PBIT) via share options or emails so that others can import their
data into them without having to create a template.
Q.12. Explain the Power Pivot. How is it useful for Power BI?
Ans. Power Pivot is an Excel add-in which is used to collect data from multiple data sources, create datasets
and use that data for analysis and drawing insights for business and decision making. We can perform a lot of
activities in Power Pivot:
 Import millions of rows of data into a single Excel workbook.
 Create relationships between heterogeneous data tables and rows.
 Create calculated columns and measures by using queries and formula.
 Build PivotCharts and PivotTables.
The charts and tables created in Power Pivot can be used in Power BI for further analysis and report making.

Q.13. What is a Power Pivot data model? Which analytics engine used in Power Pivot?
Ans. The data models are the relationships formed between different data tables to structure the information
properly. A data model will have defined data types, columns, associations, tables, relations, etc. The data
models in the Power Pivot only support single direction relationships that are one-to-many and calculated
columns rather than calculated tables in Power BI.
Power Pivot currently uses the SSAS in-memory Vertipaq compression engine. The data models are stored in
the in-memory of the client computer.
Q.14. How many active relationships can we have between two tables in Power Pivot data model?
Ans. We can have more than one relationship between tables in a Power Pivot data model. But there can be
only one active relationship at a time in the data model between two tables. While one of the many
relationships are active, the other relationships remain in an inactive state. In the Power Pivot data model,
active relationships are indicated by a continuous line and inactive relationships by dotted lines.
Q.15. Tell us about “Query folding” in Power Query.
Ans. Query folding is the process of converting or translating the code in Power Query Editor into SQL. Query
folding is needed when codes or queries are getting executed by the source database instead of the client
machine. This happens when there are limited resources on the client machine. It also helps in performance
optimization and scaling.
Q.16. What do you know about the transformation in Power Query Editor?
Ans. The Power Query Editor enables us to import data from multiple sources and transform it in many ways
as per our requirements. Some general data transformation practices in Power Query Editor are:
 Change data types of columns.
 Rename columns.
 Replace values.
 Fix errors in Any Column group.
 Working with the nested data in Structured Column groups.
 Add custom columns, conditional columns, add measures, etc.
 Run R Queries directly on Power BI Query Editor by using Run R Script function.
Q.17. Why should we use SQL code in Power Query editor?
Ans. It is good to use SQL codes in Power Query editor along with M-code when we need to explain complex
logic or want to add some additional processes in the query. SQL statements simplify the M function and pass
on a bug-free, an easy-to-read query to the source database from the client machine.
Q.18. Can you tell us why do we need Power Query when we already have Power Pivot to import data?
Ans. Power Query is a self-service Excel add-in, which is used to import data from different sources, transform
or manipulate it and then load it into Excel. It is a typical ETL tool which is loaded with functionalities and tools
to extract, transform and load data from different kinds of data sources to create single datasets. Whereas
Power Pivot is also an Excel add-in, but it does not focus on data transformation and preparation.
Rather, Power Pivot is more about loading data, creating data models and visualizing the data to gain
important business insights. In Power Query, you can connect to many different data sources and manipulate
the data instantly before loading it to any other platform.
Q.19. What do you know about the Power Map?
Ans. Power Map is also an Excel add-in whose outputs we can use in Power BI. Power Map has the tools to
visualize geo-coded data in maps. We can create 3-D visuals with heat maps, bubbles, columns on Bing maps.
We can also use time-stamped data points on the map.
Q.20. What are the different types of data refreshes in Power BI?
In Power BI, data of published reports can be refreshed in four ways; Package refresh, Model refresh, Tile
refresh, and Visual container refresh.
 Package refresh – The package refresh will refresh the report by updating the data from
SharePoint Online or OneDrive. Package refreshing does not refresh data from the source but
from its cloud location.
 Model or Data refresh – This type of refreshing refreshes data in a report from its original data
source. Model or data refresh is done within the Power BI Service with the help of gateway
permission for on-premises data sources. This method uses Refresh now, or Schedule
refresh options.
 Tile refresh – Tile refresh refreshes the cache data of all the tiles on a dashboard. It occurs in
every 15 minutes automatically. If it does not happen, we can select the Refresh dashboard
tiles option from the ellipses(…) icon on the dashboard.
 Visual container refresh – This refresh refreshes the cache of all the visuals containers of a
Power BI report.
Q.21. What are the calculated columns in Power BI?
Ans. A calculated column is a query or DAX formula generated column in a data table. Each value in a
calculated column is calculated while the code is computed by the system. The values are a result of the
evaluated and calculated DAX formula. The values of a calculated column are not compressed and hence take
up more space in memory than other data values.
Q.22. How can we use a gateway for Power BI?
Ans. You will be ready to use the data gateway in Power BI by following the four steps given below:
1. Install a gateway in your system.
2. Add users to the gateway who need to access data from on-premises data sources.
3. Connect to on-premises data sources. This step is important because this is how users can use
data from on-premises data sources for data analysis and report generation.
4. Refresh on-premises data to keep the data in reports and dashboards up to date.
Q.23. What is an Advanced editor in Power BI?
Ans. An Advanced Editor is an editor within the Power Query Editor. It is used to view the M-code for any
query. The Advanced Editor is generally used to check the syntax of a query that will be run in the editor.
We can access the Advanced Editor from the Home or View tab in Power Query Editor. We can select a query
from the list of queries and work with it in the Advanced editor window and analyze the code step by step.
Q.24. In what ways can you shape or organize data in Power BI?
Ans. There are three common data shaping techniques in Power BI:
 Removing the columns and rows from a data table.
 Adding indexes for the data tables.
 Applying a Sort Order on the values of a data table.
Q.25. How can we refresh Power BI reports after publishing them to the cloud?
Ans. We can refresh the Power BI reports after they are published on the cloud using gateways. If we want to
refresh the data of a report published on SharePoint, then Data Management Gateway is used. And if the
report is published on the Power BI website then Power BI Personal Gateway is used for data refreshing.
Q.26. Can we map geographic data into Power BI Reports? If yes, then how?
Ans. Yes, we can map the geographic data into Power BI reports in several ways. Power BI has integration with
Bing Maps which provides the coordinates of locations on the map by default. This process is known
as geocoding and the users don’t need to manually provide longitude and latitude coordinates. You can use
the map charts and filled map charts in Power BI to use the geographic data in Power BI reports and
dashboards.
Q.27. What is z-order in Power BI?
Ans. The z-order in Power BI is referred to the strategy or order of arrangement of different elements on a
Power BI report. The z-order helps us in properly arranging all the elements in a report such as visualizations,
tables, slicers, etc.
The Arrange option in Power BI helps us arrange or place report elements in z-order. Using that option, we
can bring objects on front, send them to back, and layer the visualizations, according to our need. So, in a
nutshell, z-order is the order of arranging or layering multiple objects and visual elements in a report on top of
each other. Z-order is also applied when we are using shapes to enhance the design of a report.
Q.28. What are the important prerequisites for connecting Power BI to a database in Azure SQL Database?
Ans. In order to establish a secure connection of Power BI and Azure SQL Database, there is one important
prerequisite. Before we make an attempt to connect to an Azure SQL Database, we should configure the
firewall settings to allow remote connections. If firewall settings are not set up, we cannot have a stable and
secure connection to Azure SQL Database.
Q.29. What are the prerequisites of installing a gateway in your system?
Ans. The following requirements are necessary for installing a gateway in our systems:
 .NET 4.5 Framework
 Windows 7 (64-bit version)/ Windows Server 2008 R2 or later
 8 core CPU
 8 GB memory
 Windows 2012 R2 (64-bit)
Q.30. Can we use Power BI on mobile devices?
Ans. Yes, we can use Power BI on mobile devices. Power BI has mobile compatible apps for Android devices,
iOS devices, and Windows 10 devices. We can download the Power BI app for a preferred device from app
stores such as Google Play, Microsoft Store or Apple App Store.
Q.1. How would you define Power BI as a self-service solution?
Ans. Self-service business intelligence allows both technical as well as non-technical users to work with data,
create reports and analyze it to discover important information. Power BI is also a self-service business
intelligence solution. Business users can use Power BI to gather, prepare, transform and analyze data in their
own ways. Self-service solutions like Power BI comes with tools for data designing, modeling, preparation,
filtering, visualization, etc. A business user does not need technical knowledge to work on such self-service
software. Moreover, Power BI is a very user-friendly tool with attractive UI to make intuitive
reports and shareable dashboards.
Q.2. Tell us about Microsoft self-service business intelligence solution. What are its parts?
Ans. Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence allows business users to create reports and dashboard,
cleanse/transform data (ETL), create data models, integrate data from different sources, do statistical analysis,
predictive analysis, geospatial data analysis, Big Data analysis, etc. The self-service BI solution is for a range of
users such as report consumers, report designers, data analysts, and statisticians.
The Microsoft SSBI consists of two components:

 Power BI
 Excel BI Toolkit
Q.3. Explain the major concept of Power BI.
Ans. Power BI is a cloud-based, self-service business intelligence solution. It is popularly used for data sharing
and creating reports and dashboards. Power BI is a user-friendly software that offers an attractive graphical
user-interface with intuitive visualizations. Business users can collect data from multiple data sources at a time
and work with it to create reports for analysis. Power BI has on-premise, web-based, cloud-based as well as
mobile platforms to share the reports created for other users. The users you share these Power BI reports and
dashboards with can interact with it by filtering and using slicers according to their needs. Thus, in a nutshell,
Power BI is a business intelligence platform based on the Microsoft cloud to create and share reports for data
analysis.
Q.4. What is Power BI Desktop?
Ans. Power BI Desktop is a Microsoft Windows desktop application for Power BI. It is free of cost software
which can be installed on any on-premise device like a laptop or PC. The Power BI Desktop is loaded with tools
and capabilities to import, cleanse, design and model data. Also, it has many attractive as well as interactive
visualizations to represent data graphically in reports. The Power BI Desktop works in association with the
Power BI Service. You can save the reports/files that you create in Power BI or publish them on the Power BI
Workspace/site or with other business users.
Q.5. What is Get Data in Power BI? Tell us about the data connections.
Ans. Get Data feature offers data connectivity to a number of different data sources. The Get Data option is on
the Menu bar of Power BI Desktop main page. We can click on this option to connect our Power BI Desktop
app with a preferred data source.
You can connect to data files on your local system, Excel files, Azure SQL Database, Facebook, Google
Analytics, Power BI datasets, etc. You can connect to cloud-based sources, on-premises data sources
using gateways, online services, direct connects, etc.
Some commonly used data sources are listed below:
File: Excel, Text/CSV, XML, PDF, JSON, Folder, SharePoint.
Database: SQL Server database, Access database, Oracle database, SAP HANA database, IBM, MySQL,
Teradata, Impala, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, etc.
Power BI: Power BI datasets, Power BI dataflows.
Azure: Azure SQL, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Lake, Azure Cosmos DB, etc.
Online Services: Salesforce, Azure DevOps, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Dynamics 365, Facebook,
GitHub, etc.
Others: Python script, R script, Web, Spark, Hadoop File (HDFS), ODBC, OLE DB, Active Directory, etc.
Q.6. What are the building blocks of Power BI?
Ans. Power BI consists of some key components that can also be called its building blocks. Five key
components of Power BI are the Visualizations, Datasets, Reports, Dashboards, and Tiles.
Visualizations: Visualization is the graphical way of representing the data. Power BI offers a wide range of
attractive visualizations. We can create reports and dashboards using both simple or, complex visualizations as
per our requirement. In this way, we represent our data set graphically with charts, tables, and maps. There is
also a library available in Power BI for custom visualizations.
Datasets: A dataset is a collection or a set of data gathered from different data sources. In Power BI, we can
connect to different data sources via the Get Data feature and fetch data. There are many data sources from
which we can get data and create a dataset such as Excel, SQL Server, MySQL database, Azure, Text/CSV,
Oracle, PDF, Access, XML, JSON and many more.
Reports: Reports in Power BI are a combination or collection of different kinds of visualizations relevant to a
particular business topic. A report is a graphical and structured presentation of datasets having multiple pages.
It used in the analysis. Reports are informative and reveal important insights from the data. We can easily
share and publish reports created in Power BI with other users.
Dashboards: Dashboard is a collection of important visualizations taken from a report. Dashboards are a single
layer representation offering quick information or insights into data. Typical dashboards in Power BI are
composed of multiple visualizations as tiles. They are single pages from reports (thus, single layer). Power BI
dashboards are shareable as well as printable.
Tiles: A tile is a single block containing a visualization in a Power BI dashboard/report. Tiles segregate each
informative visualization distinctively to provide a clear view. These tiles can be adjusted as well as its size can
be changed. Also, they can be placed anywhere on the dashboard as per the user’s convenience.
Note – The above Power BI interview question is mostly asked by interviewers. Prepare it well.
Q.7. What are the filters in Power BI?
Ans. Filters in Power BI sort data based on criterions set by us. We can select particular fields or values in a
visualization/page/report and view filtered information instantly. For example – if we have a dataset regarding
the sales of a clothing store. We can filter out the unnecessary information and view only the data for the
selected criterions. Like if we want information on sales in India in the year 2019, we just need to put the
filtering criterion as 2019 and India from their respective fields. Power BI will immediately make changes
accordingly and only show the graphs and visuals specific to sales statistics in India and in the year 2019.
Filters in Power BI can be applied on three levels; visualization, page and report level.

 Visualization-level filter: These filters are applied directly on individual visualizations. We can

apply them on both data and calculation conditions used within a visualization.
 Page-level filter: Page-level filters are applied on a particular page within a report. As we know,
reports consist of more than one pages. We can apply certain filter conditions on a selected
page within a report. Each page in a report can have a different set of filter conditions applied to
it.
 Report-level filter: Such filters are applied to the entire report. They are applied to every
visualization and every page of a report.
Q.8. Discuss about the Content Packs in Power BI.
Ans. The Power BI content packs are packages or pre-build solutions that contain several Power BI objects. The
content packs might contain Power BI objects such as  reports, dashboards, datasets, Excel workbooks, etc. A
user can deploy their data/objects to the content packs and share them with others in an organization.
Content packs are shared and accessed via the Power BI site (Workspace). You can share them with individual
users or a whole group of users. Thus, content packs make a standardized way of reporting for an organization.
Business users can update the data in content packs by republishing them on-site and view live dashboards
and interactive reports.
Generally, there are two types of content packs; the service provider content packs and user-created content
packs. The service providers such as Google Analytics, Marketo or Salesforce, etc. provide pre-built content
packs. Whereas, the others are those that the users create and share within an organization.
Q.9. What are the visualizations in Power BI?
Ans. Visualizations are the visual representation of data. Power BI offers a wide range of attractive
visualizations. We can create reports and dashboards using both simple as well as complex visualizations to
represent the data set. There is also a library available for custom visualizations. We can format and customize
the visualizations as per your liking and edit every detail from the appearance to the data labels finely.
In Power BI, we can create visualizations such as, Bar charts, Column charts, Line chart, Area chart, Stacked
area chart, Ribbon chart, Waterfall chart, Scatter chart, Pie chart, Donut chart, Treemap chart, Map, Funnel
chart, Gauge chart, Cards, KPI, Slicer, Table, Matrix, R script visual, Python visual, etc.
Q.10. What are reports in Power BI?
Ans. Reports in Power BI are a combination and collection of different kinds of visualizations relevant to a
particular business topic. A report is a graphical and structured presentation of datasets used in the analysis.
Reports are informative and reveal important insights from the data. Users can easily share and publish
reports created in Power BI with other users via Power BI Desktop and Power BI website, cloud-based
platforms and mobile platforms.
Q.11. What do you understand by dashboards in Power BI?
Ans. A Power BI dashboard is a canvas on which we can bring together different elements or visualizations to
represent datasets. A dashboard gives us a graphical overview of the story that lies in the detailed BI report. It
contains all the important elements from a report. A dashboard is always a single page whereas a report can
be many pages long. The designers create a dashboard and publish it on Power BI sharing platforms and
consumers use the dashboards from there. A consumer cannot make changes in a dashboard. Rather, they use
the dashboard for analytical purposes like getting a quick insight into their business, making an important
decision based on the information given on a dashboard, etc.
Q.12. What do you understand by Power BI Service?
Ans. Power BI is a cloud-based business analytics solution and provides services regarding the same. The
cloud-based BI services include sharing and viewing Power BI reports and dashboards on cloud-based
platforms such as a Power BI website (Workspace). One can access a Power BI report of their interest, for
analysis on the Power BI site using a work email.
Power BI Service is a web-based platform from where you can share reports made on Power BI Desktop,
collaborate with other users, and create dashboards. Power BI Service is available in three versions; a free
version, Pro version, and a Premium version. Power BI Service is also referred by names such as, “Power
BI.com”, “Power BI Workspace”, “Power BI Site” and “Power BI Web Portal”.
Q.13. Tell us about the Excel BI Toolkit.
Ans. As we know, Excel BI toolkit is the other half of the Microsoft self-service BI (one half being Power BI).
This toolkit is composed of Excel and a few more add-ins such as Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View,
Power Map. All the tools in the Excel BI toolkit serve a special purpose like importing, modeling, preparing and
visualizing data. Generally, the tools are used to create reports by consolidating data from multiple data
sources and to model the datasets. Excel and other add-ins can be used independently or along with each
other to optimize BI capabilities of the toolkit.
Q.14. How many versions of Power BI are available as of now? How are they different?
Ans. There are presently (2019) three versions or editions of Power BI i.e. Power BI Desktop, Power BI Pro and
Power BI Premium.
Power BI Desktop: Power BI Desktop is a free of cost development, authoring and publishing tool of
Microsoft Power BI. It is a user interaction platform from where users can connect to multiple data sources,
transform and clean data, visualize and create reports.
Power BI Pro: Power BI Pro is a modern self-service BI having advanced features for collaboration, publishing,
report sharing, and ad hoc analysis. It costs $9.99 per month per user.
Power BI Premium: Power BI Premium is an enterprise BI solution with features and tools for advanced
analytics, big data support, on-premises and cloud reporting, etc. It also provides dedicated cloud computing
and storage facilities. It costs $4,995 per month (per instance of dedicated cloud compute and storage
resource).
Note – The above question is the favorite Power BI interview question of most of the interviewers. Learn it
thoroughly. 
Q.15. What are some of the key features and capabilities of Power BI?
Ans. The key features of Power BI are as follows:
  Customizable dashboards
 Datasets
 Reports
 Tiles
 Get Data
 Navigation pane
 Q&A Question Box
 Help & feedback buttons
 Ad Hoc reporting
 Ad Hoc analysis
 Row-level security
 Mobile device compatibility
 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
 Trend indicators
 Interactive reports authoring
 Complete reporting & data visualization tools
Q.16. What are the key components of Power BI?
Ans. Power BI is a business suite that includes several technologies that work together to deliver outstanding
business intelligence solutions. Microsoft Power BI technology consists of a group of components such as:
 Power Query (for data mash-up and transformation)
 Power BI Desktop (a companion development tool)
 Power BI Mobile (for Android, iOS, Windows phones)
 Power Pivot (for in-memory tabular data modeling)
 Power View (for viewing data visualizations)
 Power Map (for visualizing 3D geo-spatial data)
 Power Q&A (for natural language Q&A)
Q.17. What do you know about the views in Power BI Desktop?
Ans. In Power BI Desktop, you can view your dataset in three types of views. You will find the three view
options on the left vertical pane of the Power BI Desktop:
 Report view: In the report view, we have an empty canvas where we can create a report using
data from our datasets. We can make a report of multiple pages and add visualizations in them.
So, report view is all about designing your report for data analysis.
 Data view: In the data view, we can view and format the data tables in our data set.
 Model view: In the model view, we can make data models by establishing relationships between
data tables. These associations make the reports more interactive and responsive.
Q.18. Where is the Power BI data stored?
Ans. All the data that we import in Power BI from different data sources get stored in either of the two tables
in a data warehouse; Fact tables and Dimension tables. The fact tables are the central/main table of a start
schema which contains all the measure (quantitative data) values. It has primary keys and all the dimension
tables are linked to the fact table. The fact table is not usually normalized.
While a dimension table is a table in a database which contains all the attribute values (information about
data) for the data stored in fact table. Every dimension table in a star schema is linked to a fact table.

Q.19. What is row-level security? How is it used in Power BI?

Ans. The row-level security is applied to the individual rows of a data table and restricts users from viewing
and accessing the entire dataset. With row-level security applied, users can view only a selected section of
data. We can apply row-level security by setting roles and rules in Power BI Desktop or by using
the username() function. The username() function will only show the data to a particular user.
However, we need a Power BI Pro subscription to use the row-level security capabilities.

Q.20. Tell us about the Excel add-ins for Power BI.

Ans. The Excel BI Toolkit for Microsoft self-service BI has got a number of add-ins:
 Power Query for data mash-up and transformation.
 Power View for viewing data visualizations.
 Power Pivot for in-memory tabular data modeling.
 Power Map for visualizing 3D geo-spatial data.
Q.21. What is the difference between Power BI Premium and Power BI Pro?
Ans. Both Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium are paid services providing advanced data analysis capabilities.
However, there are some basic differences between the two:
Features Power BI Pro Power BI Premium 

On-premise reporting using Power BI Report Server  No Yes

Compute processing environment Shared  Dedicated

Incremental data refresh No Yes

Share published reports  Yes No

Use paginated reports in Power BI No Yes

Data set size (max) 1GB 10GB

Maximum allowed storage 10 GB per user  100TB

Cloud service Yes Yes

Data security and encryption  Yes Yes

Create visualizations, reports, dashboards Yes Yes

Big Data preparation and ETL  Yes Yes

Power BI library access and custom visuals SDK Yes Yes

Data connectors for cloud and on-premise sources  Yes  Yes

Analyze data in Microsoft Excel  Yes  Yes

Content embedding in SaaS apps like SharePoint,

Yes Yes
Teams, etc.  

Mobile compatibility  Yes  Yes 

$9.99 per month per $4,995 per month per

Pricing 
user instance
Note – You can’t afford to miss the above question. It’s a very popular  Power BI interview question.
Q.22. In what ways and for what basic purposes can you use Power BI?
Ans. There are a number of ways and purposes by which you can utilize Power BI:
Connecting to data: The first thing to do when we start off with working on Power BI Desktop is to connect to
a data source and fetch data. With the Get Data option in Power BI Desktop, we can select and connect to a
data source from a long list of available data sources.
Transform and clean data: As soon as we connect to a data source, we can transform and clean the data. We
can transform and clean our data with an in-built Power Query Editor. In the Power Query Editor, we
can rename the table, change the data type, removing or adding columns, applying filters, and combining data
from multiple sources.
Creating visualizations: Once our data is transformed and loaded into the Power BI Desktop, we can create
visualizations using the data model. We will get a set of visualizations in the visualizations pane given on the
top right.
Creating reports: Power BI Desktop offers the perfect set of tools to create informative and attractive reports.
A report is a collection of visualizations that together give an informative account and insight on the imported
data. A Power BI report can consist of one or more than one pages.
Sharing reports: After creating a report in Power BI Desktop, we can use the Publish option to share it with
others. To Publish a report to Power BI Service having Power BI license is necessary. We can share the report
at any location of Power BI Service such as your personal workspace, team workspace, or elsewhere.
Q.23. Can you briefly explain the working of Power BI?
Ans. To have a better understanding of Power BI, its working is divided into three parts or phases.
1. Data Integration
In Power BI, data can be imported from different kinds of data sources in different formats. In the data
integration step, data is brought together (extracted) from different data sources and converted into a
standard format. After data is integrated, it is kept in a common storage area known as the staging area.
2. Data Processing
Once the data is integrated and stored at a place, it requires some processing. The raw data is transformed by
performing several processing or cleansing operations on it such as removing redundant values etc. Relevant
business rules are applied to the processed data transforming it according to the business needs. This
transformed data is loaded into the Data Warehouses. This completes a full process of ETL.

3. Data Presentation
In this final phase, the processed data is taken from the warehouse into the Power BI platforms like Power BI
Desktop to create reports, dashboards, and scorecards. Power BI offers a wide range of visualizations. You can
also import custom visualization from the Marketplace. From the report development platforms, the reports
are published on the web or mobile apps to share it with other business users.
Q.24. What are Custom visuals in Power BI?
Ans. Custom visuals are customized visualizations like charts, KPIs, etc. that are created by developers from
scratch using custom visuals SDK. Power BI offers a rich library of custom visuals which you can select, import
and use in your Power BI report. Developers use JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, D3, R-language
scripts, etc. to create custom visuals. Once a custom visual is ready, it is tested and debugged. Then they are
packaged in a .pbiviz file and shared within an organization or uploaded on AppSource as an open-source data
visualization. From the AppSource, any Power BI user (author) can import the custom visual to use it in their
report.
Generally, Power BI custom visuals are divided into three categories based on the way they are deployed:

 Custom visual files

 Organizational visuals
 Marketplace visuals
Q.25. What are the KPIs in Power BI?
Ans. KPIs are the Key Performance Indicators. The KPIs evaluates an organization’s performance in different
areas by evaluating values and measurable goals. A KPI always has a base value or measure which is evaluated
against a target value. That is, comparing the actual performance with the target. You can evaluate the
performances in an analysis just by seeing the KPI as they graphically represent the evaluation. Thus, KPIs will
show whether the goals you have set are met or not.
Q.26. What are Slicers in Power BI?
Ans. Slicers in Power BI are visual filters that are present in the report page. The slicers let us sort and filter
information on a packed report. Unlike filters, slicers are present as a visual on the report and we can select
values on it while we are analyzing the data in the report. For instance, if we have a sales analysis report, you
can make a slicer for years. From that slicer, we can select the year for which we want to see the sales metrics
such as 2017, 2018, 2019, etc. The report visuals will automatically and instantly change to show the
information for the selected year.
Q.27. How is the pricing scheme of Power BI laid out?
Ans. Microsoft has put out three pricing plans for Power BI.
For the basic version, Power BI Desktop is free of cost and includes tools for data visualization, data
preparation, data modeling, data cleansing and publishing reports to Power BI Service.
Power BI Pro is available at a subscription price of $9.99 per user per month. You can try 60 days free trial
before purchasing the subscription. This plan for Power BI Pro includes tools for data collaboration, a 360 real-
time view for dashboards, data governance, and freedom to publish reports anywhere.
The Power BI Premium is available at a price of $4,995 per month for one dedicated storage resource and
cloud computing facility.
Q.28. What is Power BI Q&A?
Ans. Using Power Q&A option, you can search for your data or discover insights by entering queries in natural
language. It instantly understands your query and returns relevant results.
Q.29. How can we categorize the users in Power BI?
Ans. There are mainly four types of users as per their purpose of usage of Power BI. These four types of users
are Analysts, Business users, IT professionals and Developers. Let’s learn some more about them.
Analysts: Analysts use Power BI to develop reports, dashboards, data models and study them to discover
valuable insights in the data. Power BI offers a wide range of data sources from which an analyst can extract
data, make a common dataset, cleanse and prepare that data to make reports and conduct analysis.
Business users: The business users are the common users who study the reports and dashboards shared with
them on Power BI website or mobile app. Business users remain updated with the latest information which
helps in taking an important decision in time.
IT professionals: The IT professionals are mainly concerned with the technical and managerial aspects
like  scalability, availability, and security of data. They also centrally manage all the Power BI services and
users.
Developers: Developers are involved in technical work. Their key roles are to create custom visuals to be used
in Power BI, embedding Power BI into other applications, creating reports, etc.
Note – The interviewers can frame the above-mentioned Power BI interview question in a tricky manner. So,
answer it smartly.
Q.30. How are a Power BI dashboard and a report different from each other?
Ans. Let us run through some quick points to make the difference between a dashboard and a report clear.
Capability Dashboard Report

Pages Consists of one page only.   Can be of one or more pages.

Can have data tiles from one or more

Data sources It has a single dataset per report.
datasets or reports.

Can perform filtering, slicing and

Filtering Cannot perform filtering or slicing. 
highlighting. 

Set alerts Enables you to set alerts for emails.  No option for setting alerts. 

Enables you to set only one dashboard as a No option to create a featured

Featured reports 
featured dashboard. dashboard.

Accessing dataset Does not allow viewing or accessing Provides the option for viewing dataset
tables and fields underlying datasets tables and fields.  tables, fields and values.