Power BI: Create Compelling Interactive Reports

Access this expert-led webinar instantly, available anytime on-demand.

Included in All-Access Membership
Live Webinar - no upcoming date
Customer Satisfaction Guarantee Learn with confidence. If you're not happy, we'll make it right. That's our guarantee.

Purchase Options

Select an attendee quantity to add to cart.

Recorded Webinar Only

$219.00
or

All Access Membership

The Aurora All Access Membership is designed to provide you with the training that you want when you want it. You will have 100% access to every live webinar, on demand webinar, professional alert, and podcast that Aurora Training Advantage offers with no additional cost.

Learn More About Our All Access Membership
$599.00
All Access Membership

Power BI is an application from Microsoft that turns your raw data (loaded in from a variety of sources) into stunning interactive visual reports, providing you with real-time insights into your data and enabling you to make better business decisions. 

Gone are the days of submitting a request to the IT Department and waiting for them to produce a less than perfect report. With Power BI you can create those reports yourself, right from your own computer (that’s where the term self-service reporting comes from).

Objectives:

In this training, you will learn, using practical examples, how to create and design interactive reports using the Power BI Desktop application (Windows only) and how to share those reports with other people. 

Why you should attend:

Your data is only as good as the information you can derive from it. Power BI enables you to gain better business insights and make more informed business decisions. If you want to take your reporting capabilities to the next level by learning how to leverage the functionality of Power BI, this is a must-attend training session!

Topics covered:

  • Connect your data sources (Excel, database, text file etc) to Power BI
  • Add visual elements to a report
  • Apply formatting to the report elements (colors, fonts, styles etc)
  • Simple steps for updating your report when the underlying dataset changes
  • Create interactive filters for reports
  • Automate the process of making your raw data “report ready” (most raw data needs some degree of cleaning and restructuring – Power BI makes this a snap!)
  • Share your report with colleagues

Who should attend

This training is aimed at new users of Power BI who want to get started with the application. Please note that the Power BI Desktop application is only available on Windows (i.e. it is not available for Mac or mobile devices)

  1. Introduction 00:0
  2. Excel File - Sales Data 00:06:57
  3. Starting Power BI Desktop 00:08:36
  4. Get Data 00:11:18
  5. Sales Report File 00:13:45
  6. Report Example 00:15:14
  7. Building Visuals 00:17:49
  8. Creating A Simple Report 00:20:56
  9. Creating A Pie Chart 00:22:03
  10. Adding A Column Chart 00:26:27
  11. Sharing The File 00:35:00
  12. Power BI Desktop 00:37:17
  13. Opening A .PBIX File 00:39:31
  14. Table View 00:40:26
  15. Power BI Website - Publishing & Sharing The Report 00:41:34
  16. Power BI Website - Creating A Workspace 00:43:15
  17. Power BI Website - Sharing The Report 00:46:08
  18. Power BI’s and ERP’s 00:52:13
  19. Creating Addtional Columns 00:54:41
  20. Republishing 01:01:25
  21. Excel vs. Power BI 01:02:00
  22. Power BI Dashboard Card 01:05:34
  23. Interactive Visuals 01:12:42
  24. Power BI Measures 01:15:08
  25. Linking Data In The Model View 01:17:35
  26. Power BI Desktop - Creating Data Sets and Connections 01:20:10
  27. Power Query Editor 01:23:51
  28. Creating A Connection Between Tables 01:27:01
  29. Using The Connection Between Tables 01:31:51
  30. Formatting 01:34:19
  31. Speaker Contact Details And Closing 01:38:08
  32. Presentation Closing 01:38:36
  • Mike Thomas

    Mike Thomas

    Mike Thomas has worked in the IT training business for 26 years. His expertise and experience covers designing and delivering training courses, creating written training materials (Quick Reference Guides and step-by-step tutorials), recording and editing video-based tutorials and providing support t [...]

    View Full Profile

ATATX Credit

Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in accounting.

ATAOP Credit

Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in operations.

ATAAA Credit

Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in administrative.

Browse previous versions of this webinar series:

  • Power BI Demystified: Transforming Data into Stunning Visuals
    Webinar Date: January 1, 2026
    View
  • Power BI - Create Compelling Interactive Reports
    Webinar Date: February 14, 2025
    VIEWING
  • .CSV 00:08:14, 01:18:33
  • .PBIX 00:09:59, 00:35:39, 00:39:34, 00:42:31, 00:47:48
  • Bar Chart 00:15:28, 01:02:17
  • Column 00:14:27, 00:18:09, 01:05:40, 01:10:41, 01:21:58, 01:36:05
  • Column Chart 00:26:44, 00:55:00, 00:59:08, 01:09:29, 01:32:02
  • Column Headings 00:58:31
  • Filter 0:52:11, 01:13:07
  • Formula 00:58:48
  • PDF 00:06:52, 00:28:04, 01:18:31
  • Pie Chart 00:15:29, 00:22:05, 01:02:18, 01:14:03
  • Power BI 00:00:07, 00:04:34, 00:08:21, 00:15:05, 00:20:32, 00:34:26, 00:43:30, 01:02:01, 01:06:06, 01:18:11
  • Power BI Dashboard Card 01:05:34
  • Power BI Desktop 00:02:59, 00:08:37, 00:24:50, 00:37:07, 00:48:04
  • Power BI Measure 01:15:09
  • Power BI Workspace 00:43:29
  • Power Query Editor 01:23:52
  • Refresh 01:10:31
  • Row 00:07:05, 00:13:20,  01:24:49
  • Slicer 00:59:51
  • Table 01:29:07, 01:31:50
  • Text Files 00:08:14
  • Workbook 00:11:14

.CSV: Comma-Separated Value files are text files where each field of data is separated by a comma. This is an effective means to export data from QuickBooks that you, in turn, wish to analyze in Excel.

.PBIX: The file extension for Power BI files is “.pbix”. The .pbix files are highly compressed file types that contain all the graphics along with the actual data.

Bar Chart: A bar chart (also called a bar graph) is a great way to visually display certain types of information, such as changes over time or differences in size, volume, or amount. Bar charts can be horizontal or vertical; in Excel, the vertical version is referred to as a column chart.

Column: A column is a vertical series of cells in a chart, table, or spreadsheet in Excel.

Column Chart: A column chart is a graphic representation of data. Column charts display vertical bars going across the chart horizontally, with the values axis being displayed on the left side of the chart.

Column Headings : The column heading or column header is the gray-colored row containing the letters (A, B, C, etc.) used to identify each column in the worksheet. The column header is located above row 1 in the worksheet.

Combo Chart: A combo chart in Excel is a chart that displays multiple sets of data in different ways on the same chart. For example, you may want to combine a bar graph with a line graph in the same chart.

Filter: The Filter feature in Excel allows you to show or hide rows within a list of data by making selections from drop-down lists. The Filter feature is available on the Data tab of all versions of Excel as well under the Sort & Filter command on the Home menu.

Formula: A formula is an expression which calculates the value of a cell.

PDF: Portable Document Format, a universal document format created by Adobe that allows cross-platform compatibility of documents.

Pie Chart: A pie chart is a circular representation that reflects the numbers of a single row or single column of Excel. The individual numbers are called data points (or categories) and a list (row or column) of numbers is called a data series.

Power BI: Power BI is an interactive data visualization software product developed by Microsoft with a primary focus on business intelligence. It is part of the Microsoft Power Platform

Power BI Dashboard Card: The Power BI Dashboard card allows organizations to display dashboards from the Microsoft Power BI visualization tool, which includes various custom data visualization charts.

Power BI Desktop: Power BI Desktop is a free application you install on your local computer that lets you connect to, transform, and visualize your data. With Power BI Desktop, you can connect to multiple different sources of data, and combine them (often called modeling) into a data model.

Power BI Measures: Power BI measures are the way of defining calculations in a DAX model, which helps us to calculate values based on each row. But rather, it gives us aggregate values from multiple rows from a table.

Power BI Workspace: Workspaces are created on capacities. Essentially, they are containers for dashboards, reports, workbooks, datasets, and dataflows in Power BI. There are two types of workspaces: My workspace and workspaces. My workspace is the personal workspace for any Power BI customer to work with your own content.

Power Query Editor: Power BI Desktop also comes with Power Query Editor. Use Power Query Editor to connect to one or many data sources, shape and transform the data to meet your needs, then load that model into Power BI Desktop.

Query: A database query extracts data from a database and formats it in a readable form. A query must be written in the language the database requires; usually, that language is Structured Query Language (SQL). For example, when you want data from a database, you use a query to request that specific information.

Refresh: The Refresh command appears on the Options tab of Excel 2007 and 2010 as well as the Analyze tab of Excel 2013. Pivot tables store a snapshot of the underlying source data, so they don’t immediately reflect changes to said data. You must periodically refresh any pivot table to ensure it reflects any changes to the source data.

Row: A row is the range of cells that go across (horizontal) the spreadsheet/worksheet. Rows are identified by numbers e.g. row 1, row 5. Examples of use. A row might contain the headings of a table e.g. product ID, product name, price, number sold.

Slicer: You can insert slicers in Excel to quickly and easily filter pivot tables. Slicers were introduced in Excel 2010, and they make it easy to change multiple pivot tables with a single click

Table: A table is an arrangement of data in rows and columns, or possibly in a more complex structure. Tables are widely used in communication, research, and data analysis. Tables appear in print media, handwritten notes, computer software, architectural ornamentation, traffic signs, and many other places.

Text Files : Raw data files that often have file extensions such as .TXT or .CSV. TXT files are sometimes tab-delimited (meaning each field is separated by a tab character) while CSV files are comma-delimited.

Workbook: In Microsoft Excel a workbook is a collection of one or more spreadsheets, also called worksheets, in a single file.

Customer Satisfaction Guarantee
Invest in your future with confidence! Our Customer Satisfaction Guarantee eliminates all risk, letting you focus purely on mastering new skills and advancing your career. If you're not completely satisfied, we'll ensure you are. Your satisfaction is not just a promise; it's our guarantee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence and data visualization platform, designed to connect to diverse data sources, transform raw data, and create interactive, shareable reports and dashboards — capabilities that go significantly beyond what Excel offers for reporting purposes. While Excel remains a powerful tool for individual data analysis and spreadsheet modeling, Power BI excels at handling large datasets from multiple sources simultaneously, creating visually engaging interactive reports with slicers and filters, and distributing those reports to stakeholders through the web-based Power BI Service without requiring recipients to own the underlying data file. Power BI Desktop — the free Windows application used to build reports — connects to databases, Excel files, CSV files, cloud services, and many other sources, combining data through a built-in model rather than requiring manual copy-paste workflows. Power Query, shared between Excel and Power BI, enables automated data preparation that refreshes with each update. For business professionals who currently rely on static Excel reports, Power BI represents a significant upgrade in report interactivity, visual sophistication, and sharing capability, all accessible without IT involvement.
Connecting data to Power BI begins in Power BI Desktop, where the Get Data button provides access to hundreds of data connectors — including Excel workbooks, CSV files, SQL databases, SharePoint lists, and cloud services like Salesforce and Google Analytics. Once connected, data flows into Power Query Editor, where you can clean, transform, and shape the data before loading it into the model. After loading, you build reports on the Report canvas by selecting fields from the Fields pane and choosing from a wide variety of visual types — bar charts, column charts, pie charts, cards, tables, maps, and more. Slicers added to the report canvas create interactive filters that update all visuals simultaneously when a user clicks a value, enabling dynamic exploration without any additional configuration. Once the report is complete, you publish it to the Power BI Service through your Microsoft 365 account, where it becomes accessible to any permitted user through a browser or the Power BI mobile app. The entire workflow from raw data to a shared interactive report can be accomplished without writing a single line of code — making Power BI genuinely accessible for business professionals without a technical background.
Slicers in Power BI are visual filter controls placed directly on the report canvas that allow users to interactively segment data by selecting one or more values — without needing to open a filter pane or modify the report. A slicer might display a list of product categories, date ranges, regions, or employee names; when a user clicks a value, every visual on the page updates instantly to reflect that selection. This interactivity transforms static reports into self-service analytical tools, enabling business users to explore their data without needing to request a new version from an analyst. Slicers support multiple selection modes — single-select for simple filtering, multi-select for comparing categories, and range selection for date or numeric sliders. They can be synchronized across multiple report pages so a filter selection on one page applies throughout the report. For business professionals creating reports for leadership or operational teams, mastering slicers is one of the highest-impact skills for producing reports that are genuinely used rather than simply viewed. Power BI training designed for business users covers slicer configuration alongside other interactive report features.
Power Query is the data transformation engine built into both Power BI Desktop and Excel, enabling users to clean, reshape, and combine data from multiple sources through a recorded, replayable set of steps — without writing code. When you connect a data source in Power BI, Power Query Editor opens and allows you to remove unwanted columns, rename fields, split text columns, filter rows, change data types, merge tables from different sources, and apply dozens of other transformations through a point-and-click interface. Each step is recorded in the Applied Steps pane and replayed automatically every time the data refreshes, meaning that messy incoming data is cleaned consistently without any manual intervention. For business professionals who currently spend hours copying, cleaning, and reformatting data in Excel before building reports, Power Query represents a transformative time savings — the preparation work is done once and runs automatically thereafter. Data refresh in Power BI can be scheduled through the Power BI Service so reports always reflect current information without requiring user action. Expert Power BI training helps professionals master Power Query as the foundation of reliable, maintainable reporting workflows.
Sharing Power BI reports with colleagues requires publishing the report from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service — the cloud-based platform accessible through any web browser with a Microsoft 365 account. Once published to a workspace in the Power BI Service, reports can be shared directly with specific users by email address, embedded in Microsoft Teams channels for easy access during meetings, or packaged into an app that presents a curated set of reports to a defined audience. Access control is managed at the workspace level, where different permission roles — Viewer, Contributor, Member, Admin — determine what each user can see and do. Row-level security (RLS) can be applied to restrict which data rows individual users see within the same report, enabling a single report to serve multiple audiences with different data scopes. Reports can also be exported to PDF or PowerPoint for sharing with stakeholders who do not have Power BI access. For organizations transitioning away from email attachments of static Excel reports, Power BI's sharing model provides centralized, permission-controlled distribution that keeps everyone working from a single, current version of the data.