Guide to Microsoft Power BI for Data Scientists

As a key player within the data science industry, Microsoft is a technology and software company that creates cutting-edge products and services that are useful for any business. Whether you need software for data collection and database management or working with specific programming languages, Microsoft’s suite of products is a staple across the fields of information and data science.

The company has not only expanded its offerings within the data science industry, but also in the realms of business and enterprise software. Microsoft Power BI is the company’s latest offering in the area of Business Intelligence (BI). With several platforms available to users, learning Microsoft Power BI is essential for data scientists and analysts that are invested in developing their analytic skills and building fluency in the Microsoft ecosystem of data science tools.

Introduction to Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a platform that is known for its business intelligence capabilities and visualization tools. Power BI can be used to create reports and models which present data in ways that are easy to understand and interpret by a diverse audience of users and stakeholders. Offering several products and tools, Microsoft Power BI can be accessed through Power BI Desktop, Pro, Premium, Mobile, Embedded, and Report Server.

Each of these products exists in a closed source system and many of them require some type of license or subscription service on the behalf of the users. Consequently, Power BI is more commonly used as an enterprise software within the context of a business. This is why this platform is formatted for scalability, which ensures that data science professionals that are working on big data projects can rely on Power BI to manage and visualize their data. Regardless of background, most data scientists will find the features of Power BI Desktop, Pro, and Premium to be especially effective for working on data science projects.

With Power BI Desktop, data science professionals are able to create interactive reports and connect to multiple products and software which can be used to organize and analyze data. Power BI Pro focuses on working within a team-based environment or organization through the secure sharing of information and data. Power BI Premium is licensed for individuals or organizations that are working on big data projects and require an enterprise tool for data organization, management, publication, and sharing.

Top Data Science Features in Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a multifaceted platform that offers several unique features for data scientists who are interested in using business intelligence tools to analyze, visualize, and share their projects and publications. Power BI is especially suited for organizing and visualizing data, employing artificial intelligence and machine learning for data analytics, collaborating on projects, as well as working with software and platforms outside of Power BI.

Data Organization and Visualization Tools

Many of the features of Microsoft Power BI focus on allowing data science professionals to work through the entire data science life cycle by moving from data organization to visualization. After the data collection process, organizational features such as Power Query act as a method of searching through a dataset to identify missing values, presenting a spreadsheet view of the data, and enacting other forms of data cleaning and organization. Power Query also utilizes some artificial intelligence capabilities by sensing the relationships, patterns, and potential issues within a dataset.

Microsoft Power BI is also known for its use of reports to present and display data visualizations after loading a dataset into your workspace. When using Power BI Desktop, reports can be generated through the Power BI Report Builder or Report Server which was created for the authoring of paginated reports that include data visualizations such as tables and charts. In addition, there are several features that can be integrated into the reports to make them more interactive. For example, Microsoft Power Apps offer templates that can be used to create an app without coding that offers additional visualization and sharing capabilities for a dataset.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning has become essential to working with data science tools, and Microsoft Power BI includes features that apply these methods in the creation of models and visualizations. As a low code solution to more traditional methods of programming, Power BI’s AutoML feature allows data science professionals to use drag and drop features in the creation of machine learning models. By first configuring a data flow, automated machine learning (AutoML) allows data scientists to select and train different types of machine learning models which can then be included in one of Power BI’s reports. In addition, Power BI is also compatible with other artificial intelligence tools within the Microsoft ecosystem, such as Azure Machine Learning, which streamlines the process of deploying and visualizing these data models.

Software Compatibility and Connection

One of the greatest benefits of Microsoft Power BI is its ability to join multiple platforms and data sources together in one place. Power BI is highly compatible with data science tools within and outside of the Microsoft ecosystem, such as Azure SQL, Excel, and Salesforce. This ensures that data scientists and business analysts can generate a complete picture of a business or project.

By combining these environments in the context of data visualizations tools, such as reports or apps, data science professionals can also work with supported data connectors. Although Power BI offers low code capabilities, by using different data connectors, programming languages such as SQL and Python can be incorporated into the process of collaborating on data science projects, exploring a dataset, and presenting findings and informational insights.

Project Collaboration and Publication

Like many business intelligence tools, Microsoft Power BI is tailored to working in collaboration with multiple team members on a shared data set or project. Whether you are communicating in Microsoft Teams or collaborating in a shared workspace, users with a Microsoft Power BI license can work together across virtual environments.

Due to the fact that Power BI exists as one of many Microsoft tools, the platform also connects well with the Microsoft Office suite of products. This means that any projects which have been started in BI can be exported to Microsoft Excel, Word, and Powerpoint so that data science professionals can update and share their findings with multiple audiences and project stakeholders.

Want to learn more about Microsoft Power BI?

Microsoft Power BI is one of many tools which are useful for data scientists and business analysts alike. Noble Desktop’s data science classes include bootcamps and courses which offer instruction on working with a wide breadth of data analytics platforms and business intelligence tools. Specifically, the Power BI Bootcamp uses a case studies-based format to teach data science students and professionals how to create reports and query data in the Power BI platform.

Due to its high level of compatibility with products and services in the Microsoft ecosystem, data science professionals that want to learn more about Microsoft Power BI can also take one of Noble Desktop’s Microsoft Excel coursesin order to expand their knowledge of collecting and managing information and data in a spreadsheet format. With each of these classes, students can gain experience in how to work with structured data in a relational format that is a necessity in the creation of data models and informational reports.