Book Image

Data Modeling with Microsoft Excel

By : Bernard Obeng Boateng
5 (1)
Book Image

Data Modeling with Microsoft Excel

5 (1)
By: Bernard Obeng Boateng

Overview of this book

Microsoft Excel's BI solutions have evolved, offering users more flexibility and control over analyzing data directly in Excel. Features like PivotTables, Data Model, Power Query, and Power Pivot empower Excel users to efficiently get, transform, model, aggregate, and visualize data. Data Modeling with Microsoft Excel offers a practical way to demystify the use and application of these tools using real-world examples and simple illustrations. This book will introduce you to the world of data modeling in Excel, as well as definitions and best practices in data structuring for both normalized and denormalized data. The next set of chapters will take you through the useful features of Data Model and Power Pivot, helping you get to grips with the types of schemas (snowflake and star) and create relationships within multiple tables. You’ll also understand how to create powerful and flexible measures using DAX and Cube functions. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to apply the acquired knowledge in real-world scenarios and build an interactive dashboard that will help you make important decisions.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
1
Part 1: Overview and Introduction to Data Modeling in Microsoft Excel
6
Part 2: Creating Insightful Calculations from your Data Model using DAX and Cube Functions
9
Part 3: Putting it all together with a Dashboard

Data Structuring for Data Models – What’s the best way to layout your data?

How do you structure your data for the data model? Getting your data in the right shape and form is important in the data modeling process. In this chapter, we will learn about the three golden rules for data structuring. These rules make it easier to model your data and create your calculations and analysis in Microsoft Excel. You will understand the concept of data normalization and the advantages it has over flat tables for analysis. The chapter will round off with an introduction to Power Query, Microsoft Excel’s data transformation tool. When you encounter data layouts that do not conform to the best practices described in the chapter, Power Query plays a critical role in shaping and transforming the data.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

  • Data structuring – understanding the three golden rules
  • Denormalized and normalized data
  • Understanding...