Book Image

Data Cleaning with Power BI

By : Gus Frazer
Book Image

Data Cleaning with Power BI

By: Gus Frazer

Overview of this book

Microsoft Power BI offers a range of powerful data cleaning and preparation options through tools such as DAX, Power Query, and the M language. However, despite its user-friendly interface, mastering it can be challenging. Whether you're a seasoned analyst or a novice exploring the potential of Power BI, this comprehensive guide equips you with techniques to transform raw data into a reliable foundation for insightful analysis and visualization. This book serves as a comprehensive guide to data cleaning, starting with data quality, common data challenges, and best practices for handling data. You’ll learn how to import and clean data with Query Editor and transform data using the M query language. As you advance, you’ll explore Power BI’s data modeling capabilities for efficient cleaning and establishing relationships. Later chapters cover best practices for using Power Automate for data cleaning and task automation. Finally, you’ll discover how OpenAI and ChatGPT can make data cleaning in Power BI easier. By the end of the book, you will have a comprehensive understanding of data cleaning concepts, techniques, and how to use Power BI and its tools for effective data preparation.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1 – Introduction and Fundamentals
6
Part 2 – Data Import and Query Editor
11
Part 3 – Advanced Data Cleaning and Optimizations
16
Part 4 – Paginated Reports, Automations, and OpenAI

Data preparation

Now that we have connected to our data source, we are ready to begin preparing and creating datasets ready for our analysis. To do so, create a new dataset by right-clicking in the Report Data window and selecting Add Dataset.

This will open a new window labeled Dataset Properties (Figure 13.7). Here, we can select a table or write a query to define what data we want to include in the dataset:

Figure 13.7 – The Dataset Properties window in Power BI Report Builder

Figure 13.7 – The Dataset Properties window in Power BI Report Builder

Before going ahead, let’s review what each property tab controls within the dataset.

Query

The Query section of Dataset Properties is responsible for defining the data source and specifying the query that retrieves data from that source. This is where users configure the connection details and write or generate DAX queries, MDX queries for multidimensional sources, or other query types, depending on the data source.

Here are the key components:

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