Common terminology

Microsoft's Getting Started with Power BI Desktop article will help you understand a few key terms commonly used in Power BI and the associated training materials:

• Dashboard: A collection of visualizations or reports displayed on one screen, providing insights into your data.
• Reports: A detailed set of visualizations and pages based on one semantic model. A report can have a single visual or many pages of visuals
• Datasets: A collection of data that you import or connect to in Power BI.
• Semantic Model: Power BI creates a semantic model automatically when you connect to and import data from a data source. A semantic model contains information about the data source and data source credentials.
• Visualization: A visual representation of your data, such as a chart, map, or table.
• Filters: Tools used to narrow down data in a report or visualization.
• Measures: Calculations used in Power BI that return summarized values, such as averages or totals, created using DAX, or Data Analysis Expressions.
• Slicers: A slicer is a type of filter; it's a visual tool that allows users to filter data directly on the report page.

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Layout overview

Power BI Desktop has a user interface that should feel familiar to Microsoft Office user's divided into a few main areas to help users navigate and build reports efficiently:

1. Home Ribbon: The toolbar at the top of the application where you can find frequently used actions such as importing data, transforming data, and refreshing datasets.
2. Report View: The default workspace where you build and design your reports by adding visualizations and charts.
3. Data View: This section shows your imported data in table format, similar to Excel, enabling you to inspect and understand your data before using it in visualizations.
4. Model View: A diagrammatic view of the relationships between your tables. This is where you define relationships between datasets for accurate analysis.
5. Data Pane: On the right-hand side, this area lists all your datasets and fields that are available for use in visualizations.
6. Visualizations Pane: Also on the right-hand side, it contains the types of charts and visuals available in Power BI. You can drag fields into this area to create charts and graphs.
7. Filters Pane: Located below the Visualizations pane, this allows users to apply filters to their data in visualizations, reports, or across pages.
8. Pages Tab: Located along the bottom of the page, this area allows you to select or add a report page.
   

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Key concepts

As you continue to explore Power BI, familiarity with these concepts will help you to navigate and leverage Power BI to meet your data needs:

• Importing Data: Power BI allows you to connect to a wide range of data sources (e.g., Excel, SQL Server, online sources). You can access this through the Home tab by selecting Get Data.
• Data Transformation: After importing data, you can clean and transform it using the Power Query Editor, accessible through the Transform Data button in the Home ribbon. This is where you handle data cleaning tasks like filtering, renaming columns, or changing data types.
• Data Modeling: In the Model View, users can define relationships between different tables in the dataset. Correct relationships are crucial for accurate reporting.
• Creating Visualizations: Power BI allows you to quickly build various visualizations by dragging fields from the Fields Pane into the Visualizations Pane. You can choose from charts, tables, maps, and other visuals.

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