Power BI Interview

Questions

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 Table of Contents
1. Difference between Calculated Columns and Measures ..................................................... 5
2. Difference between DAX and Power Query ........................................................................ 5
3. Difference between Slicer and Filter .................................................................................. 5
4. Difference between Distinct & Values functions and what separates them ......................... 5
5. Difference between Drill Through vs Drill Down ................................................................. 5
6. Difference between Dataset, Reports & Dashboards .......................................................... 5
7. Difference between Static and Dynamic RLS ...................................................................... 5
8. Selection Pane, Bookmarks & Buttons in Power BI ............................................................. 6
9. Summarize and Calculate function in Power BI ................................................................... 6
10. Difference between Active and Inactive relationships in Power BI................................... 6
11. Types of Filters in Power BI ............................................................................................ 6
12. Types of Relationships in Power BI ................................................................................. 7
13. Types of Gateways ........................................................................................................ 7
14. Types of Connectivity Modes in Power BI ....................................................................... 7
15. Common Power BI report performance issues ................................................................ 8
16. Most common challenges faced in Power BI ................................................................... 8
17. What is POWER BI? Explain.......................................................................................... 10
18. Why Power BI is most trending in market..................................................................... 10
19. How to change the data source in Power Query?.......................................................... 10
20. What are the common functions you have used in POWER BI? ..................................... 10
21. What is the chart we have use to display quantity and sales in the same axis? .............. 10
22. What is the difference between SUM and SUMX? ........................................................ 10
23. What are the transformations you have done in Power Query? .................................... 10
24. What are the connections you have worked on? .......................................................... 10
25. Do you know about Direct Query? ............................................................................... 10
26. What type of data sources you have worked on? ......................................................... 10
27. How to implement RLS? .............................................................................................. 10
28. Different between the Power BI Licenses? What do you use? ....................................... 10
29. The heading or title of the Visual or a text in the text box should change according
selection in the slicer (Ex: We have country names in slicer when I select one country (Germany),
I should see the title as that country name (Sales of Germany)) ............................................... 10
30. Did you face any challenges in writing any POWER BI while working on a report? ......... 10
31. How will Power BI check the access when we implement RLS? ..................................... 10

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 32. How do you use Buttons? ............................................................................................ 10
33. Advantages and Limitations of import, Direct query? Which is more useful? ................. 10
34. What are workspaces? ................................................................................................ 10
35. What are apps in Power BI? ......................................................................................... 10
36. Path function in Power BI?........................................................................................... 10
37. What are variables in Power BI? .................................................................................. 10
38. Power automate function? .......................................................................................... 10
39. What are parameters How to implement? ................................................................... 10
40. Incremental refresh and how do you implement it?...................................................... 10
41. Bookmarking functionality........................................................................................... 10
42. Expression based titles?............................................................................................... 10
43. Dynamic headers? ....................................................................................................... 10
44. How to create custom hierarchy?................................................................................. 10
45. What is fiscal year in Calendar auto function? .............................................................. 10
46. What is date master table? Did you implement? .......................................................... 10
47. Commonly used POWER BI functions ........................................................................... 10
48. Parameter refresh in PBI.............................................................................................. 10
49. Explain any Custom columns scenario which you have used ......................................... 10
50. Epoch date? ................................................................................................................ 11
51. Can we append a table of 7 columns to a table of 10 columns and vice versa? ............... 11
52. Why do you append any queries? ................................................................................ 11
53. What is merge and how to merge dataset? .................................................................. 11
54. How to convert rows into columns and columns into rows? .......................................... 11
55. What is the important skill that a PBI developer should possess?.................................. 11
56. I applied page level filter to a report but I do not want one visual (Ex: a pie chart with
profit)to be not get affected with that page level filter which I have applied ............................ 11
57. What are the connectivity modes in Power BI?............................................................. 11
58. What are the different visuals you have used? ............................................................. 11
59. Any other way to PBI reports other than using Power BI service?.................................. 11
60. Main things required to access a PBI report? ................................................................ 11
61. Difference between slicers and filters?......................................................................... 11
62. Difference between Drill through and Drill up ? ............................................................ 11
63. What is Dynamic RLS and how to implement it? ........................................................... 11
64. What are gateways? how to install and use them? ...................................................... 11

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 65. What are the gateways we have? ................................................................................ 11
66. Bookmarks in PBI?....................................................................................................... 11
67. Types of Refreshes in PBI ............................................................................................. 11
68. Difference between Calculated columns and measures? ............................................... 11
69. What are FACT and Dimension tables ? ........................................................................ 11
70. How to integrate external data sources using your PBI?................................................ 11
71. How is data security implemented in PBI tool? ............................................................. 11
72. Where is the data stored in your PBI tool? ................................................................... 11
73. What are different views available in PBI tool?............................................................. 11
74. Explain advantages of using PBI ................................................................................... 11
75. Explain shortfalls and disadvantages in PBI .................................................................. 11
76. Workspace roles in PBI for security? ............................................................................ 11
77. What is the limit of schedule refreshing in pro and premium? ...................................... 11
78. When using import mode how can we see the latest date in the report?....................... 11
79. Can we implement report on two different datasets of different sources? .................... 11
80. What is the difference between Dashboard and Report? .............................................. 11
81. What is page filter and how it is used? ......................................................................... 11
82. Active and inactive relationships? ................................................................................ 11
83. Difference between COUNT and COUNTROWS? ........................................................... 11
84. Difference between COUNT AND DISTINCTCOUNT? ...................................................... 11
85. Define relationships and types ..................................................................................... 12
86. Define cardinality and types ........................................................................................ 12
87. How to replace NULLS in PBI using POWER BI? ............................................................. 12
88. If there are more than 1 million rows in a table, which is more preferred calculate
column or measure? ............................................................................................................... 12
89. Types of filters ............................................................................................................ 12
90. Connection types in Power BI ...................................................................................... 12
91. How data security is implemented in Power BI ............................................................. 12
92. When I hover on any bar in a chart, I should see another chart in tooltip with
corresponding details of that bar. How can do it? .................................................................... 12
93. When I hover on a button, I should see the text in button gets bold. How can I do it? ... 12
94. What are the scenarios where you have used buttons? ................................................ 12
95. How can you make one slicer to be dependent on other slicer in the report? ................ 12
96. I want to see the top 5 sales in the report using POWER BI? .......................................... 12
97. Can I download report in excel file format? ................................................................. 12

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 1. Difference between Calculated Columns and Measures
Calculated Column is an extension of a table by creating new column evaluated for each row
calculated using DAX formulas.

Measure is a "Calculated Field" in DAX. Example: Total Sales, Total Salaries. It is used for
advanced calculations as they evaluate DAX to give out the results from complex queries.

2. Difference between DAX and Power Query

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is the formula language used in Power Pivot and
Power BI Desktop. DAX uses functions to work on data that is stored in tables.

Power Query (M) is used to query data sources, clean, and load data. Then you use DAX to
analyse the data in Power Pivot.

3. Difference between Slicer and Filter

Slicers are visual elements. They narrow the portion of the dataset that is shown in the other
report visualizations.

Filters are used to sort data based on some selected condition. You have to select some values
within the fields column and refine the result based on those criteria only.

4. DifferencebetweenDistinct&Valuesfunctionsandwhatseparatesthem DISTINCT –
Returns a one column table with the unique values in a column for a column argument or
multiple columns with unique values for a table expression.

VALUES – Returns a single column with unique values when a column argument is given and
returns a table with all columns containing unique values when a table name is given.

5. Difference between Drill Through vs Drill Down

Drill Through report allows you to navigate to a completely different visualization or report,
often in a new window.

Drill Down report allows you to remain within the same visualization type and window.

6. Difference between Dataset, Reports & Dashboards

Dataset: The source used to create reports and visuals/tiles.
Report is a more detailed collection of tables, charts, and graphs and it is used for a much
more detailed full analysis.
Dashboard is used for monitoring which is a single page, often called a canvas, that uses
visualizations to project a story. Selecting a visualization takes you to the report that was used
to create it.

7. Difference between Static and Dynamic RLS

Define RLS Steps - LINK

LINK

Row level security with Power BI is used to restrict data access for particular users.
Static RLS is used when there is a requirement to restrict a specific user group to see the only
same part of the data/report. For example, you may want to restrict US salespeople to only

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 view US data. If that's the case, you can simply add a role, specifying the members (security
group). This RLS will ensure that the members of this role will only see data for the US.
Dynamic RLS means that you define the logic of security inside the data model (tables, their
relationships, etc). For a change in the logic, you just need to add/edit/delete records in the
tables.
The first part of implementing Dynamic RLS is to create a security table. This table will be
referenced when a user queries the model. The security table will be a list of email addresses
and their User IDs.

8. Selection Pane, Bookmarks & Buttons in Power BI

Selection Pane - You can hide or unhide visuals in a Power BI report through the selection
pane. there is an eye icon besides every visual, which gives you the control over visibility of
that visual on the report page.

Bookmarks capture the currently configured view of a report page, including filters, slicers,
and the state of visuals. When you select a bookmark, Power BI takes you back to that view.

Buttons are action objects in Power BI. You can create a button (or even an image or shape),
and then set the action of that to be; back, Q&A, or bookmark.

9. Summarize and Calculate function in Power BI

Summarize - Creates a summary of the input table grouped by the specified columns.
Summarize the huge number of rows of data into one table with provided criteria column.
Whether you want to sum, or take the average of the column or some other kind of
calculation.

Calculate – Evaluates an expression in a context modified by filters. This function applies

a calculation (the first parameter) for each cell, considering the resulting context by applying
the filters to the current context.

10. Difference between Active and Inactive relationships in Power BI

By default, Active Relationships propagate filters to other tables.
Inactive Relationship, only propagate filters when a DAX expression (USERELATIONSHIP) uses
the relationship.
It is possible to create several relationships between two tables. Most of the time, the first
created relationship will be considered as the “active” one.
The dotted line signifies an inactive data relationship. In Power BI, you can only create one
active relationship between the same tables at the same time. But sometimes, you have to
create multiple relationships between the tables. ... This is how you can identify that these
columns have inactive data relationships.

11. Types of Filters in Power BI

Visual-level Filters: These filters work on only an individual visualization. Moreover, visual-
level filters can filter both data and calculations. Visual-level filters only filter data for a given
view, whether it is a table, chart, card, scale, etc.
Page-level Filters: These filters work at the page level. Different pages in the same report can
have different page-level filters. This filter is for a particular page given in a report. A report

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 itself is made up of a collection of pages. Filters can be applied based on some conditions on
a particular page within a given report.
Report-level Filters: There filters work on the entire report, filtering all pages and
visualizations included in the report. Report-level Filters are the ones that affect all data in
this report, no matter what you are looking at. Think of them as global filters.

12. Types of Relationships in Power BI

LINK
One to One relationship means one entity in a table is related to just one entity in another
table.
One to Many relationships means one entity in a table is related to one or many entities in
another table.
Many to Many relationships means multiple entities in a table can be associated with more
than one entity in another table.

13. Types of Gateways

LINK

On-premises data gateway: Allows multiple users to connect to multiple on-premises data
sources. With a single gateway installation, you can use an on-premises data gateway with all
supported services.
On-premises data gateway (personal mode): Allows one user to connect to sources and can’t
be shared with others. An on-premises data gateway (personal mode) can be used only with
Power BI. This gateway is well-suited to scenarios in which you’re the only person who creates
reports, and you don't need to share any data sources with others.

14. Types of Connectivity Modes in Power BI

Import Direct Live Connections

Fastest Possible Slower Connection type: Slower Connection type:
Connection Performance Tuning in the Performance Tuning in the
data source is MUST DO data source is MUST DO

Combining Data from Can’t Combining Data from Can’t Combining Data
different sources different sources from different sources

Full DAX expressions DAX very limited Full DAX expressions

Power BI file size Power BI file No size Power BI file No size

limitation limitation limitation

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 15. Common Power BI report performance issues
Reasons: There are multiple reasons that can hamper the performance in a Power BI report.
Using too many graphics, too much data/unnecessary columns, using non-certified custom
graphics or leaving the default settings/options are some examples of practices that can lead
to Power BI having to make an extra effort to load our report and therefore increase the
time the machine needs to load.

Resolution:
LIN
K - You can optimize your solution at different architectural layers. Layers include:
LIN• The data source(s)
K • The data model
• Visualizations, including dashboards, Power BI reports, and Power BI paginated
reports
• The environment, including capacities, data gateways, and the network

Workaround includes:

Report View

• Limit the use of graphics/minimize visuals

• Use the minimum data necessary to display information
• Ensure using custom Power BI visuals with good performance
• Checking out that the custom visuals you use have adequate performance
• Reduce the number of interactions between graphics
• Limit the use of slicers
• Use Performance Analyzer to Analyse

Data Model

• Use STAR Schema

• Limit Data Model
• Remove Calculated Columns
• Convert Multiple Measures to Variables LINK
• Amend Dates and Column Types

16. Most common challenges faced in Power BI

• Integrating data from different source systems
• Data quality issues
• Report Design
o Layout
o Navigation
o Summary vs details
o Visualizations
o Colours
o Style
o Mobile
o Interactivity
o Narrative

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 • Schedule refresh timing – During Schedule Refresh, source system might be busy in
executing any scheduled jobs or maintenance activity, that might take a dig on the
report refresh time.
o To leverage the challenges, data model should be compact and efficient to
optimize the report and querying time

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 17. What is POWER BI? Explain
18. Why Power BI is most trending in market.
19. How to change the data source in Power Query?
20. What are the common functions you have used in POWER BI?
21. Whatisthechartwehaveusetodisplayquantityandsalesinthesameaxis?
22. What is the difference between SUM and SUMX?
23. What are the transformations you have done in Power Query?
24. What are the connections you have worked on?
25. Do you know about Direct Query?
26. What type of data sources you have worked on?
27. How to implement RLS?
28. Different between the Power BI Licenses? What do you use?
29. The heading or title of the Visual or a text in the text box should change according selection in
the slicer (Ex: We have country names in slicer when I select one country (Germany), I should see the
titleasthatcountryname(Sales of Germany)).
30. Did you face any challenges in writing any POWER BI while working on a report?
31. How will Power BI check the access when we implement RLS?
32. How do you use Buttons?
33. AdvantagesandLimitationsofimport,Directquery?Whichismoreuseful?
34. What areworkspaces?
35. What are apps in Power BI?
36. Path function in Power BI?
37. What are variables in Power BI?
38. Power automatefunction?
39. What are parameters How to implement?
40. Incremental refresh and how do you implement it?
41. Bookmarking functionality
42. Expression basedtitles?
43. Dynamic headers?
44. How to create custom hierarchy?
45. What is fiscal year in Calendar auto function?
46. What is date master table? Did you implement?
47. Commonly used POWER BI functions
48. Parameter refresh in PBI
49. Explain any Custom columns scenario which you have used

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 50. Epoch date?
51. Canweappendatableof7columnstoatableof10columnsandviceversa?
52. Why do you append any queries?
53. What is merge and how to merge dataset?
54. How to convert rows into columns and columns into rows?
55. What is the important skill that a PBI developer should possess?
56. Iappliedpagelevel filtertoareportbutIdo notwantonevisual (Ex: apiechart withprofit)tobenotget
affectedwiththatpagelevelfilterwhichIhaveapplied
57. What are the connectivity modes in Power BI?
58. What are the different visuals you have used?
59. Any other way to PBI reports other than using Power BI service?
60. Main things required to access a PBI report?
61. Difference between slicers and filters?
62. Difference between Drill through and Drill up ?
63. What is Dynamic RLS and how to implement it?
64. What are gateways? how to install and use them?
65. What are the gateways we have?
66. Bookmarks inPBI?
67. Types of Refreshes in PBI
68. Difference between Calculated columns and measures?
69. What are FACT and Dimension tables ?
70. How to integrate external data sources using your PBI?
71. How is data security implemented in PBI tool?
72. Where is the data stored in your PBI tool?
73. What are different views available in PBI tool?
74. Explain advantages of using PBI
75. Explain shortfalls and disadvantages in PBI
76. Workspace roles in PBI for security?
77. What is the limit of schedule refreshing in pro and premium?
78. When using import mode how can we see the latest date in the report?
79. Canweimplementreportontwodifferentdatasetsofdifferentsources?
80. What is the difference between Dashboard and Report?
81. What is page filter and how it is used?
82. Active and inactive relationships?
83. Difference between COUNT and COUNTROWS?
84. Difference between COUNT AND DISTINCTCOUNT?

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 85. Define relationships and types
86. Define cardinality and types
87. How to replace NULLS in PBI using POWER BI?
88. Iftherearemorethan1millionrowsinatable,whichismorepreferredcalculate column ormeasure?
89. Types offilters
90. Connection types in Power BI
91. How data security is implemented in Power BI
92. WhenIhoveronanybarinachart,Ishouldseeanotherchartintooltip with corresponding details of
that bar. How can do it?
93. WhenIhoveronabutton,Ishouldseethetextinbuttongetsbold.HowcanI do it?
94. What are the scenarios where you have used buttons?
95. Howcanyoumakeoneslicertobedependentonotherslicerinthereport?
96. I want to see the top 5 sales in the report using POWER BI?
97. Can I download report in excel file format?

12
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