Analyze Data

With Power BI
ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
College of Computer Studies
 What is in this module?

Introduction
Learning Objectives o Filter data with
Power BI
o View your data
o Ask questions of
your data
o Apply filters to
Course Description HERE reports
 Filter data
with Power BI
Slicers
A simple type of filtering that you can use directly on the report page is called a slicer. Slicers provide
cues to ways you can filter the results in the visuals on a report page. There are several different types of
slicers: numeric, categorical, and date. Slicers make it easy to filter all the visuals on the page at once.

If you want to select more than one field, hold the Ctrl key and click additional fields.
Explore the Filters pane
Another way to filter data is by opening and
modifying filters in the Filters pane. The Filters
pane contains filters that were added to the
report by the report designer. As a consumer,
you can
interact with the filters and save your changes
but can't add new filters.

The four types of filters are:

• Report – Applies to all pages in the report.
• Page – Applies to all the visuals on the
current report page.
• Visual – Applies to a single visual on a report
page. You only see visual level filters if you've
selected a visual on the report canvas.
• Drillthrough – Allows you to explore
successively more detailed views within a
single visual.
Explore the Filters pane

For example, in the following screenshot, the designer added three

page-level filters: Segment, Year, and Region. Notice that Year is
currently set to filter to the year 2014.

You can apply filters on the Filters pane, or you can select data

directly in the report to narrow by date, category, geography, and so
on.
Explore the Filters pane
When you exit the report, your filters are saved. To undo your filtering and return to the default filtering, slicing,
drilling, and sorting that the report author set, select Reset to default from the top menu bar.
 Explore the Filters pane

Clear a filter

In either advanced or basic filtering mode, select the eraser

icon to clear the filter. As you adjust the filter, the search
query updates to reflect your choices.
Explore the Filters pane
Advanced mode
If the values are continuous (not discrete) or represent a range, you can select the field
name to open the advanced filter mode. Use the drop-down menu and text boxes to
specify a range of values that you want to see.

If the field values represent date or time, you can specify

a start and end time when using the Date and Time filters.
Explore the Filters pane
Change how a chart is sorted in a report
In a Power BI report, you can sort most visuals alphabetically or by numeric values of each category. For
example, the following chart is sorted by the category Store name.
Explore the Filters pane
Changing the sort from a category (store name) to a value (sales per square feet) is simple. In this
example, you would select the ellipsis (...) and choose Sort by > Sales Per Sq Ft. Optionally, you might
select the
ellipsis again and choose Sort Descending.
Explore the Filters pane
Save changes you make to the sort order

Power BI reports keep the filters, slicers, sorting, and other data view changes that you make. When you
leave a report and then return later, your changes are saved. If you want to revert your changes to the
report designer's settings, select Reset to default from the top menu bar.
Explore the Filters pane
Drill down in a visual
When a visual has a hierarchy, you can drill down to reveal additional details. For example, you might have
a visual that looks at Olympic medal count by a hierarchy that is made up of sport, discipline, and event.
In this example, you might select the Aquatics element to see data for swimming, diving, and water polo.
Select the Diving element to see details for springboard, platform, and synchronized diving events.
If you're unsure of which Power BI visuals contain a hierarchy, hover over a visual. If you see the following
drill controls in the top corner, your visual has a hierarchy.
Dates are a unique type of hierarchy. When the report designer adds a date field to a visual, Power BI
automatically adds a time hierarchy that contains year, quarter, month, and day.
Use bookmarks to share insights and
build stories
You can interact with filters and save the changes for yourself only. However, sometimes you might want to
share certain filtered views with your team. In those cases, you can create report bookmarks.
Using bookmarks in Power BI helps you capture the currently configured view of a report page, including
filtering and the state of visuals. You can return later to that state by selecting the saved bookmark.
To see report bookmarks in action, go to any Power BI report to which you have view or edit access and
select the Bookmarks drop-down menu on the action bar.
 Use bookmarks to share insights and
build stories
Create bookmarks
When you've selected the report and view that you like, expand the Bookmarks drop-down menu and select 
Add personal bookmark. By default, Power BI will suggest a generic name for your bookmark. You can type
in your own name and select Save.
Use bookmarks to share insights and
build stories
After creating a bookmark, you can display it by selecting the bookmark name in the drop-down list.
Notice that the breadcrumb for the report will now contain the bookmark that you're currently viewing.
Use bookmarks to share insights and
build stories
Open and view bookmarks
The report designer will sometimes include bookmarks as part of the report. To view either your personal
bookmark or a report bookmark, select the bookmark icon and make your selection. Bookmark icons are
listed on the Bookmark pane that you can open by selecting Bookmarks > Show more bookmarks.
View Your Data
Show data

Power BI visuals are created from data that you can view. When you turn on Show
data, Power BI displays the data below the visual.
In Power BI, you can open a report and select a visual. To display the data that was
used to create the visual, select the visual's More options (...) and select Visual
table.
 Export data to Excel

Occasionally, you might want to use Excel to view and interact with Power BI data. With the 
Analyze in Excel feature, you can do just that. This option also allows you to access
PivotTable, chart, and slicer features in Excel based on the dataset that exists in Power BI.
When you select Analyze in Excel from the ellipsis menu (...) that is associated with a report,
Power BI creates an Office Data Connection (.ODC) file and downloads it from the browser to
your computer.
 Analyze data in Excel

When you open the file in Excel, an

empty PivotTable and Fields list appears with
the tables,
fields, and measures from the Power BI dataset.
You can create PivotTables and charts, and
analyze that dataset just as you would with a
local dataset in Excel.
Ask Questions
Of Your Data
Explore Q&A

You can use Q&A to explore your data by using the intuitive, natural language capabilities of
Power BI and receive answers in the form of charts and graphs.
Ask a question

Q&A is available on dashboards and reports in Power BI. To open the Q&A screen, go to the
dashboard and place your cursor in the question box.
Ask a question

If the visuals' axis labels and values include the

words sales, account, month, and opportunities,
then you can confidently ask questions that use
those values. For example, "Which account has
the highest opportunity" or "Show sales by
month as a bar chart.“

Other helpful items are provided on the side of

the screen. For each dataset, Q&A shows you
keywords and occasionally shows you some
sample or suggested questions. Select any item
to add them to the question box.

Another way that Q&A helps you ask questions

is with prompts, autocomplete, and visual cues.
 Ask a question

Q&A visuals

Q&A picks the best visual based on the data

being displayed. For example, numbers may be
displayed as a line chart while cities are more
likely to be displayed as a map.

You can also tell Q&A which visual to use by

adding it to your question. Q&A will prompt you
with a list of workable visual types. Using the
previous example, you could ask, "What are the
total units by region by pie chart?"
Ask a question
Words and terminology that Q&A recognizes
Category Keywords
Aggregates total, sum, amount, number, quantity, count, average, most, least, fewest, largest, smallest, highest, biggest,
maximum, max, greatest, lowest, littlest, minimum, min
Comparisons vs, versus, compared to, compared with
Dates Power BI recognizes most date terms (day, week, month, year, quarter, decade, and so on)
Relative dates today, right now, current time, yesterday, tomorrow, the current, next, the coming, last, previous, ago, before now,
sooner than, after, later than, from, at, on, from now, after now, in the future, past, last, previous, within, in, over,
N days ago, N days from now, next, once, twice. Example: Count of orders in the past 6 days.

Query commands sorted, sort by, direction, group, group by, by, show, list, display, give me, name, just, only, arrange, rank,
compare, to, with, against, alphabetically, ascending, descending, order
Range greater, more, larger, above, over, >, less, smaller, fewer, below, under, <, at least, no less than, >=, at most, no
more than, <=, in, between, in the range of, from, later, earlier, sooner, after, on, at, later than, after, since,
starting with, starting from, ending with

Times AM, PM, o'clock, noon, midnight, hour, minute, second, hh:mm:ss. Examples: 10 PM, 10:35 PM, 10:35:15 pm, 10
o'clock, noon, midnight, hour, minute, second.
 Ask a question
Q&A helps phrase the question

Q&A does its best to understand and answer the question by:

• Autocompleting words and questions. It uses various strategies, including autocompleting recognized
words and previously used questions that returned valid responses. If more than one autocomplete
option is available, they're presented in a drop-down list.
• Correcting spelling.
• Providing a preview of the answer in the form of a visual. The visual updates as you type and edit the
question (it doesn't wait for you to press Enter).
• Suggesting replacement terms from the underlying dataset(s) when you move the cursor back in the
question box.
• Restating the question based on the data in the underlying dataset(s). Q&A replaces the words you
used with synonyms from the underlying dataset(s). By reading the restatement, you know whether Q&A

understood your question or not.

• Dimming words it doesn't understand.
Apply Filters
To Reports
Scenario

Congratulations. You are the new sales manager at a clothing

manufacturing company named Van Arsdel. Your first
assignment is to analyze your sales and marketing data to find
why there is an unexpected dip in June sales.
 Procedure
Add the Sales and Marketing Sample app

Note: If you already have the Sales and Marketing sample app installed, please skip to the next section.

1. Sign in to http://app.powerbi.com.
2. Select the Apps tab on the left.
3. Select the Get apps button.
4. Select “Find more apps and consulting services at AppSource” link at the bottom of the menu.
5. Search for “Sales and Marketing sample”
6. From the Install this Power BI app? prompt, select the Install button.
7. Select the “Get it now” link and wait for the app to install.
8. From the Get started with your new app screen, select the Explore App button.
9. Select the Apps tab on the left and then select the Sales and Marketing sample app tile.
10. The first time you launch the app, you will see Get started with your new app
11. Select the Explore app button to explore the dashboard.
 Procedure
Apply a filter to a report page

In this section, you will explore two

questions:
• Why did our company, VanArsdel,
underperform in June?
• What are our best growth opportunities?

1. In the Sales and Marketing sample 

app, start on the YTD Category report
page by selecting the YTD
Category tab at the bottom from any
report (or by
selecting the Total Units YTD visual
from the dashboard).
 Procedure
2. Notice the anomaly in the Total Units by Month and Manufacturer chart.
Procedure

3. If it is not already open, open the Filters pane by selecting 

Filters from the right side of your report.

4. Power BI displays all filters that the report designer applied to

that visual.
Procedure
5. The report designer filtered for Van Arsdel and our top
three competitors and for the year 2014. That is good but
she also filtered for the Central region and you want to see
all of the regions. Clear the Region filter by clicking the
eraser icon on that filter.

6. Mouse over the Total Units YTD by Manufacturer and

Region and note which segments in which Van Arsdel
competes. Note that we compete in Moderation and 
Convenience.
Procedure
7. Hover over our competitors to see segments in which they compete. Do you see any patterns?
Procedure
8. Explore the same question just for the month of June. To cross-filter this report page for June, in the 
Total Units by Month and Manufacturer visual, click on the label June-14. Notice that all of the visuals
in this report page update for June.
Procedure
9. Notice the cross-highlighting of the Total Units YTD by Manufacturer and Region visual.
Procedure
10. Hover over each company to see the
pattern of segments during June.

11. What can you conclude about the two most

successful segments in June and why are our
total sales dipping during that time?

12. To explore the same question in a different

way: go to the Growth Opportunities report by
selecting the Growth Opportunities tab.

13. Hover over the Total Units by

Segment bar chart visual and then select the
"Drill Up" icon
(the up arrow) to see "Total Units by
Manufacturer".
Procedure

14. Clear the isVanArsdel and the Segment 

filters by clicking the eraser icons. This will
allow us to see all of the companies and
segments. Notice that Van Arsdel is the leading
manufacturer overall.
Procedure
15. Cross-filter for June on the Total Units and Total Units by R12Ms by Month visual by selecting 
June-14. Notice once again how Van Arsdel did in June.
Procedure
16. Drill down to view segments in June by clicking the "Click
to turn on Drill Down" icon and then the "Go to the next level in
the hierarchy" icon.

17. Once again, what segments are the most successful in

June.

18. Why are Van Arsdel sales failing in June? What could we
do to better compete?
 END
By: Jewel Anne R. Atanacio