Soheil Bakhshi - Expert Data Modeling with Power BI: Get the best out of Power BI by building optimized data models for reporting and business needs

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I dedicate this book to my lovely wife, Elica Mehr, and our precious daughter, Avina.

Without their unconditional support, this matter would not have been possible.

I also owe this success to my parents, who always believed in me and encouraged me to follow my dreams.

I am happy to know that Soheil, who I have seen grow as an MVP with expert knowledge of Power BI, has authored this hands-on book that covers a range of topics. Learning by example is something every committed student wants to do. The effort needed to go through online documentation and extract useful information can be prohibitive. Many students can become frustrated during the process and leave the task unfinished because it is easy for any beginner to lose sight of the learning task while trying to find good, real-world, example-based content.

Soheil's book includes many resources from beginner to expert level for Power BI. Power BI is the leading platform and tool for enterprise and self-service BI. It is a joy to use and is very flexible. This book is appealing both to beginners and to experts who build systems for thousands of users. I'm happy to recommend Soheil's book to any enthusiast, regardless of their level of expertise. His book navigates the world of Power BI in a very engaging way. It starts from the basic building blocks and elaborates on many aspects of data modeling, including star schema, managing bi-directional relationships, many-to-many relationships, calculated tables, preparing the data structure in Power Query to achieve a star schema design, RLS, OLS, and composite models. Any student will appreciate the hands-on approach of this book. Every concept is explained with examples.

Christian Wade

Principal Program Manager, Microsoft

Soheil Bakhshi is the founder of Data Vizioner and is a sought-after BI consultant. Having worked in data and analytics for more than 20 years, Soheil's experience lies in Microsoft BI, data warehousing, and the Power BI platform. He possesses MSCE and MCSA certifications and is a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional). He has a passion for sharing knowledge via his website www.biinsight.com and for speaking at conferences and Power BI community events locally and globally. In following his desire for simplicity and efficiency, he has been behind Power BI community tools and commercial products such as Power BI Exporter and Power BI Documenter.

Felipe Vilela worked for many years with system development and then started working in BI/data warehousing, mainly using MicroStrategy, more than 8 years ago. He worked with many companies in Brazil and the United States, implementing MicroStrategy projects, customizing, and administrating MicroStrategy. He taught BI/data warehousing and MicroStrategy to many companies using the company's, personal, and MicroStrategy's official courses. He also has a blog (www.vilelamstr.com). He was one of the MicroStrategy mobile app developers at MicroStrategy World 2016 and 2017. He has more than 30 MicroStrategy certifications, including the MCEP certification.

Nikita Barsukov is an experienced data scientist, focusing on delivering end-to-end analytical solutions. After growing up in Ukraine and studying in Finland and Sweden, he started his career in IT as a software developer in testing, only to realize his true passion lies in data science and building analytics tools that bring others joy and enhance data discovery. Nikita is currently employed by Microsoft; he is a part of a team of like-minded colleagues that develop analytics solutions for Power Platform and Dynamics 365. Outside of work, Nikita listens to podcasts and audiobooks; plays board games with friends, and occasionally even with himself; and enjoys a good run, craft beer, and a great book. Nikita lives in Copenhagen with his wife and three kids.

Ana Maria is a BI consultant and trainer as well as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Microsoft Partner in Power BI, and LinkedIn Learning Trainer. She has more than 25 years of industry experience ranging from the development of desktop solutions in FoxPro in the 1990s to data analysis and BI consulting and training. She has a degree in economic cybernetics from Moscow's State University of Management, in the former USSR, and also a master's degree in BI from the University of Alcala, in Spain. She is focused on the data world in Microsoft technology, modeling, and data analysis with SQL Server BI, Excel BI, Azure Machine Learning, R, and Power BI. You can find her at technical events and forums, as a speaker, organizer, or attendee.