Daniil Maslyuk - Exam Ref 70-778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data by Using Microsoft Power BI

Exam Ref 70-778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power BI

Daniil Maslyuk

Exam Ref 70-778 Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power BI

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Pearson Education, Inc.

Copyright 2018 by Pearson Education

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ISBN-13: 978-1-5093-0702-9
ISBN-10: 1-5093-0702-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938487
1 18

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To my wife, Dasha, who was very patient and supported me during the writing process in every way she could.

DANIIL MASLYUK

I would like to thank Trina MacDonald for handling the project and giving me the opportunity to write my first book, which turned out to be a very rewarding experience. Also, I would like to thank all the people who helped making the book more readable and contain fewer errors: Chris Sorensen, Rick Kughen, Liv Bainbridge, Troy Mott, and everyone else at Pearson who worked on this book but I havent worked directly with.

A few people have contributed to my becoming a fan of Power BI. Gabriel Polo Reyes was instrumental in my being introduced to the world of Microsoft BI. Thomas van Vliet, my first client, hired me despite my having no prior commercial experience with Power BI and fed me many problems that led to my mastering Power BI.

DANIIL MASLYUK (MCSA: BI Reporting; MCSE: Data Management and Analytics) is a Microsoft business intelligence consultant who specializes in Power BI, Power Query, and Power Pivot; the DAX and M languages; and SQL Server and Azure Analysis Services tabular models. Daniil blogs at xxlbi.com and tweets as @DMaslyuk.

The 70-778 exam focuses on using Microsoft Power BI for data analysis and visualization. About one fourth of the exam covers data acquisition and transformation, which includes connecting to various data sources by using Power Query, applying basic and advanced transformations, and making sure that data adheres to business requirements. Approximately half the questions are related to data modeling and visualization. Power BI is based on the same engine that is used in Analysis Services, and the exam covers a wide range of data modeling topics: managing relationships and hierarchies, optimizing data models, using What-if parameters, and using DAX to create calculated tables, calculated columns, and measures. The exam also covers selecting, creating and formatting visualizations, as well as bookmarks and themes. The remainder of the exam covers sharing data by using dashboards, reports, and apps in Power BI service. Furthermore, the exam tests your knowledge on managing custom reporting solutions, using Power BI Report Server, configuring security, and keeping your reports up to date.

This exam is intended for business intelligence professionals, data analysts, and report creators who are seeking to validate their skills and knowledge in analyzing and visualizing data with Power BI. Candidates should be familiar with how to get, model, and visualize data in Power BI Desktop, as well as share reports with other people.

This book covers every major topic area found on the exam, but it does not cover every exam question. Only the Microsoft exam team has access to the exam questions, and Microsoft regularly adds new questions to the exam, making it impossible to cover specific questions. You should consider this book a supplement to your relevant real-world experience and other study materials. If you encounter a topic in this book that you do not feel completely comfortable with, use the Need more review? links youll find in the text to find more information and take the time to research and study the topic. Great information is available in blogs and forums.

This book is organized by the Skills measured list published for the exam. The Skills measured list is available for each exam on the Microsoft Learning website: http://aka.ms/examlist. Each chapter in this book corresponds to a major topic area in the list, and the technical tasks in each topic area determine a chapters organization. If an exam covers six major topic areas, for example, the book will contain six chapters.

Microsoft certifications distinguish you by proving your command of a broad set of skills and experience with current Microsoft products and technologies. The exams and corresponding certifications are developed to validate your mastery of critical competencies as you design and develop, or implement and support, solutions with Microsoft products and technologies both on-premises and in the cloud. Certification brings a variety of benefits to the individual and to employers and organizations.