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Guided DP-900 Domain 4
Domain 4 — Module 6 of 8 75%
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DP-900 Study Guide

Domain 1: Core Data Concepts

  • Your First Look at Data Free
  • Data File Formats: CSV, JSON, Parquet & More Free
  • Databases: Relational vs Non-Relational Free
  • Transactional Workloads: Keeping Data Consistent Free
  • Analytical Workloads: Finding the Insights Free
  • Data Roles: DBA, Engineer & Analyst Free
  • The Azure Data Landscape Free

Domain 2: Relational Data on Azure

  • Relational Data: Tables, Keys & Relationships
  • Normalization: Why Duplicate Data is Bad
  • SQL Basics: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
  • Database Objects: Views, Indexes & More
  • Azure SQL: Your Database in the Cloud
  • Open-Source Databases on Azure
  • Choosing the Right Azure Database

Domain 3: Non-Relational Data on Azure

  • Azure Blob Storage: Files in the Cloud
  • Azure Files & Table Storage
  • Azure Cosmos DB: The Global Database
  • Cosmos DB APIs: SQL, MongoDB & More
  • Choosing Non-Relational Storage

Domain 4: Analytics on Azure

  • Data Ingestion & Processing
  • Analytical Data Stores: Data Lakes, Warehouses & Lakehouses
  • Microsoft Fabric & Azure Databricks
  • Batch vs Streaming: Two Speeds of Data
  • Real-Time Analytics on Azure
  • Power BI: See Your Data
  • Data Models in Power BI
  • Choosing the Right Visualization

DP-900 Study Guide

Domain 1: Core Data Concepts

  • Your First Look at Data Free
  • Data File Formats: CSV, JSON, Parquet & More Free
  • Databases: Relational vs Non-Relational Free
  • Transactional Workloads: Keeping Data Consistent Free
  • Analytical Workloads: Finding the Insights Free
  • Data Roles: DBA, Engineer & Analyst Free
  • The Azure Data Landscape Free

Domain 2: Relational Data on Azure

  • Relational Data: Tables, Keys & Relationships
  • Normalization: Why Duplicate Data is Bad
  • SQL Basics: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
  • Database Objects: Views, Indexes & More
  • Azure SQL: Your Database in the Cloud
  • Open-Source Databases on Azure
  • Choosing the Right Azure Database

Domain 3: Non-Relational Data on Azure

  • Azure Blob Storage: Files in the Cloud
  • Azure Files & Table Storage
  • Azure Cosmos DB: The Global Database
  • Cosmos DB APIs: SQL, MongoDB & More
  • Choosing Non-Relational Storage

Domain 4: Analytics on Azure

  • Data Ingestion & Processing
  • Analytical Data Stores: Data Lakes, Warehouses & Lakehouses
  • Microsoft Fabric & Azure Databricks
  • Batch vs Streaming: Two Speeds of Data
  • Real-Time Analytics on Azure
  • Power BI: See Your Data
  • Data Models in Power BI
  • Choosing the Right Visualization
Domain 4: Analytics on Azure Premium ⏱ ~12 min read

Power BI: See Your Data

Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence platform. It turns raw data into interactive dashboards, reports, and insights that anyone can understand.

What is Power BI?

☕ Simple explanation

Power BI turns numbers into pictures that tell a story.

Imagine Priya has a spreadsheet with 10 million rows of sales data. Nobody wants to read that. But a bar chart showing “Auckland outsells Wellington by 20%” — that’s useful. Power BI makes those pictures from the raw numbers.

It’s the final stage of the data journey: data is collected, stored, processed, and then visualised in Power BI so people make decisions.

Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence platform for data visualisation, interactive reporting, and self-service analytics. It connects to hundreds of data sources, transforms and models data, and delivers interactive dashboards shared across an organisation. Power BI exists as a desktop application, cloud service (app.powerbi.com), and mobile apps.

Power BI components

ComponentWhat It IsWho Uses It
Power BI DesktopFree Windows app for building reportsReport authors (Priya)
Power BI ServiceCloud service for sharing and collaborationEveryone
Power BI MobileiOS/Android apps for viewing on the goManagers, executives
Power BI EmbeddedAPIs for embedding reports in custom appsDevelopers

The Power BI workflow

  1. Connect — Link to data sources (databases, files, cloud services)
  2. Transform — Clean and shape data using Power Query
  3. Model — Create relationships, define measures and calculations
  4. Visualise — Build charts, tables, maps on a report canvas
  5. Share — Publish to the Service, share dashboards, schedule refresh

Key capabilities

CapabilityDescription
100+ connectorsSQL, Excel, SharePoint, Fabric, Dynamics, SAP
Power QueryTransform data without coding — clean, reshape, merge
DAXData Analysis Expressions — a formula language for creating calculated measures (like SUM, AVERAGE) that respond to filters
Natural language Q&AAsk questions in plain English and get a visual answer
Row-level security (RLS)Restrict data so users only see rows relevant to their role (e.g., regional managers see only their region)
Scheduled refreshAuto-update data on a schedule
Copilot in Power BIAI-assisted report creation
ℹ️ Dashboards vs reports
  • Report: Multi-page canvas with interactive visuals. Created in Desktop.
  • Dashboard: Single-page pinned tiles from reports. Created in the Service.

Reports are the detailed document. Dashboards are the executive summary.

💡 Exam tip: Power BI capabilities
  • “Transform data” → Power Query
  • “Calculated measures” → DAX
  • “Ask in plain English” → Q&A
  • “Share with org” → Power BI Service
  • “Restrict data by role” → Row-level security

Flashcards

Question

What is Power BI?

Click or press Enter to reveal answer

Answer

Microsoft's BI platform for data visualisation. Components: Desktop (build), Service (share), Mobile (view on the go).

Click to flip back
Question

What is Power Query?

Click or press Enter to reveal answer

Answer

The data transformation engine. Connects to sources, lets you clean/reshape/filter data visually — no coding needed.

Click to flip back
Question

Report vs dashboard in Power BI?

Click or press Enter to reveal answer

Answer

Report: multi-page detailed canvas (Desktop). Dashboard: single-page pinned KPI tiles (Service).

Click to flip back

Knowledge check

Knowledge Check

Priya builds an 8-page sales analysis. Executives want a one-page KPI summary. What should she create?
Knowledge Check

Regional managers should only see their region's data. Which feature?

🎬 Video coming soon

Next up: Data Models in Power BI — the structure behind great dashboards.

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Data Models in Power BI

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