Power BI Reporting and Dashboards Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Analyst, Reporting Analyst and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-BI-192

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable working with spreadsheets, tables, filters and basic business metrics such as revenue, cost, volume or service levels.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Power BI reports can fail to support decisions when source data is inconsistent, measures are poorly defined, visuals obscure exceptions, or distribution is uncontrolled. Finance teams may reconcile different revenue totals; operations managers may receive static reports after a shift has ended; programme teams may lack a clear view of delivery performance by location, beneficiary group or funding stream. A well-designed Power BI solution turns governed data into reports that answer defined business questions and show users where action is required.

This course develops the practical reporting skills needed to build, publish and maintain Power BI dashboards and reports. Participants prepare data with Power Query, design star-schema data models, create DAX measures, and build interactive report pages for executive and operational audiences. The course covers time intelligence, targets and variances, drillthrough, tooltips, bookmarks, mobile layouts, workspace management, refresh, row-level security and performance improvement. Participants also learn how to translate reporting requirements into KPI definitions, acceptance criteria and a controlled publication approach.

Teaching combines instructor demonstrations, short technical briefings, case-based report design, group analysis and guided build activities using realistic business datasets. Cases reflect common reporting needs such as budget versus actual analysis, sales performance, service delivery, procurement spend and workforce metrics. Participants leave with reusable report requirements, data-model and DAX design materials, dashboard release controls, and a personal plan for an identified reporting improvement. A certificate of completion is issued after the five-day course.

The course is suited to analysts, reporting specialists, finance professionals, operational managers and data professionals who already work with business data and need to produce reliable Power BI reporting for colleagues and decision-makers.

What you will be able to do

  • Prepare reporting data using Power Query transformations, merges, appends and parameters
  • Design star-schema Power BI data models with appropriate relationships and date tables
  • Create DAX measures for aggregations, ratios, variances, rankings and time intelligence
  • Build interactive report pages using suitable visuals, filters, drillthrough and tooltips
  • Apply dashboard design principles for readable executive and operational reporting
  • Publish and distribute governed reports through Power BI Service workspaces and apps
  • Configure refresh, gateway dependencies and row-level security for shared reports
  • Produce a report release plan with KPI definitions, acceptance criteria and ownership

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build publishable Power BI reports instead of relying on static spreadsheet packs
  • Create trusted DAX measures for recurring KPI, variance and trend analysis
  • Diagnose data-model, refresh and visual-design problems affecting report quality
  • Present analytical findings through interactive reports tailored to decision-makers
  • Document report requirements and controls for stronger ownership of reporting work

For your organisation

  • Shorten reporting cycles through reusable data transformations and scheduled refreshes
  • Improve consistency of KPIs through shared DAX measures and documented definitions
  • Reduce spreadsheet version conflicts with controlled workspace and app distribution
  • Protect sensitive information through row-level security and managed sharing permissions
  • Improve management action through clearer exception reporting and drillthrough analysis

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can translate a reporting need into a structured Power BI report design.

  • Power BI Desktop interface, report canvas, panes and file formats
  • Report requirements translated into measures, dimensions, filters and audience decisions
  • Import, DirectQuery and live connection modes compared for reporting needs
  • Data source credentials, privacy levels and refresh implications assessed
  • PBIX structure, report pages and visual containers organised consistently
  • Business questions mapped to executive, operational and analytical report views

Participants can prepare consistent reporting data from common business data sources.

  • Power Query queries created from Excel, CSV, SQL and web sources
  • Applied Steps inspected to trace transformations and source dependencies
  • Column data types, locale settings and error values corrected
  • Merge and append operations selected for relational and stacked datasets
  • Parameters used to control source paths and reusable transformations
  • Unpivoting converts cross-tab extracts into analysis-ready attribute-value structures
  • Query folding identified when working with supported relational sources

Participants can build a Power BI data model that supports reliable filtering and analysis.

  • Star schema separates fact tables from descriptive dimension tables
  • One-to-many relationships configured with appropriate cross-filter direction
  • Date tables marked and linked for reliable time intelligence
  • Surrogate keys, granularity and duplicate values checked before modelling
  • Role-playing dates handled through inactive relationships and USERELATIONSHIP measures
  • Model views document table purpose, keys and refresh ownership
  • Bidirectional filtering risks diagnosed before publishing shared semantic models

Participants can create maintainable DAX measures for core business calculations.

  • Measures distinguished from calculated columns through filter-context behaviour
  • CALCULATE modifies filter context for controlled business calculations
  • SUMX, AVERAGEX and iterator patterns aggregate row-level expressions
  • DIVIDE and variable definitions produce readable, error-tolerant measures
  • FILTER, ALL and REMOVEFILTERS manage denominator and comparison logic
  • Measure display folders and descriptions support reuse by report authors

Participants can create DAX measures for periods, comparisons, targets and management analysis.

  • Year-to-date, prior-year and variance measures use marked date tables
  • Time intelligence functions calculate MTD, QTD, YTD and rolling periods
  • Same-period comparisons distinguish calendar dates from fiscal reporting calendars
  • Dynamic titles reflect selected period, geography and product filters
  • Ranking, top-N and percent-of-total measures support management review
  • Scenario parameters model target, budget and forecast assumptions
  • ISINSCOPE and SWITCH control hierarchy-aware measure presentation

Participants can design readable Power BI report pages for defined decision tasks.

  • Visual selection matches comparison, composition, trend and distribution questions
  • Bar, line, matrix and decomposition visuals configured for readable analysis
  • Visual hierarchy directs attention to exceptions, drivers and actions
  • Report page layouts apply grid alignment, spacing and consistent formatting
  • Accessible colour choices, alt text and keyboard order meet user needs
  • Tooltips, drillthrough and bookmarks provide guided analytical paths
  • Visual interactions controlled to prevent misleading cross-filter behaviour

Participants can configure report interactions that support efficient investigation of performance issues.

  • Slicers, filter panes and sync settings manage report-wide selections
  • Drill-down, drillthrough and hierarchy navigation support root-cause analysis
  • Buttons and bookmarks create role-specific report navigation paths
  • Field parameters switch measures and dimensions without duplicating pages
  • Mobile layouts prioritise essential KPIs for phone consumption
  • Report tooltips reveal supporting detail without overcrowding visuals
  • Personalised views considered against standard reporting control requirements

Participants can publish and distribute Power BI content using appropriate access controls.

  • Workspaces assigned to development, test and production reporting stages
  • Power BI Service publishing options and app distribution methods compared
  • Dataset refresh schedules align with source availability and reporting deadlines
  • On-premises data gateway requirements identified for internal data sources
  • Row-level security roles restrict data access by user attributes
  • Sharing permissions distinguish workspace roles, apps and direct report access
  • Endorsement, sensitivity labels and lineage support trusted published content

Participants can diagnose report quality issues and establish controls for published content.

  • Performance Analyzer identifies slow visuals, queries and rendering bottlenecks
  • Model size reduced through column removal, cardinality control and aggregation
  • DAX measures reviewed for inefficient iterators and excessive filter operations
  • Refresh failures diagnosed through credentials, gateway status and query steps
  • Data quality checks expose blanks, duplicates and unexpected category values
  • Report ownership, change control and release notes sustain published assets
  • Usage metrics inform retirement, revision and stakeholder support decisions

Participants can plan a controlled Power BI reporting release for a defined business need.

  • Reporting backlog prioritised by decision value, audience and data readiness
  • Requirements template defines KPIs, calculation rules, filters and owners
  • Acceptance criteria test totals, security behaviour, refresh and usability
  • Dashboard release checklist covers naming, descriptions, permissions and mobile layout
  • Stakeholder feedback converted into controlled changes and versioned improvements
  • Personal application plan identifies a publishable reporting improvement

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Power BI report requirements template
  2. Star-schema data-model design sheet
  3. DAX measure pattern library
  4. Dashboard visual design checklist
  5. Report publication and security checklist
  6. Personal reporting improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Business Analyst — needs to turn stakeholder requirements into usable self-service reports
  • Reporting Analyst — needs stronger data modelling, DAX and publication controls
  • Finance Analyst — needs reliable budget, actual, forecast and variance dashboards
  • Operations Manager — needs timely KPI reporting for service and process performance
  • Data Analyst — needs to publish governed Power BI content for business users
  • Programme Manager — needs to monitor delivery, outcomes, spend and regional performance

Skills and tools covered

Power Query transformationDAX measure designDimensional data modellingDashboard visual designReport security administrationPower BI governance

Tools and standards

Power BI Desktop, Power Query, DAX, Power BI Service

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by demonstrations, case work and guided report-building activities. Participants work with realistic business datasets to shape queries, models, measures and visual layouts. Group discussions test KPI definitions, audience needs, security choices and report usability. Trainers use diagnostic scenarios to examine slow reports, refresh failures and misleading visuals. Application planning links the techniques to each participant's reporting responsibilities, data sources and publication controls.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable working with spreadsheets, tables, filters and basic business metrics such as revenue, cost, volume or service levels. Experience using Excel formulas, pivot tables or an existing reporting tool is helpful. Participants should understand the business processes behind the data they report, including key measures and reporting audiences. No prior Power BI, DAX, SQL, programming or database administration experience is required. The course is not intended for complete beginners who have never worked with tabular business data.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should be comfortable with spreadsheets, tables, filters and common business measures. Prior Power BI, DAX, SQL or programming experience is not required, although experience with Excel pivot tables is helpful.

Bring a laptop capable of running Power BI Desktop if attending in person, plus examples of reporting challenges or KPI definitions from your role. Training datasets and course materials are provided; do not bring confidential production data unless your organisation has approved its use.

It is designed for analysts, reporting specialists, finance staff, operational managers and data professionals who need to build or improve business reports. It is most useful for people who already understand the data and processes they report on.

This intermediate course concentrates on business reporting: data preparation, dimensional modelling, DAX, report design, publishing, security and governance. It goes beyond introductory visual creation but does not focus on statistical modelling, machine learning or advanced data engineering.

Participants can apply the methods to recurring management reports, finance packs, operational KPI dashboards, programme monitoring and procurement analysis. The requirements template, DAX patterns and release checklist can be adapted for new or existing reports.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided across Power Query, data modelling, DAX, visual design, Power BI Service administration, quality controls and application planning; participants receive a certificate of completion.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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