Pro Data Mashup for Power BI: Powering Up with Power Query and the M Language to Find, Load, and Transform Data

This book provides all you need to find data from external sources and load and transform that data into Power BI where you can mine it for business insights and a competitive edge. This ranges from connecting to corporate databases such as Azure SQL and SQL Server to file-based data sources, and cloud- and web-based data sources. The book also explains the use of Direct Query and Live Connect to establish instant connections to databases and data warehouses and avoid loading data.

The book provides detailed guidance on techniques for transforming inbound data into normalized data sets that are easy to query and analyze. This covers data cleansing, data modification, and standardization as well as merging source data into robust data structures that can feed into your data model. You will learn how to pivot and transpose data and extrapolate missing values as well as harness external programs such as R and Python into a Power Query data flow. You also will see how to handle errors in source data and extend basic data ingestion to create robust and parameterized data load and transformation processes.

Everything in this book is aimed at helping you deliver compelling and interactive insight with remarkable ease using Power BI’s built-in data load and transformation tools.

What You Will Learn

• Connect Power BI to a range of external data sources
• Prepare data from external sources for easy analysis in Power BI
• Cleanse data from duplicates, outliers, and other bad values
• Make live connections from which to refresh data quickly and easily
• Apply advanced techniques to interpolate missing data

About the Author

Adam Aspin is an independent Business Intelligence consultant based in the United Kingdom. He has worked with SQL Server for over 25 years. During this time, he has developed several dozen reporting and analytical systems based on the Microsoft Data Platform.

A graduate of Oxford University, Adam began his career in publishing before moving into IT. Databases soon became a passion, and his experience in this arena ranges from dBase to Oracle, and Access to MySQL, with occasional sorties into the world of DB2. He is, however, most at home in the Microsoft universe when using SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Integration Services, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse and, of course, Power BI.

Business Intelligence has been Adam's principal focus for 20 years. He has applied his skills for a range of clients in a range of industry sectors. He is the author of SQL Server Data Integration Recipes; Pro Power BI Desktop (now in its third edition); Business Intelligence with SQL Server Reporting Services; High Impact Data Visualization; Data Mashup using Microsoft Excel using Power Query and M, and Pro Power BI Theme Creation—all with Apress.

A fluent French speaker, Adam has worked in France and Switzerland for many years.