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Top 50 Power Bi Interview Questions & Answers

Top 50 Power Bi Interview Questions & Answers

11-Oct-2022

Power Bi has been introduced by Microsoft with the primary goal to empower existing Microsoft Excel with analytical potential and upgrade it to make it intelligent enough for generating interactive reports.

Microsoft Power BI has now become one of the top business intelligence tools available in today's era. This can be a result of its massive adoption by a majority of IT firms and organizations for their business analytics as per the analysis by Gartner Magic Quadrant. As a result, there is a huge need for Power BI experts in the contemporary IT sector.

This post is intended to assist aspiring Power BI Professionals in understanding the foundations of the software and succeeding in their interviews. We have categorized the top Power Bi interview questions into three different categories considering the different levels of expertise of the professionals.

Best Power Bi Interview Questions at Beginners Level

1. What exactly is Power BI?

Power BI is an analytics application created by Microsoft. With the help of Microsoft's Power BI, you can combine data from several unrelated sources to create smart and engaging representations. These data may be found in Excel spreadsheets or cloud-based/on-premises hybrid data warehouses.

2. What are the benefits of Power BI?

Power BI provides an easy way for everybody, even non-technical staff, to connect, change, and visualize existing raw business data from many sources into meaningful data that makes it simple to reach informed business decisions.

3. How will you differentiate Power Bi from Tableau?

The current leaders in data analytics and visualization are Tableau and Power BI. However, they are different in certain aspects. We will look at some of the key distinctions between Tableau and Power BI in the below points:

For measures and dimensions, Tableau utilizes MDX while DAX is used by Power BI to calculate measures.
Large amounts of data can be handled with Tableau. Power BI is capable of managing only a certain data amount.
Tableau is best suited for professionals. On the contrary, both beginners and specialists can use Power Bi.
The Tableau User Interface is difficult to use. While it is comparatively easier to use Power BI User Interface.
The cloud can be easily supported by Tableau. Due to its limited ability to manage big amounts of data, Power BI finds it challenging.

4. How is Power Query different from Power Pivot?

We can differentiate between Power Pivot and Power Query in the following points:

The main focus of Power Query is data analysis. All that Power Pivot does is gather and transform data.
A tool for ETL services is Power Query. A part of in-memory data modeling is called Power Pivot.

5. Explain a Power BI Desktop?

Microsoft designed and created the open-source software program known as Power BI Desktop. Power BI Desktop users can easily connect to data, transform them and visualize their data. Users of Power BI Desktop can create visualizations and collections of visuals that can be shared as reports with coworkers or clients within their company.

6. How does Power Pivot work?

Power Pivot was created to increase Microsoft Excel's analytical capabilities and services. This is an add-on offered by Microsoft to Excel.

7. Describe Power Query?

Power query, which is a BI tool was created by Microsoft, especially for Excel. By using the Power query you will have the possibility of importing data from numerous sources, and performing several other functions including cleaning, manipulating, and restructuring data. A Power query may help you in creating a query once and executing it by performing a quick refresh.

8. Describe the elements of the self-service BI solution from Microsoft?

The Excel Business Intelligence Toolkit and Power BI are two subsets of self-service business intelligence (SSBI).

9. Describe a Self-service BI?

SSBI or Self-service Business Intelligence is a Business intelligence development. Many business professionals who had no technical or coding experience were able to successfully use Power BI, generate reports, and make forecasts using SSBI. Even non-technical users can create these dashboards and help their firms in taking better decisions.

10. Describe DAX?

DAX simply means Data Analysis Expression. It is a group of operators, constants, and functions that are used in formulas to compute and return values Simply put, it aids in extracting new information from already existing data.

11. Can you name the Power BI filters?

As the name suggests, Filters are logical and mathematical constraints applied to the data for removing the necessary information from rows and columns of data. The varieties of Power BI filters are:

Manual filters
Auto filters
Include/Exclude filters
Drill-down filters
Cross Drill filters
Drillthrough filters
Drillthrough filters
URL filters–transient
Pass-Through filters

12. What do Power BI Custom Visuals do?

Custom Visuals are created using Power BI just like any other visualization. The only difference lies in the unique SDK which is utilized for making custom aesthetics. Languages such as JQuery and JavaScript are employed for custom visualizations.

13. In Power BI, what is GetData?

Power BI's Get Data button is a straightforward tool for importing data from the source.

14. List a few benefits of Power BI?

The following are a few benefits of utilizing Power BI:

In data centers, it assists in the development of interactive data visualization.
It establishes a connection between Excel queries and dashboards for quick analysis and enables users to turn data into visuals and share them with others.
It offers prompt and precise responses.
It allows users to report queries using straightforward English language.

15. List some limits and disadvantages of using Power BI?

The drawbacks that are found in using Power BI are as follows:

Power BI does not combine imported data accessed from real-time connections and does not accept files larger than 1GB in size.
Real-time connectivity to Power BI reports and dashboards is only possible with a very limited number of data sources.
Users registered in with the same email address are the only ones who can access the dashboards and reports.
User, account, and other entity parameters are not accepted or passed by the dashboard.

16. How do Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel vary from one another in terms of data modeling?

Only one import mode, computed columns, and single-directional relationships -one to many are supported by Excel. Bidirectional cross-filtering connections, security, computed tables, and other import options are supported by Power BI Desktop.

17. What are the various Power BI connectivity options?

Three connectivity options are supported by Power BI:

SQL Server Import: The default and most popular connectivity type utilized by Power BI is a SQL Server Import. It enables you to utilize all of the Power BI Desktop's features.

Direct Query: Only when you connect to particular data sources is the Direct Query connection type possible. Power BI will only save the metadata of the underlying data in this type of connectivity, not the actual data itself.

Live Connections: This sort of link prevents data from being stored in the Power BI model. Every Live connection query made in response to a report will directly query the current Analysis services model. Only 3 data sources—

SQL Server Analysis Services (Tabular models and Multidimensional Cubes),
Azure Analysis Services (Tabular Models), and
Power BI Datasets housed in the Power BI Service—support the live connection approach.

18. What types of refresh options does Power BI offer?

The following list includes four key categories of refresh options offered by Microsoft Power BI:

Package refresh: This synchronizes your Power BI Desktop or Excel file with OneDrive or SharePoint Online and the Power BI service.
Data or Model Refresh: This means adding new data from the original data source to the dataset in the Power BI service.
Tile Refresh: Every 15 minutes, when data changes, the tile refresh function updates the cache for the tile visuals on the dashboard.
Visual Container Refresh: When the data changes, the refresh function updates the cached report graphics as well as the visible container within the report.

19. What data sources can be connected to Power BI?

Power BI supports connecting to a variety of data sources, which can be divided into three categories:

Files: Power BI Desktop files (.pbix), Comma-Separated Values (.csv), and Excel (.xlsx,.xlxm) files can all be used to import data (.csv).

Content Packs: These are groups of connected documents or files that are kept together for storage.

In Power BI, there are two different kinds of content packs:

Other users in your business build and share content packs from service providers like Google Analytics, Marketo, or Salesforce.

Connectors: Connectors enable you to link your databases and datasets to cloud-based applications, services, and data.

20. In Power BI, what is a dashboard?

A dashboard is a single-layer display sheet that includes various reports and graphics.

The Power BI dashboard's primary features are:

You may drill into the page, bookmarks, and selection pane. You can also make different tiles and incorporate URLs.
You can adjust the report layout for mobile view using a dashboard.

21. Explain how are relationships defined in PowerBI?

There are two types of table relationships which can be defined below:

Manually - Primary and foreign keys are used to define relationships between tables.

Automic- When activated, Power BI's automated feature automatically finds and establishes associations between tables.

22. In a Power Pivot data model, is it possible to have more than one functional link between two tables?

No. In a Power Pivot data model, there might be numerous inactive relationships but only one active relationship between two tables. Continuous lines indicate ongoing associations, whereas dot lines indicate inactive ones.

23. Is it possible to include a table in the model that has no connections to any other tables?

Yes. There are two primary justifications for why tables may be disconnected:

The table is used to display parameter values that the user can access and choose from in slicers.

Metrics in the user interface are placed in the table as placeholders.

24. What is the function of CALCULATE in DAX?

In a changed filter context, the CALCULATE function computes the total of the Sales table's Sales Amount column. Additionally, users can only change the filter context of measurements or tables using this function.

Best Power Bi Interview Questions- Intermediate level

25. In Power BI, where is data stored?

The cloud helps power BI most of the time by storing the data. Power Bi can make use of a desktop service. The primary cloud service is utilized to store the data in Microsoft Azure.

Azure SQL Database
Azure Blob Storage

26. Explain Row-Level Security?

Row-level security makes use of filters to restrict the data that a user can access and view. To set up row-level security, users can specify the rules and roles in Power BI Desktop and upload them to Power Bi Service.

27. Why should you format Power Bi data generally?

Users can utilize standard formatting to help Power BI better classify and identify data, which makes it much simpler to deal with.

28. What variations of views are there in Power BI Desktop?

In Power BI, there are three different views, each of which has a particular function:

Report View: Users can add visualizations and additional report pages in the report view, then publish the updated report on the portal.

Data View: Using the tools in the Query Editor, data shaping can be done in this view.

Model View: Users can handle relationships between intricate datasets in the model view.

29. Name the variants/ versions of Power Bi.

Power BI Desktop
Power BI service
Mobile Power BI apps for Android devices and iOS

30. Describe the Microsoft Power BI framework?

The following are crucial Power BI basic blocks:

Visualizations

The process of creating graphs and charts for the portrayal of insights into corporate data is known as visualization.

Datasets

A dataset is a group of data that is used to build a display, such as a column of sales numbers. Built-in data plugins allow data sets to be aggregated and filtered from a variety of sources.

Reports

The report stage is the last phase. On one or more pages, this section contains a collection of visualizations. For instance, a final report may include both charts and maps.

Dashboards

You may share a single visualization of your finished dashboard with clients and coworkers using a Power BI dashboard.

Tiles

An individual visualization on your final dashboard or a chart in your final report is referred to as a tile.

31. Name the crucial components of the Power BI toolkit?

Power Bi toolkits consist of the following crucial components:

Power Query
Power Pivot
Power View
Power Map
Power Q&A

32. Define Content Pack?

A content pack is a pre-assembled set of Power Bi reports and visualizations that use your preferred provider. Instead of starting from scratch when you want to get started quickly, utilize a content pack.

33. Explain Bidirectional Cross Filtering?

Bidirectional cross-filtering allows data modelers to customize how the Power BI desktop filters flow for data by utilizing the links between tables. The filter context is delivered to a subsequent related table that is available on the opposite side of any specified table relationship.

This approach can be used by data modelers to solve the many-to-many challenge without the need for challenging DAX calculations. In summary, bidirectional cross-filtering makes data modelers' jobs easier.

34. What are the three core ideas behind DAX?

The core ideas of IDAX are:

Syntax

This is how the formula, or rather, the parts that make up the formula, is written. The Syntax includes elements like SUM (used when you want to add figures). You'll receive an error message if the syntax is incorrect.

Functions

Similar to Excel's functions, these formulae conduct calculations by using particular numbers, or arguments, in a particular order. information, time intelligence, Date/time, statistical, logical, mathematical, text, parent/child, and other functions fall under these areas.

Context

Filter context and Row context are the two categories. Row context comes into play when a formula's component applies filters to isolate a particular row in a table. When single or more filters are employed in a calculation to generate a result or value, the filter context is important.

35. How and why would you employ a unique graphic file?

If the prepackaged files don't suit the requirements of your company, you will use a bespoke visual file. Custom visual files are made by developers, and you can import and use them just like you would prepackaged files.

36. What are some well-known data sources in Power BI's Get Data menu?

Excel, Power BI datasets, the web, text, SQL servers, and analytic services are a few examples of well-known data sources.

37. Name the various data types/categories

All
File
Database
Power BI
Azure
Online Services
Other

38. What are the most commonly utilized Query Editor tasks?

Connect to data
Shape and combine data
Group rows
Pivot columns
Create custom columns
Query formulas

39. Explain the concept of Grouping?

You may break up the data in your graphics with Power BI Desktop. However, you can specify your groups and bins. Use Ctrl + click to pick multiple visual components for grouping. Using the option that shows when you do right-click on one of those components, select Group. You can make new groups or edit existing ones in the Groups box.

40. Describe how Power BI's responsive slicers work?

A responsive slicer can be resized to different widths and shapes on a Power BI final report page, and the data collected in the container will be reorganized to find a match. An icon that represents the visual replaces a visual report if it is too small to be usable, saving space on the report page.

41. What does Power BI's query folding mean?

When steps stated in the Query Editor are converted into SQL and carried out by the source database rather than your device, this technique is known as query folding. Scalability and effective processing are aided.

42. Define "M Language"?

M language is a programming language that is simple to use, case-sensitive, functional, and similar to other programming languages and is used by Power Query.