24 October 2023
John, Sarah, Raj, and Amanda make up the systems development team for a UK water supply company serving millions of customers across southern England. With an aging infrastructure riddled with inefficiencies, The company sought to leverage data to optimize operations and maintenance.
The team chose Microsoft’s Power BI platform for its interactive data visualisations, robust analytics, and ability to publish reports across the organization. They completed JBI Training’s 2-day Power BI Basics course to get up and running.
Now, a year later, The water companies leaders asked the developers to create more advanced analytics to unlock greater insights. To skill up, the team enrolled in JBI’s 3-day Power BI - Beyond Basics course.
On day one, the team learned how to integrate and transform data from a wide array of sources using the Power Query Editor. They connected to SQL databases, extracted data from Excel and CSV files, scraped web pages, and more.
“The course opened my eyes to the possibilities beyond basic imports,” said John. “We can now integrate our sensor data, maintenance logs, asset registers, and other sources to get a unified view.”
Next, they explored Power BI’s data modeling capabilities for building robust data analysis frameworks. The instructor, Clive, explained logical concepts like star schema, purpose-built tables, and relationships.
Hands-on exercises gave the team practice denormalising data, creating proper table relationships, and using techniques like date tables and many-to-many relationships.
“Learning these best practices will help us build scalable, maintainable models,” noted Sarah.
On the final day, Clive guided the team through Power BI’s extensive visualization options including clustered bar charts, funnel plots, and waterfall charts.
They learned how to visualise statistical concepts like correlation, distribution, and contribution analysis. Clive also covered interactive slicers, drillthrough filters, and parametrized reports.
“Now we can really bring data to life for our operational leaders,” said Amanda. “It’s so much more engaging than static reports.”
Raj particularly appreciated learning how to optimize queries and cache data to boost report performance. “Understanding the DAX language and VertiPaq engine empowers us to build nimble, robust analytics.”
Armed with these new skills, The water companies systems development team is creating groundbreaking Power BI dashboards providing actionable insights. Sensor data reveals pipeline pressure changes and valve performance. Maintenance logs connect with asset registers showing critical repair trends. Customer usage analytics pinpoints areas for efficiency education campaigns.
The team shares its solutions using Power BI’s enterprise-ready capabilities. Leaders and managers gain on-demand access to interactive data tailored to their needs.
According to Raj, “This course truly empowered us to go beyond basic reporting. We can now provide predictive maintenance capabilities, real-time operational awareness, and data-driven decision support.”
The developers found Clive’s Power BI - Beyond Basics course top-notch. Clive is an expert instructor with deep knowledge and clear presentation skills. He paces each lesson well, ensures concepts are grasped, and accommodates different skill levels in the room.
John said, “Despite some technical issues on my end, I still got a lot out of the 3 days. Clive does an excellent job teaching both the concepts and practical application.”
Amanda appreciated the hands-on structure. “Applying DAX principles directly in sample datasets made the subject matter stick. I also liked that Clive kept checking on everyone’s progress.”
For Sarah, the course was thoroughly enjoyable. “I learned Power BI basics from Clive before, but gained so much new knowledge here. His teaching style is patient, comprehensive, and high value.”
Raj did suggest including more knowledge checks throughout the course. Overall though, he found Clive’s expertise beyond impressive.
Beyond Power BI, The Water Company is growing its low-code developer ranks with Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents.
John said, “We have some learning basic Power Platform skills. Expanding their training would definitely help build our low-code app community.” He plans to explore JBI’s introductory courses on these Microsoft technologies.
With the Power BI - Beyond Basics course under their belt, the systems development team is already realising operational insights from advanced analytics. They will continue leveraging JBI’s experts to expand their low-code development skills further.
Additional training: To build on their Power BI knowledge, the team could also take JBI Training courses like 'DAX Programming - From Beginner to Pro' to master DAX and data modeling. 'would teach advanced design techniques for engaging, effective reports. Courses on Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents would expand their low-code development skills. Ongoing learning from JBI Training helps the team gain expertise across Microsoft's Power Platform.
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