Introducing Power BI Desktop

Abstract

As you have seen in the previous chapters, Excel is an excellent tool for developing analytic solutions. It works quite well for individual analysis and sharing the results among a small group of consumers. But where it is lacking is when you need to share the results of your analysis with a broader audience. This is where the Power BI portal and Power BI Desktop come in to play. The Power BI portal is where you can host, share, and secure interactive dashboards and reports with others. Power BI Desktop is where you create the model and visuals on which the dashboards in the portal are based. The great thing about Power BI Desktop is that it uses the same tools you’ve been using in Excel. It uses Power Query to get, clean, and shape the data. It then uses a model designer similar to Power Pivot to construct a tabular model on top of which you create interactive visuals.