The BI Process Overview

Quick reference

• 00:04 One of the things I think it's important to explain before we really dive into
• 00:09 this, is the overview of the BI or business intelligence creation process
• 00:13 that we work with when we're using modern tools.
• 00:16 And the reason that I wanna show you this is because I wanna make sure you're never
• 00:19 disheartened in this process,
• 00:20 because sometimes it can get a little bit complicated.
• 00:23 The first thing that we want to do always in every business intelligence solution
• 00:27 that we ever build is we start by getting and transforming data.
• 00:30 No data ever comes in perfect, we've always got to manipulate it a little bit
• 00:34 to get our data into nice tables or tabular format in order to work with.
• 00:39 Once we've got those tables, we relate them together and then we're at the stage
• 00:43 where we can scope and develop the metrics that we want to use to report on things,
• 00:47 so this would be like total sales or your budgets for example.
• 00:51 Once we have those metrics build, then we can develop the visuals and
• 00:54 reports that we want to share with people.
• 00:56 So that they can actually understand how all of this data goes together and
• 01:00 what we're actually generating for insights out of our raw materials.
• 01:06 Now you'd like to think that this is a nice cyclical process and
• 01:09 it always follows the same path.
• 01:11 We start by getting our data, we relate some tables together,
• 01:13 scope our metrics, draw up in a report, share it with somebody, and
• 01:16 wouldn't it be nice if it was just that easy.
• 01:18 The reality is, it seldom is.
• 01:21 We can progress or regress at any time in this entire
• 01:26 cycle to a next or previous step.
• 01:29 And to be honest, there is not enough arrows in what you are actually seeing
• 01:33 here because I could be developing a report and realize, hey,
• 01:35 I need to go get more data and I could run back that.
• 01:37 Or, boy, I'm trying to develop a report and I'm getting a really weird message,
• 01:41 maybe I didn't relate my tables correctly, so I need to go back and
• 01:44 actually change these things around.
• 01:46 So at any point in time, we can go backwards or forwards in this cycle.
• 01:50 So it's not truly cyclical as much as it is cyclical with regressions,
• 01:54 as we go forward and around in order to try and actually build these things up.
• 01:58 And that can be a little challenging when you are building something and
• 02:00 you go and, man, I thought this was gonna be so easy, and
• 02:03 it just doesn't turn out to be that way.
• 02:04 So, don't get disheartened in the process, it's totally,
• 02:07 totally normal, it's just something you have to work through.
• 02:12 Now we actually use a variety,
• 02:14 a collection of tools in order to build this process up.
• 02:17 The first thing we always do is we start with getting or transforming data, and
• 02:21 the tool for that is Power Query.
• 02:23 And that's why it actually figures into this course,
• 02:26 is because if our data is in good format it actually makes the rest of
• 02:31 our Power Pivot modeling work a little easier.
• 02:33 So I have to bring this in because it's kind of an important component, and
• 02:37 with Power Query being built into Excel 2016 now, it only makes sense to do that.
• 02:43 Once we have nice clean tables,
• 02:45 we relate them together, this is where Power Pivot comes in.
• 02:48 It helps solve the or help solve problem, and
• 02:51 it allows us to actually build complex and
• 02:54 robust data models that we can actually use to serve up our business intelligence.
• 03:00 But business intelligence is served up through pivot tables and power pivot.
• 03:05 This is where we can actually scope and
• 03:07 develop metrics using our formulas in the docs format language in order to
• 03:12 actually build complex formulas that we can actually use on our pivot tables.
• 03:16 When we get to the stage of developing visuals and
• 03:18 reports, those are done through pivot tables and through dashboards.
• 03:22 Now we are gonna spend a quick, three modules just reviewing pivot tables,
• 03:27 just to make sure that we've got a good foundational skill basis there.
• 03:30 But for the most part we're gonna spend the majority of our time working a little
• 03:34 bit with power query and
• 03:35 a lot with power pivot in order to actually build things out.
• 03:38 The final stage is when you get into publishing, exploring and sharing.
• 03:41 And we've got classic methods for dealing with that, and if you haven't yet
• 03:45 heard of it, there is also this tool called Power BI.
• 03:48 Power BI allows you to share things through a web portal so
• 03:52 that you can lock down or protect your data and share it with others users so
• 03:55 that they can interact with it.
• 03:57 Now Power BI is much bigger than just power pivot, but power pivot,
• 04:01 what you're gonna learn in this course actually happens to be the exact same
• 04:05 modeling layer that Power BI uses.
• 04:07 So what you're going to learn here is actually immediately portable into another
• 04:11 technology right away.
• 04:13 As a matter of fact, Power Query happens to be the get and transform data layer for
• 04:17 Power BI as well.
• 04:19 So you can take your Excel Workbook and publish it into Power BI, or
• 04:22 you can even build Power BI reports and visuals
• 04:26 using the technologies that you're gonna actually learn throughout this course.

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