What Is Power BI?

Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence platform, and it's quickly become one of the most in-demand skills for analysts, finance professionals, and anyone who works with data. In this chapter, you'll learn what Power BI is, how it fits into the analytics landscape, and why organizations are adopting it to replace manual Excel reporting workflows.

You'll also get a clear picture of how this course is structured and what you'll build along the way: a complete, interactive dashboard for Summit Gear Co., a fictional outdoor retail company. By the end of this chapter, you'll understand the difference between Power BI Desktop, the Power BI Service, and Power BI Mobile, and you'll know exactly why Power BI is worth adding to your toolkit.