# Power BI Bootcamp

Canonical URL: <https://www.graduateschool.edu/courses/power-bi-bootcamp>

## Overview

#### Create & Distribute Interactive Visualizations

In this course, you’ll learn to import data from multiple sources (including Excel, Text/CSV, SQL, and more) using Power Query. You’ll then explore, organize, analyze, and filter that data to produce visualizations. Summarize the information (with functions like SUM, COUNT, and MIN/MAX) to uncover insights, and get introduced to Power BI’s DAX language, which drives its powerful visualizations.

## What you'll learn

- Import and clean data from multiple sources, including Excel, CSV, and online databases, using Power Query
- Create interactive visualizations, such as charts, maps, cards, and slicers, to explore trends and patterns
- Use DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) to build measures, calculated columns, and custom aggregations
- Design visually engaging reports by adding titles, logos, and formatting options for a professional finish
- Understand and manage relationships between tables to create dynamic, filterable reports
- Share and collaborate on reports via the Power BI Service, including exporting, commenting, and app integration
- Set up dashboards and explore the differences between dashboards and reports for business presentations
- Schedule data refreshes and manage reusable datasets to keep reports up-to-date and scalable

## Curriculum

### Level 1

#### Introduction to Power BI

- Why Use Power BI?
- Power BI Desktop
- Power BI Pro vs. Free
- Explanation of ETL process (Extract, Transform, Load)
- Data Types

#### Creating a Visualization

- Importing Data
- Choosing different types of data visualizations (column charts, bar charts, pie charts, donut charts, and more)
- Cleaning Up the Appearance: Axis Labels, Display Units, Title, and more
- Adding Data Labels
- Card Visuals

#### Publishing & Sharing

- Publishing Reports (to app.powerbi.com)
- Sharing Reports
- Collaborate on Reports with Comments
- Adding a Power BI report to PowerPoint
- Workspaces: What are they, publishing to the appropriate workspace, and creating/managing
- Exporting a PDF

#### Links to Data Source Files

- How Power BI Links to Data Files
- Managing Links to Data Source Files

#### Extracting & Transforming Data

- Extracting data from various sources: Text/CSV files, Excel worksheets, Multiple Files in a Folder, and more
- Transforming data using the Power Query Editor:  
 ETL = Extract, Transform, Load  
 ELT = Extract, Load, Transform

#### Data Transformations

- Use First Row as Headers
- Remove Empty rows (null data)
- Split Column By Delimiter
- Applied Steps
- Merge Queries
- Append Queries
- Fill Down
- Transpose
- Pivot
- Column profiling for data quality check
- Query Dependencies

#### Relationships

- Relationship importance
- Understanding types of relationship
- Creating relationships
- Cross filter relation: Single or Both

#### Building/Design a Report

- Adding a Title
- Adding a Logo
- Adding a Background (Solid Color or Photo)

#### Measures

- Create Measures
- Using Measures in a Data Visualization

#### Calculated Columns

- Using DAX to create a Calculated Column
- Navigating Related Tables using DAX

#### Slicers

- What Slicers Are
- Adding & Using a Slicer

### Level 2

#### Filters

- Adding Filters
- Adjusting Filter settings

#### Intro to DAX: Data Analysis Expressions

- SUM vs SUMX
- CONCATENATEX
- COUNT vs COUNTX

#### Quick Measures

- YTD (Year-to-Date)
- Year-over-year-change

#### Map Visuals

- Creating and Customizing a Map Visual

#### Drill Down & Drill Through

- How to use Drill Down
- How to use Drill Through
- How Drill Down differs from Drill Through

#### Getting Data from Online Spreadsheets

- Getting Data from a Google Sheet
- Getting Data from Excel File Stored in OneDrive

#### Refreshing Data

- How Datasets work in the Power BI Service
- Manually Refreshing or Scheduled Refresh

#### Reusable Power BI Datasets

- About Reusable Power BI Datasets
- Creating & Using Power BI Datasets

#### Dashboards

- Dashboards vs Reports
- Creating a Dashboard

## Schedule
- Jun 10, 2026 – Jun 11, 2026 — Live Online
- Jul 20, 2026 – Jul 21, 2026 — Live Online
- Aug 25, 2026 – Aug 26, 2026 — Live Online
- Sep 28, 2026 – Sep 29, 2026 — Live Online
- Nov 4, 2026 – Nov 5, 2026 — Live Online
- Dec 15, 2026 – Dec 16, 2026 — Live Online

## Instructors

### Bruce Gay — Instructor

Bruce is an engaging trainers and program manager who brings 25+ years practical experience to deliver effective and experiential training to students. Able to engage adult learners with a range of backgrounds and professional experiences. Successful at building effective stakeholder relationships and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams for solution delivery.

Bruce has over 25 years of project and program management experience across multiple industries. He has a Masters degree from The George Washington University and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. 

Bruce currently runs his own freelance training and consulting business, helping project managers and team leaders improve their business skills, become better leaders, and achieve professional greatness. 

Bruce is a well-received speaker in the areas of design thinking, project management, cross-team collaboration, and AI tools for projects, and has presented at regional and international conferences.

### Steve Pesklo — Instructor

Steve is an energetic trainer who focuses on applying technical concepts to everyday work practices. He is the founder and president of SoftLake Solutions, a company that specializes in providing data and AI applications to identify fraud for Internal Audit, Criminal Investigations, Forensic Accounting, Privacy, and Compliance.

Steve brings a large amount of experience across multiple industries and government agencies. He is an expert in implementing large data analysis projects across the world, including Inland Revenue in the UK and Argentina, New Zealand, Africa and across Europe. Previously, he was the manager of Data Architecture and Data Services for a large mortgage company. He is a frequent speaker on data analytics and project management topics and speaks fluent German. He has been teaching at the Graduate School for over 10 years.

Steve has an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas and a B.S. in Computer Science from California Lutheran University and the Universität Salzburg in Austria. He is certified as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).

### Joe Mlakar — Instructor

Joe has over 27 years of Federal Government and military service and has been a part-time instructor with Graduate School USA since 2023. He enjoys using his technical knowledge in Operations Research to teach his students to provide organization and structure to complex processes, and apply advanced analytical techniques to help leaders make better decisions. Joe is based in Fort Collins, Colorado.

## Pricing

**Tuition:** $799