Power BI Interview Questions and Answers

 

 

Of course, Power Bi reports can be refreshed with Data Management Gateway and Power BI Personal Gateway.

42. What are content packs in Power BI? And why would you use one?

In Power BI, content packs are used to share objects, such as reports, dashboards, or datasets with individuals within your organization. The sharing takes place over the Power BI website and can be shared with multiple users. No one can change the original content in the content pack. Also, users have “read-only” access to the Power BI content shared with them.

43. How is data security implemented in Power BI?

• Power BI applies models with Row Level Security.
• Dynamix security involves using USERNAME functions in definitions.
• A DAX expression can be applied to tables filtering their rows at query time.
• A table is typically created in the model that relates to specific dimensions and roles.

44. What do you know about many-to-many relationships in Power BI?

Many-to-many relationships involve a bridge or junction table that reflects the combinations of two dimensions. Either all possible combinations or those combinations that have occurred.

A relationship with many-to-many cardinality in Power BI is composed of three features:

• Composite models: Allows a report to have two or more data connections, including DirectQuery connections or Import. With composite models, you can establish relationships with a many-many cardinality between tables.
• Relationships with a many-many cardinality: This approach removes unique values in tables.
• Storage mode: You can specify which visuals require a query to back-end data sources. This feature improves performance and reduces back-end load.

45. What are the key differences between a Power BI dataset, a report, and a dashboard?

Dataset	Report	Dashboard
A series of Power Query queries that have been shaped in a DAX model.	A series of visualizations, filters, and static elements on a canvas.	A way of pulling visualizations together from several reports.
A Power BI dataset can have many data sources.	Each report can have multiple sheets.	A Power BI dashboard is a single page, often called a canvas, that uses visualizations to tell a story.
A data set can have one report, and a report can have one data set.	The data set and your report are going to have a one-to-one relationship.	A dashboard is a tool for pinning visuals from different reports and other sources of data.

46. List some Edit interaction options in Power BI.

• Filter: It thoroughly filters the visual/tile based on the filter selection of another variable.
• Highlight: Highlights only the related elements on the visual
• None: Ignores the filter selection from another tile/visual.

47. How can you convert SSRS to Power BI?

Following are the ways to integrate SSRS with Power BI:

• SSRS report items such as charts can be pinned to Power BI dashboards.
• By clicking the tile option in Power BI dashboards will bring users to SSRS reports
• To keep the dashboard tile refreshed, a subscription is created.
• Power BI reports will be published to the SSRS portal.

48. What is the Time Intelligence function?

It is a function that allows manipulating data using periods.

49. How do I prepare for Power BI certification?

Mindmajix instructor-led training completely prepares you for the certification. We provide two industry-specific projects in the course, which helps you have hands-on experience on all possible scenarios that are part of certification.

50. Is Power BI a good career?

Five major reasons why Power BI will create a good career path for you:

• Gartner’s framework for the Analytics and BI Magic Quadrant 2021.
• There is a big market for Microsoft Power BI Consultants in almost every industry.
• In perspective, Qlik and Tableau (both high in Gartner ranking) have a market cap close to 1% of Microsoft.
• Top companies offering lucrative Power BI career opportunities.

Variety of job roles available:

• Power BI Analyst/Developer
• Data Analyst
• Business Analyst
• Business Intelligence Analyst
• Business Intelligence Developer
• Business Intelligence Manager

Power BI Interview Questions - Intermediate Level

51. What are the Parts of Microsoft's Self-Service Business Intelligence Solutions?

Microsoft Self-Service BI has two parts:

• Excel BI Toolkit: Allows users to create reports interactively through data importing from distinct data sources as well as model data according to the requirement.
• Power BI: It is an online solution that empowers users for sharing interactive reports and queries that you have created with Excel BI Toolkit.

52. What is the Differentiate between Power BI and Power BI Pro?

Power BI offers distinct kinds of features to help you get started in searching for data in a completely new way.  Power BI Pro, on the other hand, caters to some additional features like scheduling data, live data sources, storage capacity, complete interactivity, and much more.

53. Define Excel BI Toolkit?

Excel BI Toolkit allows users for creating an interactive report by importing data from a distinct range of sources and model data according to requirements.

54. What is the Cost of Power BI?

Both Power BI Desktop and Power BI are free of cost. For Power BI Pro, users have to pay $9.99 per month after a 60-day free trial.

55. What are the basics needed for using Power BI?

To use Power BI, you need to have a  web browser and a work email address. 
work email addresses finishing in .mil and .gov are not supported currently.

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56. What is the need for signing up with a work email?

Power BI does not have email addresses provided by telecommunications providers and consumer email services, thus there is a need of signing up with work email.

57. Name the work email addresses that are currently supported?

Work email addresses that are finished with .org and .edu are currently supported.

58. Is there any support by Power BI available for mobile devices?

Yes, Power BI supports mobile devices. It consists of apps for iOS devices, Windows 10 devices, and Android smartphones. You can install Power BI apps from the below app stores:

• Google Play
• Apple Store
• Windows Store

59. What is Visualization?

Visualization is a process to represent data in pictorial form like tables, graphs, or charts based on the specific requirement.

60. What is a Report?

The report is a Power BI feature that is a result of visualized data from a single data set. A report can have multiple pages of visualization.

61. What is Power Pivot and what is the filter written in Power BI?

Power Pivot is an in-memory component that enables storing compressed data. It is used to build data models, and relationships, create formulas, and calculate columns from different resources.

Filters are applicable in:

• Visualization level
• Report Level
• Page-Level

62. What data sources can Power BI connect to?

The following data sources that support DirectQuery in Power BI are as follows:

• Amazon Redshift
• Azure Data Explorer
• AtScale (Beta)
• Azure SQL Database
• Azure HDInsight Spark
• Google BigQuery
• Azure SQL Data Warehouse
• HDInsight Interactive Query

63. Why do we need BI?

You can take data and create reports at the click of a button. You can take data and create reports with a button click. It helps in attracting new customers to service and monitor existing customers. You can keep track of information and set your goals accordingly. In general, building an ETL solution (Extraction, Transformation, and Loading) ultimately helps to make better decisions. The ROI is very high Helps to make unwanted data into progressive information.

64. Does Power BI store data?

Datasets are the data sources that are uploaded or connected to databases. These sources include Excel workbooks and Power BI Desktop files. The following are also included in your data capacity. Reporting Services on-premises visualizations are pinned to a Power BI dashboard.

65. What must be installed to use Power BI?

To use the Power BI service for free, you need a work email and a web browser. With this, you can explore data as well as create reports in Power BI Desktop. The mobile app can be downloaded from the following stores:

Google Play, App Store, and Windows Store.

66. How one can get started with Power BI?

There are some resources to get assistance and get started with Power BI. They are as follows:

• Webinars
• Power BI Blog
• You can get started with an article on Power BI
• You can get started with a video on YouTube
• Last but not least, joining a related community and getting answered

67. What is SSBI?

SSBI stands for Self-Service Business Intelligence. It can also be termed as accessing data analytics to empower business users to divide, clean, and interpret data. SSBI has made it easy for end-users to access their data and create various kinds of visuals to acquire useful business insights. Anyone who has basic data knowledge can build reports for creating spontaneous and shareable dashboards.

68. What is a Dashboard?

The dashboard is used to visualize the strategic data of one or multiple reports at a glance.

69. What is the CORR function and when is it used?

CORR is a correlation function that provides a correlation between two distinct variables ranging from -1 to 1.

70. What are the advantages of Power BI?

Here are the main advantages of Power BI

• Power BI integrates well with the existing application
• It contains rich and personalized Dashboards.
• publishing reports in a secure way
• Quick accessibility to data means there is no speed and memory issue

71. What are the data destinations for Power Queries?

There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

• Load to a table in a worksheet
• Load to the Excel Data Model

72. What are the different connectivity modes in Power BI?

1. SQL Server Import: SQL Server Import is the default and most general connectivity type utilized in Power BI. It enables you to use all of its capabilities.

2. Direct Query: The Direct Query Connection is available when we connect to particular data sources. In this type of Connectivity, Power BI will only save the metadata of inherent and actual data.

3. Live Connection: This type of Connectivity does not store the data in the Power BI model. All interactions with the report through the live connection query the available analysis service model. 

73. What is the data source filter?

A data source filter is a parameter of data filtering before loading into machines.

74. What are the Different Products in the PowerBI family?

Below are different Power BI services/products:

• Power BI Desktop
• Power BI Services
• Power BI Mobile
• Power BI Gateway
• Power BI Premium
• Power BI Report Server
• Power BI Embedded

75. What is Power View?

Power View is a data visualization technology, which lets you create interactive graphs, charts, maps, and other visuals to bring life to your data. It is available in Excel, SQL Server, SharePoint, and Power BI.

76. Which language is used in Power Query?

A new programming language is used in a power query called M-Code. It is easy to use and similar to other languages. M-code is a case-sensitive language.

77. How to import the data on the Power BI desktop?

Go to getting data Sources and click on your required sources (Excel, SQL, CSV) then Load it. Click on the Data view to view that data.

To choose the table click on the fields and you can pick a visualization to generate a report.

78. Which datasets are used to create a dashboard with streaming data tiles?

Streaming datasets (we need to have data that is cached in memory before we use streaming data sets)

Hybrid Datasets

79. How Dynamic filtering in Power BI is performed?

Dynamic Filtering in Power BI is done by the following steps:

• Once all the data are set up publish the detailed report to Power BI
• Publish it to Group Work Space
• Create Filter Link
• Create a DAX calculated Column
• Public Overview Report

80. What is the procedure to buy Power BI Pro?

Power BI license can be purchased at powerbi.com. However, you can also get assistance from Microsoft partners to aid using Power BI implementation.

81. Is the Power BI service accessible on-premises?\

The user cannot avail of the service as an internal or private cloud service. However, with Power BI and Power BI Desktop, the user can connect to their on-premise data sources securely.

82. Which is the language used to calculate column/calculated field in Power Pivot?

Data Analysis Expression (DAX) is used to calculate column fields in Power Pivot.

83. What are the column values that DAX supports?

• It is not capable of inserting or modifying data
• It cannot be used to calculate rows, though you can calculate measures and calculated columns

84. Explain the Power Pivot Data Model?

It is a model that is made up of data types, tables, columns, and table relations. The data tables are generally constructed to hold data for a business entity.

85. Define Power Query?

Power Query is an ETL tool to clean, shape, and transform data without any code using intuitive interfaces. With this:

• You can import data from various sources like databases from files
• Append and join data from a wide range of sources
• You can shape data as needed by adding and removing it

86. Name the language that is used in the power query?

M-code which is a new programming language is used in Power Query. This language is easy to use and is quite similar to other languages. Also, it is case-sensitive.

90. Name the data destinations for Power Query?

Two destinations are there for the output we receive from the power query. They are:

• Load to Excel Data Model
• Load to a table in a worksheet

91. Explain the Power BI Designer?

Power BI Designer, a standalone app that is used to create reports in Power BI and to upload them to Powerbi.com. It is a combination of Power View, Power Pivot, and Power Query.

92. What is the use of the split function?

The split function is used for splitting the string database on the given delimiter.

93. Name all the platforms for which the Power BI app is available?

Power BI app is available for:

• Android
• iPhone and iPad
• Windows tablets and Windows Desktops
• Coming for Windows phone soon

94. What is the difference between older and newer Power BI?

There is a new design tool that is used in the new Power BI called Power BI Desktop. It is a standalone designer, including Power Pivot, Power View, and Power Query in the back end. Whereas, Older Power BI consists of excel add-ins. In the newer Power BI version,  there are several graphs available including treemap, line area chart, waterfall, combo chart, etc.

95. Is it possible in the power pivot data model to have more than one active relationship between two tables?

No, it is not possible. There cannot be more than one active relationship in the power pivot data model between two tables. It is possible to have only one active and many inactive relationships.

96. What are the general data shaping techniques?

The common data shaping techniques are:

• Removing Columns and Rows
• Adding Indexes
• Applying for a Sort Order

97. What are the KPIs in Power BI?

KPIs are Key Performance Indicators, which evaluate the organization’s performance in distinct areas by evaluating measurable goals and values. A KPI has a measure or base value that is evaluated against target values. It includes a comparison of the performance with the target. The KPI also helps you evaluate the analysis performances with their graphical representation. Thus, KPIs will show whether your goals have been met or not.

98. What could be the difference between Distinct() and Values() in DAX?

We can use both Distinct() and Values() functions to return the values into a column or cell on the worksheet. The difference between them is that the Values() function returns blank values along with unique values, whereas the Distinct() function returns only unique values.

99. State the advantages of the Direct query method?

The advantages of the Direct query method are listed as follows:

Users can build huge data sets of data visualizations using the Direct Query Method, but the Power BI desktop supports data visualizations on smaller sets alone. There is no limit to the dataset for the direct query method and a 1GB dataset limit is not applicable in this method.

100. What is the parameter in power bi?

If you want to put a scenario and based on that if you want to see the visuals, the best is the What-if parameter. It helps you to forecast data and perform advanced analytics. For example, if you have set up the product discount from the what-if parameter from 1 to 10. And users can change the values and see the changes in profit, sales, revenue, margin, etc. that help in detailed analysis.

Power BI Interview Questions for Experienced Professionals

101. What is the incremental refresh?

Incremental refresh is used to refresh the newly added data to avoid truncating and loading data.

102. What are the three main tabs in the Reports development Window?

The major tabs in the Reports development Window are as follows:

• Relationship tab
• Data Modeling Tab
• Report Tab

103. How many types of default Graphs (Visualizations) are available in Power BI?

Around 26 Views

104. What are Slicers in Power BI?

• Slicers are the visual filters, which are present in the report page of Power BI. It helps us to sort and filter information on a packed report
• Slicers unlike filters present as a report visual and you can select values on it while analyzing the report data

105. What is the major difference between a Filter and a Slicer?

Using Normal filters users were not allowed to interact with dashboards or reports, but using slicers we can interact with dashboards and reports.

106. What is a parameter in Power BI?

A Parameter in Power BI is a dynamic filter that is used in the calculation fields. It is based on the parameter value result that can vary.

107. Difference Between New Measure and New column?

A new column is an area in Power Bi where the physical data is stored when logic is applied, whereas, the measure is where the calculations are performed on the fly based on dimensions. Measure, unlike Column, won't store any physical data.

108. What are the different joins in Power BI?

• Horizontal Joins to append data from multiple tables
• Vertical Joins to merge the data from multiple tables

109. What is the Embed Code?

There is an option in the Power BI service, which publishes to the web to generate a link address for the Power BI report and can be shared across clients.

110. How do you Hide and Unhide a Specific Report in Power BI?

In the menu bar, choose the Selection pane and hide/unhide the report and the action to pass to the bookmark.

111. How do you compare Target and Actual Values from a Power BI report?

A gauge chart is used to compare two different measures where the Target and Actuals are inferred.

112. What are Power Query's major Data Destinations?

There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

• Load to a table in a worksheet
• Load to the Excel Data Model

113. Can we Refresh Data Reports that are uploaded to the Cloud?

Yes, you can refresh the data reports which are uploaded to the cloud. Power BI personal gateway and Data management gateway helps you acquire the same.

114. How are a Power BI Dashboard and Report different from each other?

To understand the difference between Power BI Dashboard and Report, let’s run through some quick points.

Capability	Report	Dashboard
Pages	Can be of one or more pages.	Consists of one page only
Data sources	It has a single dataset per report.	Can have data tiles from one or more datasets or reports.
Filtering	Can perform slicing, filtering, and highlighting.	Cannot filter or slice reports.
Set alerts	No option for setting alerts.	Enable setting email alerts
Featured reports	No option for creating a featured dashboard.	Enables to set only one dashboard as a featured dashboard.
Accessing tables and fields in datasets	Provides options to view dataset tables, values, and fields.	Cannot view or access underlying datasets tables and fields.

115. How to Toggle Between Two Option and Make it Interact with the rest of the Visualizations in a Report?

Toggling is an action that is achieved in Power BI reports when there exist two or more dimensions. With “Enlighten Slicer”, you can show this in Power BI and can be imported from Marketplace.

116. What does rank() do?

Rank() calculates regular competition rank thus returning identical values. You can ask for ascending or descending values in the second argument accordingly.

117. How do I Prepare for a Power BI Interview?

The main aspect to learn before attending any PowerBi interview is “how the data representation and general business intelligence is going to work!”

118. Is Business Intelligence a Good Career?

One of the great reasons for choosing a career in BI is the on-demand outlook. According to a report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for expert BI managers and analysts is expected to soar to 14% by 2026, with the overall need for data professionals to climb to 28% by 2020.

119. Is Power BI better than Tableau?

Both Tableau and Power BI allow the user to connect to distinct data sources. However, Tableau provides better support to connect to a different data warehouse, and Power BI is heavily integrated with Microsoft’s portfolio like the Azure cloud platform.

120.  Is Power BI hard to Learn?

Any data analyst can quickly connect with any data source, summarizing the findings into simple reports without any programming experience. With Power Pivot built into the Power BI, analytics measures were developed using DAX query language from Microsoft.

121. Is Power BI hard to use?

Power BI doesn’t require users to write SQL code like BI tools but requires MS Excel knowledge.

122. Is Data Analyst a Good Career?

Data is useless without proper analytics. Any professional with analytical skills can easily master the ocean of Big Data and become a crucial asset to the organization, boosting the business as well as career. There are several on-demand job opportunities in Big Data management and Analytics and are constantly growing.

123. What are the essential applications of the Power BI?

Power BI is mainly used by:

• PMO - Project Management Office
• Developer & Database Administrator
• Business & Data Analyst
• IT Team, IT Professional
• Data Scientist
• Consumer for End User Report

124. Is Power BI better than Excel?

Power BI is a more powerful tool compared to Microsoft Excel. Power BI is easy to use and is much more flexible while Microsoft Excel is not so handy to use. Power BI is mostly used for data visualization and dashboard sharing to a large number of users while Microsoft Excel is mostly used for in-depth driver analysis.

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125. How do I export from power BI to excel?

In Power BI, a user can export any dashboard or visual. To export your data, choose the ellipses (3 dots) on the top-right side of any visualization and choose the icon: Export data. Your data is exported as an a.CSV file. You can even save and open the file in Excel.

126. How do you manage a role in Power BI?

Follow these steps to manage a role in Power BI

• Step 1: Import data into the Power BI Desktop report
• Step 2: connection
• Step 3: Select the Modeling tab
• Step 4: Select Manage Roles
• Step 5: Select Create
• Step 6: Provide a name for the role
• Step 7: Select the table that you want to apply a DAX rule
• Step 8: Enter the DAX expressions
• Step 9: After creating a DAX expression, select the checkbox placed above the expression and validate the expression
• Step 10: Select Save

127. How do you answer behavioral interview questions?

These can be answered in four simple steps as follows:

• Step 1: Situation. Describe the situation or set the scene
• Step 2: Task. Describe the issue or problem you were confronted with
• Step 3: Action
• Step 4: Results

128. What is the difference between Power BI vs Tableau?

Here are key differences between Power BI vs Tableau

Feature	Power BI	Tableau
Data visualization	Focuses only on modeling and reporting	Best tool
Cost	Less expensive	Very expensive since it uses data warehousing
Machine Learning	It is associated with Microsoft Azure.	It has python Machine learning.
User Interface	Simple and easy to use	Use a customized dashboard
Data handling	It drags down slow when handling huge data	Handles bulk data

TCS Power BI Interview Questions

129. What is the Power BI Service?

Power BI Service is a cloud-based analytics solution that helps you to create dashboards and publish, design reports, collaborate and share the reports with internal and external stakeholders.

130. What is a summarize function in DAX?

Summarize is a DAX function that gives an aggregated result from a table.
This is how you can use summarize function:

• Summarize(<table>,<grouping column>,[<name>,<expression>])
• Table - a DAX expression that returns a table
• grouping column - the column name you want to use for grouping
• name - the name of the new aggregated column
• expression - generates the aggregated column.

131. Can you export Power BI report data into any other format like SSRS?

Yes, you can export a Power BI report data to another file format, such as PowerPoint, PDF, Image, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel, or export the report by generating an Atom service document, listing the Atom-compliant data feeds available from the report.

132. What is the difference between the measure and the calculated column?

The difference is the context of evaluation. A measure is evaluated in the context of the cell evaluated in a report or in a DAX query. While the calculated column is computed at the row level within the table it belongs to.

133. Have you faced any performance issues in your project?

This is one of the important Power BI questions. As a developer, while developing projects, you may face one or two performance issues based on the type of data you use. Explain how you overcome those issues.

Cognizant Power BI Interview Questions

134. Describe a time when Power BI limited or enhanced your success on a project?

There is a limitation to export data for large data sets in Power BI

135. What is your go-to DAX function for time intelligence?

DATEDADD is the most versatile function used for time intelligence. However, pretty much of the time intelligence can be recreated with DATEDADD.

136. How do you improve the performance of your data models?

Following the tidy data philosophy, column usage should be limited. Also utilizing the star schema to limit joins will also improve the model.

Disabling unused tables from loading also helps. Also using lookups can also improve overall functionality.

137.  How can You Change the Value Measure to Show Multiple Measures Dynamically?

You can dynamically change and switch functions to show multiple measures using harvesting measures.

138. How Important is Power BI?

Dashboards, datasets, and reports are the heart of Power BI, and they enable users to create personalized dashboards combining cloud-born and on-premises data in a single view. It allows monitoring the most important data enterprise-wide and from all their business apps.

139. What are the differences between MSBI and Power BI?

MSBI	Power BI
In MSBI, SSRS is utilized for accessing and integrating the process components and programming the interfaces for testing and and sharing the reports on several devices.	Power BI is a collection of BI tools and techniques used for creating the reports and dashboards by transforming the raw data into customised charts, maps, and graphs.
We cannot access the data from the cloud storage.	We can access the data from both cloud and on-site.
MSBI can manage massive datasets without stressing on computer systems.	Power BI will manage the datasets with a maximum of 33,000 rows or 10MB. If the data exceeds this limit, the user must execute the queries.
In MSBI, SSRS can only be used for creating the reports and visualizations.	Power BI is used for creating the models, dashboards, and reports that can be accessed and shared through the web browsers and Power BI Apps

139. Differentiate Tableau and Power BI

Tableau	Power BI
Tableau can manage massive data sets without impacting system performance	Power BI can manage a huge volume of data sets.
Experienced professionals can use Tableau for data analytics purposes.	Power BI, with its user-friendly interface, is a versatile tool that caters to both beginners and experienced users, providing reassurance about its adaptability.
Tableau Interface is developed to understand the non-technical user.	Power BI includes an easy-to-learn interface that lets users visualize the data and create reports.
Embedding Reports in Tableau is a real-world challenge.	Power BI simplifies the process of embedding reports, making it a user-friendly feature that puts the audience at ease with its functionality.
Tableau utilizes the Multidimensional Expressions(MDX) to create complex calculations and measure dimensions and columns.	Power BI utilizes Data Analysis Expression(DAX) to build expressions and formulas to measure the columns.

140. What are the different kinds of Visualizations in Power BI?

Following are the different kinds of visualizations in Power BI:

1) Bar and Column Charts: We can utilize these visualizations to look at a particular value throughout several categories.

The above bar chart shows the sales happened in the four quarters

2) Area Charts: Area Charts will help you visualize the extent of change over time.

3) Doughnut and Pie Charts: These charts will allow you to visualize the relationship between whole parts.

4) Cards: Cards will display the aggregate value of a specific data point.
5) Slicers: A slicer can be used for filtering the other visuals on the page.
6) Maps: Maps will display categorical and quantitative data with dimensional locations.
7) Matrix: Matrix is a kind of table that allows you to see the aggregate data easily.

141. What are the different kinds of Filters in Power BI Reports?

Following are the different types of Filters:

1. Page-Level Filters: These filters will work at the report-page level. Different pages of the same report can have varied page-level filters.
2. Visual-Level Filters: These filters will work on a single visualization. They minimize the amount of data the visualization can access and filter the calculations and data.
3. Report-Level Filters: These filters will work on the complete report, filtering all the pages and visualizations included in it.

142. Differentiate Calculated Columns, Calculated Tables, and Measures

Calculated Columns	Calculated Tables	Measures
Calculated Columns are included in the tables by applying the DAX formula to the existing data.	Calculated tables are created using the DAX formulas to define the values.	Measures will utilize DAX functions to create difficult calculations.
DAX formula specifies values in the new columns instead of querying the data sources.	Calculated Tables are created in both Report and Data views	Measures can be utilized to highlight the running totals, compare the sales, forecast sales, and other purposes.
Calculated Columns are helpful when the data sources do not include the data displayed in the required format.	Calculated tables are suitable for intermediate calculations, and the data users need to store it in the data model.	Measures are generated in both Data Views and Reports.

143. Explain Query Folding.

Query Folding relates to processes in the power query where the specified steps are converted into SQL and implemented by the source database rather than the client machine. This practice is substantial with respect to performance optimization and assuring scalability in data processing.

144. What is Self-Service in Power BI?

Self-Service BI, or Self-Service Business Intelligence, is an approach to data analytics, visualization, and reporting that allows users to create easy-to-understand, actionable, and intuitive dashboards almost immediately. 

145. Explain in detail about Conditional Formatting.

Conditional FormattingFormatting is a feature that enables us to enforce different formatting styles on data elements according to their values and other conditions. We can apply conditional Formatting to several visual elements, like matrix cells, table cells, colour scales, and data bars. Some general use cases for conditional Formatting include emphasizing trends, highlighting outliers, and visualizing data quality issues.

146. How do we optimize the performance of the Power BI Reports?

Following are some techniques to optimize the Power BI Reports:

• Utilizing the proper data types and minimizing the number of columns in data model.
• Creating practical DAX Calculations and avoiding complex resources.
• Using the summary and aggregation tables reduces the amount of the data processed.
• Enforcing slicers and filters for limiting the data shown in visualizations
• Utilizing the incremental refresh to update only the modified data. 

147. What is the difference between a Slicer and a Filter?

In PowerBI, a slicer is a visual element that enables us to filter the data in the report by choosing particular ranges and values. Slicers offer a more user-friendly and interactive way of filtering the data than conventional filters. Filters are applied directly to the individual visualizations and data model and are not visible to the end-user.

148. What is the difference between CALCULATETABLE and CALCULATE functions?

CALCULATETABLE and CALCULATE are the only functions that filter and modify the table. These can be added to existing queries or filters, remove the existing filter context from queries and override the filter context of queries.

149. Explain Custom Visuals in Power BI.

In Power BI, we can create visuals from the library of custom visualizations. We should create a development project and then test the visual in the Power BI Service. Whenever a custom visual is created, it is tested before posting. It is saved as the “.pbviz” file.

150. Why do we use the custom visual file?

We use custom visuals when the pre existing visuals do not suit the business requirements. Generally, Custom Visuals are created by the developers and can be utilized in a similar way as the prepackaged files.

151. What are the data sources of the Power Map?

The data sources can be external or Excel. While preparing the data, you have to ensure that all the data is in the format of an Excel table, in which every row represents a distinct record. The column and row headings should include text, not actual data. This is critical to ensure that Power Map interprets it properly while plotting the geographical coordinates.

152. Describe Query Parameters in Power BI.

Query parameters are used to give users the local Power BI Desktop report with a prompt. This helps us to specify the values they are interested in:

• The calculation and query can utilize the parameter calculation.
• PBIX files will be exported as the Power BI Templates
• Template Files will include everything from PBIX files except for data.

153. What are the different stages of working with Power BI?

Following are the different stages of Power BI

1. Data Integration: The first step in business intelligence is to set up a successful connection with the data source and integrate it to extract the data for processing.
2. Data Processing: The next step of Power BI is data processing. Most of the time, the raw data also contains unexpected error data, or sometimes, a few data cells may be empty. Business intelligence has to interpret the inaccurate data and the missing values for the processing in the data processing stage.
3. Data Presentation: The final and third stage of business intelligence is analyzing the data retrieved from the data sources and displaying the understanding through visually interactive dashboards and appealing graphs.

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Power BI DAX Interview Questions

1. Why is DAX so important?

Importing data into Power BI Desktop is an easy task. You can even create reports that share valuable insights without using DAX formulas in it. But if you want to analyze the growth percentage of different date ranges and across product categories or calculate year growth compared to market trends? DAX formulas support this capability. DAX stands for Data Analysis Expression language. Knowing how to use DAX formulas helps you to get the most out of your data. DAX works on operators, functions, and constants to further extend your model.

2. How does Power BI DAX work?

The three fundamental concepts of Power BI DAX are Syntax, Context, and Functions.

Syntax:

It comprises various components that make up the formula. To understand the DAX formula, let’s break down each of the elements into a language.

Total Sales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount])

• Total Sales is the Measure name.
• The equals sign (=) indicates the start of the DAX formula.
• SUM is used to add the values of a given field.
• The parenthesis () is used to enclose and define arguments in an expression
• Sales are the table referenced
• The referenced column [SalesAmount] is an argument with which the SUM function identifies the column on which it has to aggregate a SUM.

Context:

• It is one of the essential concepts of DAX. There are two types of Contexts - Row Context and Filter Context.
• The Row-Context is applied whenever a formula has a function that filters to identify a single row in a table.
• Filter-Context is used when one or more filters are applied in a calculation. 

Functions:

Functions are structured, predefined, and ordered formulae. They complete calculations using arguments passed on to them.

3. Explain the DAX function

A DAX function is a predefined formula that performs calculations on values provided to its arguments. The arguments in a function should be in a specific order and can be a column reference, text, numbers, constants, etc. Every function performs a particular operation on the values enclosed in an argument. There can be more than one argument in a DAX formula.
Some of the most commonly used DAX functions:

Date and Time Functions

These functions carry out calculations on the date and time values.

Ex: DATE, CALENDER, HOUR, MINUTE

Time Intelligence Functions

These functions are used to evaluate values over a fixed period.

Ex: DATESBETWEEN, ENDOFQUARTER, CLOSINGBALANCEMONTH

Information Functions

These functions provide particular information on the data values included in rows and columns. It checks the given condition in a function for the given value and returns TRUE or FALSE.

Ex: ISERROR, CUSTOMDATA, ISNONTEXT

Logical Functions

These functions are used to evaluate an argument or expression logically.

Ex: AND, FALSE, IFERROR, IF

Mathematical and Trigonometric Functions

These functions are used to perform all sorts of mathematical functions on the reference values.

Ex: DIVIDE, FACT, ACOS

Statistical Functions

These functions carry out statistical and aggregation functions on data values in a DAX expression.

Ex: AVERAGE, COUNT, GENERATE

Text Functions

These are similar to the string functions of Excel.

Ex: FIND, LEFT, FIXED, FORMAT

Parent-Child functions

These are used for data values that are a part of a parent-child hierarchy.

Ex: PATH, PATHITEM

Table functions

In DAX formulas, these functions are used to apply operations and conditions on entire tables.

Ex: FILTER, VALUES, DISTINCT

Other functions

There are a bunch of functions that do not fit in any particular category.

Ex: GROUPBY, EXCEPT, GENERATESERIES

4. Tell something about DAX Calculation Types.

DAX formulas can also be called DAX Calculations as they calculate an input value and return a resultant value. The calculations that you can perform using DAX in Power BI are  Calculated Measures and Calculated Columns.

Calculated Measures: They create a field having aggregated values such as a sum, percentages, ratios, averages, etc.

Calculated Columns: They create a new column in your existing table. The only thing is there should be at least one function in the calculated column. When you want to create a column with filtered or sorted information, calculated columns are used.

5. What’s the main purpose of using the Calculate function?

Calculate functions allow you to modify the filter context of tables or measures. You can perform the following:

• Override filter context from queries
• Remove present filter context from queries
• Add to existing filter context of queries

Frequently Asked Power BI Interview Questions

1. What skills are needed for Power BI?

Required Skills for Power BI Developer:

• First and foremost, a Power BI Developer should be familiar with business intelligence, data analytics, and data science.
• Should have good knowledge of data visualization, charts, and graphs.
• Knowledge of mathematical expressions
• Comprehensive knowledge of data design, data modeling, and data management.
• Ability to build dashboards

2. What language does Power BI use?

• DAX and M are the two languages supported by Power BI to filter, handle and visualize data.
• DAX is an analytical data calculation language used for analyzing data in the Data View phase.
• n the flip side, M is a query formula language used in Power BI Query Editor to prepare data before loading in the Power BI model.

3. Is Power BI enough to get a job?

Power BI works with the advanced version of excel, so one needs to have an excellent knowledge of MS Excel and to build interactive dashboards to get hired. 

4. What is Q&A in Power BI?

Q&A in Power BI allows you to explore data using natural language capabilities and obtain answers in the form of graphs and charts. You'll find Q&A on dashboards in the Power BI service.

5. Which company Power BI Interview questions are listed?

In our Power BI interview questions and answers blog, we have gathered interview questions from various MNCs around the globe and curated the best and frequently asked questions with answers. Power BI Interview questions of Wipro, Deloitte, Mindtree, Microsoft, Cognizant, TCS, Amazon are covered in the blog.

Tips to Prepare for Power BI Interview

Power BI Interview Preparation

Here are a few tips for acing your Power BI interview:

• Research the company: 

Learn everything there is to know about the organization. Tailor your responses specific to the company's needs.

• Review the job specifications: 

Look over the responsibilities of the role. Brainstorm at least one example from your previous experience that matches the requirements listed. When the interviewer asks a question about that criterion, you'll be prepared with an example.

• Brush up on your knowledge: 

You may be asked questions about business intelligence processes, methodologies, or best practices. Review your knowledge in essential areas, through books, videos, tutorials, and more.

• Practice common questions: 

While you can't predict what the company will ask, familiarizing yourself with common interview questions will help you prepare.

Most Common Power BI FAQs

1. Does Power BI need coding?

No coding is required to use Power BI. It’s a data visualization tool to create business intelligence dashboards. However, Power BI has formula languages like M and DAX that executes operations similar to programming languages.

2. Is Power BI enough to get a job?

Yes, Power BI has a great scope. It has numerous benefits for any organization, and even novices can get jobs as a Power BI Developer at the junior level. There are various analytics focussed companies that readily hire talented Power BI Freshers these days.

3. How to become a Power BI developer?

To become a Power BI Developer, you must have key data visualization skills and an ability to glean insights from large data sets. Companies across all industries have made huge investments in big data, building out their analytics departments in numerous industries, making Power BI a field ripe with opportunities. This trend is projected to continue in the foreseeable future.

Here, are the five steps to become a Power BI Developer:

1. Learn Power BI fundamentals
2. Develop your practical data analytics skills by working on projects.
3. Create visualisations and practise presenting them.
4. Build a portfolio of your work as a Power BI Developer.
5. Apply for Power BI jobs 

4. Is Power BI a good career option?

Yes, Power BI is a very good career. Simply put, there has never been a more exciting time to work with data. Every day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created, and the rate is only increasing. As organisations' data collecting develops in extent and sophistication, it's inevitable that they'll want to make use of it, and Power BI pros are at the forefront of this trend.

5. Why is Power BI so popular?

On-premises or in the cloud, Power BI provides a scalable and unified platform for data collection, refinement, analysis, and presentation. Through interactive dashboards and data-rich, easy-to-understand reporting, it provides organizations with a 360-degree view of their operations. It is a part of Microsoft Business Intelligence (MSBI) suite, and it includes a variety of services, products, and applications.

6. How much do Power BI developers make?

Power BI jobs will offer you handsome salaries and give you a chance to work with top MNCs. In the United States, the average annual pay for a power bi developer is $105,000, or $53.85 an hour. Entry-level jobs start at $92,625 per year, with the highest-paid individuals earning up to $135,000 per year.

7. Are Power BI Developers in High Demand?

Power BI Developers are already in great demand, and that demand is projected to rise even more in the near future. By 2026, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a 27.9% growth in demand for data skills. 

8. What are the skills a Power BI developer should possess?

To break into the data field, formal education is mandatory. A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Administration, or a closely related field is necessary. Aside from academic qualifications, the position of a Power BI Developer demands a lot.

Some of the key skills are listed below:

• Hands-on experience in data preparation, data gateway, and data warehousing concepts.
• Knowledge of the Microsoft Business Intelligence Stack, which includes Power BI, SSAS, SSRS, and SSIS.
• Experience with a self-service tool.
• knowledge in JavaScript libraries and SQL

9. What does a Power BI Developer do?

A Power BI developer is responsible for the development and administration of BI tools, as well as a complete understanding of the BI system. The primary responsibility of a Power BI developer is to transform raw data into actionable insights through interactive and user-friendly dashboards and reports. A Power BI developer is crucial to the company because of their strategic, executive, and management tasks and responsibilities.

10. What certifications are offered by Power BI?

• Exam PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst
• Exam DA-100: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI
• Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate

11. What are the roles & responsibilities of a Power BI developer?

The specific responsibilities that a Power BI Developer performs vary widely based on the industry and the organization for which they work. A Power BI developer should expect to encounter some or all of the roles and responsibilities listed below:

• Build Analysis Services reporting models.
• Using Power BI desktop, build visual reports, dashboards, and KPI scorecards.
• Data analysis skills
• In Power BI, use row-level data security and learn about application security layer models.
• On the Power BI desktop, run DAX queries.
• Use the data set to do advanced level calculations.
• Develop custom visuals for Power BI.
• Integrate Power BI reports into other applications
• Should be well-versed with secondary tools like Microsoft Azure, SQL data warehouse, PolyBase, Visual Studio, and others.

12. What are the job profiles that a Power BI developer can look for?

There are a variety of job profiles available due to Power BI's popularity:

• Power BI Developer
• Power BI Analyst
• Power BI Business Analyst
• Power BI Data Analyst
• Power BI Software Engineer
• Senior Business Intelligence Analyst

13. How to Learn Power BI?

Because of Power BI's ubiquity, there are a plethora of resources for aspiring professionals to understand all aspects of the platform, from the basic information to advanced.

Here is a list of different ways you may use to learn Power BI, whether you're just getting started or want to brush up on your existing knowledge.

• Microsoft hosted webinars
• Microsoft’s guided learning resources
• Visit the official Power BI online community
• Microsoft’s Youtube training videos
• Power BI’s development team’s blog
• Various online courses offered by e-learning sites.

Conclusion

Power BI is the best business intelligence tool most enterprises use. With the rise in demand for Power BI, most enterprises are searching for the skilled professionals as their employees. Thus, we have curated this Power BI Interview Questions blog covering all the essential topics to help you crack the job interviews. If you have any queries, let us know by commenting below.