Top 70+ Power BI Interview Questions and Answers

Power BI was developed in 2013 by Microsoft as a Business Intelligence tool for interactive visualisation. It combines apps, software services, and connectors to convert your unrelated raw data into meaningful and visually immersive insights. In recent years the demand for this Power BI tool has increased to great lengths, which has paved the way for skilled Power BI professionals to explore many job opportunities coming forward.  

This blog for top Power BI Interview questions for 2023 prepares you with many Power-BI job roles in reputed companies offering good salaries. You can find distinct levels of interview questions prepared for the Power BI Job roles. 

Table of Contents

1) Power BI Interview Questions and Answers - Beginner Level

2) Power BI Interview Questions and Answers - Intermediate Level

3) Power BI Interview Questions and Answers - Advanced Level

4) Conclusion

Power BI Interview Questions and Answers - Beginner Level 

1) What is Power BI? List its uses  

Power BI is a segment of Microsoft Power Platform. It is a data visualisation, and business analytics tool that converts multiple unrelated data sources into a meaningful interactive structure. The Power BI is most widely used and accepted due to its complexity-solving nature, real-time access, and time-saving competence.   

Here are a few potential uses of Power BI listed below

1) Dashboard updates are possible in real-time. 

2) Organises the unorganised data making it valuable and easy to comprehend.  

3) Natural Language can be used to explore data and solve problems.  

4) Can connect to a wide range of data sets and generate valuable data visuals and reports that can be better understood and shared with other users.  

5) Data can be safely stored in the cloud or on-premises. 
 

 

 

2) What are the differences between Tableau and Power BI?  

Power BI vs Tableau

Attributes	Power BI	Tableau
Interface	Easy to understand and use interface even for any non-technical user.	Non-technical users may find it difficult to understand the interface. Needs background in BI or related functions to explore data sets.
Volume	Can handle limited volume of datasets. It may slow down while handling bulk data.	Huge datasets can be handled without affecting the performance.
Acceptance	Accepted widely due to its simplicity.	Has an advantage over speed and other features.
Cost	Power BI will cost you less than 10 GBP per month	Tableau is much costly due to its dedicated storage and cloud computing resources.
Usability	Used by both inexperienced and experienced users.	Used for analytical purposes by Analysts and Experienced.

3) Differences between self-service BI and Managed Enterprise BI?  

Following is the table with Self-service and Managed Enterprise BI differences 

Self-service BI	Managed Enterprise BI
Typically managed by the departmental level, it is referred to as ‘modern’ Self-service analytics.	Also referred to as the ‘traditional’ approach. It is managed by shared-services IT (Information Technology) department.
Execution of complex programming codes not necessary to generate reports with dashboards.	Aims to support effective decision-making with effective programming skills necessary for report generation.
Has curbed the need for any associated partners or third-party vendors.	Gains support from third-party vendors, helping companies exploit data resources. This affects the company's budget and productivity.
Tools can be deployed on individual desktops.	Data models are centralised, and browser-based tools are used by end-users for access.
Data services are more varied, comprising files, spreadsheets, and other cloud-based sources.	Data is secured, governed, and tested for accuracy.

4) What is Power Query?  

Power Query, created by Microsoft, is an ETL tool used to Extract, Transform, and Load data. Power Query aids in importing the retrieved data from multiple data sources and processing it to a single target system. 

5) What is Power Pivot?  

Power Pivot is an Excel add-in, a computer software spreadsheet developed by Microsoft used to perform complex data analysis and devise refined data models.  

Power Pivot can help you compress enormous datasets into smaller groups, presuming a possibility to filter and visualise in simple observance. 

6) What are the differences between Power Query and Power Pivot?  

The differences between Power Query and Power Pivot are listed below:

Power Query	Power Pivot
Recommended for Data extraction from various sources.	Used for modelling the imported data and compress it.
Focused on importing and processing the data.	Used for enormous amount of complex data analysis to create relations.
Supports M language	Supports DAX language
Can load the extracted data into Excel	Works like an Excel add-in and perform standard DAX calculations

7) What is a Power BI Desktop?  

Power BI Desktop is an application that allows you to transform, connect and visualise data on your computer. Installing this free application can help you combine the gathered data from distinct sources into a data model. 

It helps to create data models, advanced queries, reports, and dashboards for data analysis and serves as an integration tool for Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power View. 

Join the Microsoft Power BI Training to create visually appealing dashboards and reports. 

8) What are the major components of Power BI? 

Let us discuss the Power BI components in brief: 

Power Query: Power Query, created by Microsoft, is an ETL tool used to Extract, Transform, and Load data from sources like Oracle, SQL, Text/CSV files, Excel, etc. Power Query imports the data from multiple data sources and processes it to a single target system. 

Power Pivot: Power Pivot is an Excel add-in used for complex data analysis and data modelling using Data Analysis Expression (DAX) functions. Power Pivot can help you compress enormous datasets into smaller groups creating relations between different tables to filter and visualise for a simpler understanding. 

Power View: Power View is designed to revitalise your data by allowing you to devise interactive graphs, maps, charts, and tables. Here you can add different visuals like text, pics, and more in a Power View slide (a sheet without cells) to create different data visualisations from your data. 

Power BI Desktop: Power BI Desktop is a free application allowing you to transform, connect and visualise data on your system. You can combine the retrieved data from diverse sources into a data model. 

Power BI Mobile Application: Power BI Mobile Apps are applications available for iOS, Android, and windows with an interactive display to quickly enable you to view your Power BI dashboard and reports. 

Power BI Website: To use this you need to sign up with a Power BI online account. Power BI Website allows you to share insights and visualise the organisation’s data on your website or app. It is a location to host your BI files, create & share dashboards, and generate new data reports online. 

Power Map: The maps are integrated into the Bing search engine to display or locate any address using corresponding latitude and longitude coordinates. Bing helps users to create maps and functions like the Google search engine. It helps users to provide default map coordinates by using a geo-coding process. 

Power Q&A: Users can have lots of interactivity with reports. You can also set predefined queries to act as per the frequent requirement. 

9) What are the various Power BI versions?  

Power BI versions are crucial to determine which license can help you with your requirements. You can differentiate based on where you want your content to be stored, the interaction process with that stored content, and if it uses any premium traits.   

The three types of Power BI versions are as follows  

a) Microsoft Power BI Free per-user license - Users can connect to data and create dashboards and reports, but you cannot collaborate, share, or publish content on other workspaces.  

b) Microsoft Power BI Pro license – This version enables the pro users to create, view, and interact with content published by other Power BI Pro users.  

Obtaining the Premium capacity allows the organisation to distribute content to Free and PPU license users.  

c) Microsoft Power BI Premium Per User (PPU) license - It enables publishing content to other workspaces, sharing dashboards, and supporting dashboards and reports in the organisation.  

Obtaining the Premium capacity allows an organisation to distribute content to Free and Pro license users. 

10) In Power BI, what is ‘Get Data’ icon used for?  

Get Data is an icon used in Power BI to import data for user analysis and visualisation. Clicking on the drop-down will enlist all the data sources from the multiple format options to be ingested. 

11) Differences between Power BI vs Excel 

Classification	Power BI	Excel
Developed By	Microsoft	Microsoft
Pricing	Desktop app is free  Online services or sharing may cost you about 10 GBP per month	The Microsoft 365 pricing is based on the plans you choose between the Basic, Business, Standard, and premium.
Reports	Platform to create and share interactive dashboards. Can perform advanced cross-filtering between charts.	It is an application with Spreadsheet to do anything. You can also create an interactive dashboard.
Tabular reports	Not particularly good at handling tabular reports and files.	Excel is better at handling data reports in tabular formats.
Duplicate table	Power BI cannot display duplicate tables.	Excel allows users to display duplicate tables.
Analytics	Offers simple analytics.	Offers advanced analytics.

To Add on a few similarities between Power BI and Excel. 

1) Can integrate with Power BI and Excel 

2) Both use Power Query and Power Pivot 

3) Also well integrate with Teams and Power apps 

12) What are the types of filters in Power BI reports?

The two most common filters are automatic and manual. 

A) Automatic filters

Users with permission to edit the report can edit, lock, clear, hide, rename, or sort this filter in the pane. But you cannot use Delete option here. 

B) Manual filters 

If you have the permission to edit the report, you can edit, delete, clear, lock, hide, rename, or sort this filter in the pane. 

Advanced filters 

1) Include and Exclude filters 

2) Drill-down filters 

3) Cross drill filters 

4) Drill through filters 

5) URL filters 

6) Pass-through filters 

13) What is DAX? List the benefits  

Data Analysis Expressions, is the abbreviation of DAX, a programming language to create calculated columns, custom tables, and measures across Microsoft Power BI. The formula or expressions are used to perform calculations based on the compilation of - functions and constants. 

The data cannot be modified or inserted using DAX. 

DAX Syntax: 

Total Sales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount]) 

Where the ‘Total Sales’ is a ‘Measure’ 

‘SUM’ is a ‘DAX Function’  

‘Sales[SalesAmount]’ represents the referenced table and column name. 

Benefits of using variables in DAX: 

1) Variables can be reused in DAX queries. 

2) Variables make DAX expressions understandable, help improve performance, readability, reliability, and reduce complexity.  

14) What are the advantages of using Power BI?  

Here are a few advantages of using Power BI listed below: 

Easy to use functionality: The user interface of Power BI is simple and designed to suit even non-technical users. Anyone with basic computer knowledge can easily create customised visuals and transform raw data into an interactive dashboard and generate reports. 

Cost-effective: You can use the free version of Power BI if you want to build reports for yourself. The Power BI paid services are also quite affordable. The Power BI Cloud service will cost you less than 10GBP a month. 

Excel Integration: The ability to save data into Excel for detailed analysis is another excellent feature of Power BI. With just a few simple clicks you can save and visualise the raw data in Excel. 

Accessibility: This web-based tool can be used from any browser and allows managers to monitor the team or business reports remotely from anywhere and anytime. It also supports versions to run Power BI on Mobile devices. 

Custom Visualisations: Power BI constitutes multiple widgets and tools which can be used to make data visually appealing, simple, and attractive. Data can be transformed in the form of graphs, charts, and other multiple visualisations in one single report, aiding to simplify business processes and assisting in taking better decisions. 

Constant Updates and Innovations: Microsoft updates the Power BI each month based on the common suggestions submitted and rankings listed on the suggestions for Software improvements. 

The other advantages include Q&A Capability, ETL Data recovery suite, access to hundreds of data sources and more. 

15) What is a Power Map? How to use Maps in Power BI?  

The Power data is an Excel add-in that can help you plot geographic data and create visuals to gain data insights with a set of powerful tools. 

(The Shape map visual is available in Power BI Desktop only. It is not available in Power BI mobile or service). 

To enable Shape Map - 

1) Select File  

2) Options and Settings  

3) Options  

4) Preview Features  

5) Select the Shape Map visual checkbox ​

16) What is a Power BI Dashboard?  

Power BI Dashboard also called canvas, assists in visualising data to depict a story on a single screen/page. As the Power BI dashboard is limited to one page, it comprises all the key points of the data in the single-page report. 

17) What are the formats and custom visuals in Power BI?  

The custom formats in Power BI can customise the appearance of visuals and ensure to modify the reports look the way you want them to look. 

Select the field in the Modeling view, and then under Format in the Properties pane, select the drop-down arrow to create custom format strings. 

You can select the format strings from the commonly used list once you have selected Custom from the Format drop-down menu. 

With custom Visuals in Power BI, you can create visualisations from the library. The Power BI visuals are saved in .pbviz file format which includes the code for data rendering services. This .pbviz file created as a custom visual can be imported into a Power BI report. 

The languages used to create custom visuals in Power BI are JavaScript and jQuery. 

18) What is Power View?  

Power View allows users to create interactive graphs, maps, charts, and other visualisations, helping bring data to life. Power View is available in Power BI, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Excel. 

19) What is the current version of Power BI?  

As per October 2022 Microsoft Power BI Update - (2.110. 341.0)  

Click on About in File Tab to see which version of Power BI you are using. 

20) What is the CALCULATE function in DAX?  

The CALCULATE function evaluates the value of columns/rows (expression) in a modified filter context to provide a unique value. 

DAX Syntax: 

CALCULATE([, [, [, …]]]) 

Term	Interpretation
expression	It is a measure needed to be evaluated
filter1, filter2, ...	It is (Optional) Boolean filter expressions that define filter or functions.

Filters can be – Boolean filter expressions, Table filters, or Filter modifications. 

In a scenario where there are multiple filters, they can be evaluated by using the AND (&&) logical operator (here, all conditions must be True), or by the OR (||) logical operator (either condition can be True). 

21) How Important is Power BI? 

Power BI can be used to monitor and manage all the important facets of the enterprise, including human resources, financial transactions, customer relations, sales, market analysis, logistics, and such. It transforms data into an interactive, visual, engaging, and understandable format. 

22) What is the Time Intelligence function?  

The Time Intelligence function is part of Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) built to compare calculations over the time periods. This function allows users to manipulate data using time periods, which include days, months, and years. 

23) What are the building blocks of Microsoft Power BI?  

The five significant building blocks of Microsoft Power BI are as follows: 

Visualisations: Visualisations are the visual representations of the raw data collected from varied data sources, such as line graphs, pie charts, donut charts, bar graphs, maps, etc., to depict the insights on business data. 

Datasets: A dataset is a collection of data used by Power BI to create visualisations and reports. There can be a different type of Datasets rendered in the form of Excel sheets, Oracle tables, CSV files, and more. 

Reports: It is a collection of visualisations integrated on a single or multiple pages. Each visualisation in a report shows a specific aspect of the data. Example: Amount by product, Profit by-products, Sales by region, etc. 

Dashboards: Dashboards are single-layer presentations of one or more visualisations integrated on a single-page layer. The Dashboards sharing feature enables access to view information on various platforms. 

Tiles: A tile is a single visualisation presented in a dashboard or a report. For example, a pie chart, line graph, or any other visualisation represented on a single tile in Power BI. 

24) Is Power BI free to use? And what is the maximum data limit per client?  

Power BI Desktop is a free application that can be installed on your computer to create and generate reports.  

The free version of Power BI limits the data storage limit to 1GB per user. And Power BI pro allows up to 10GB of data storage per user license. And the Premium Per User (PPU) tenants have a storage limit of 100TB. 

25) What are the drawbacks/limitations of using Power BI.  

We have mentioned a few limitations of Power BI: 

1) In-depth knowledge of Power BI is required before initiating the work in the Power BI dashboard.  

2) Ingesting data at a time has an approximate limit of 2GB. Processing data larger than 1GB might time out sometimes, as Power BI is not apt to handle larger data.  

3) Report Server users are unable to work in a web browser and must use the Power BI Desktop app only. Users only with the same domains listed on Office 365 can gain access to the dashboards, email subscriptions, data alerts and more.  

4) Power BI might not be able to handle multiple links with complex relationships between the tables. 

Power BI Interview Questions and Answers - Intermediate Level

26) What is row-level security?  

(RLS) Row-level security, may be utilised to limit certain users' access to certain types of data. You can define filters within roles to restrict data access at the row level. Members of a workspace in the Power BI service have access to the datasets in the workspace.  

With Power BI Desktop, you may configure RLS for data models that have been imported into Power BI. You can additionally configure RLS on datasets that make use of DirectQuery (such as SQL Server). The security option will not be visible for datasets with a live connection. You can configure Row-level security in the model for Azure Analysis Services live connections, but the same is not possible in Power BI Desktop. 

Following are the steps to define Row Level Security in Power BI Desktop: 

1) Configure a DirectQuery connection or Import data into your Power BI Desktop report. 

2) Select Manage Roles from the Modeling tab. 

3) Select Create from the Manage roles window. 

4) Provide a name for the role under Roles. 

5) Select the table you want to apply a DAX rule under Tables. 

6) Enter the DAX expressions, in the Table filter DAX expression box. This expression provides a true or false value. For example: [Entity ID] = “Value”. 

7) Select the checkmark above the expression box to validate the expression after you have created the DAX expression. 

8) Select Save. 

Irrespective of the relationships set to single-direction or bi-directional, the Row-level security filtering uses single-directional filters by default.  

By selecting the ‘Apply security filter in both directions’ checkbox, you can manually enable bi-directional cross-filtering with row-level security. 

27) Where is data stored in Power BI? 

Power BI uses AAD (Azure Active Directory) to store and manage identities. 

The following are the two primary repositories for storing and managing data:  

Azure Blob Storage: The data that is uploaded from users is typically sent here. 

Azure SQL Database: All the metadata and items for the system itself are stored here. 

Power BI built on Azure by Microsoft, has two clusters in its architecture. The WFE, the Web Front End cluster, and the Back-end cluster. The WFE cluster manages primary connections and verifications, wherein the Back-end cluster handles all the subsequent user interactions.  

28) What are the most common Functions used in DAX?  

Following are a few most used DAX functions mentioned below: 

1) SUM () 

2) SUMX () 

3) AVERAGE () 

4) AVERAGEX() 

5) MI­­­­­N () 

6) MAX () 

7) CALCULATE () 

8) FILTER () 

9) ALL Function 

10) MINX ()/ MAXX () 

11) RELATED () 

12) TOTALYTD / TOTALQTD / TOTALMTD 

29) What are the three fundamental concepts of DAX?  

The fundamental concepts of DAX are as follows: 

Syntax: Syntax is the formula that includes various elements. It is important to have the correct syntax for your formulas to measure and calculate by summing up to get the results. To create syntactically correct formulas, you can use the suggestion feature from the DAX editor in the Power BI desktop to select the correct elements. 

Functions: These are the predefined formulas to perform calculations in a particular order by using specific values called arguments. 

Context: The DAX has two types of Contexts - Row Context and Filter Context.  

Row Context is applied when a formula has a function to apply a filter to identify a single row in a table.  

Filter Context is applied in addition to row context when one or more filters are used in a calculation to determine the desired value. 

30) What are the distinct types of refresh options available in Power BI?  

There are multiple types of refresh options available in Power BI, such as Data refresh, Query caches refresh, Tile refresh, Report Visuals refresh, OneDrive refresh, Schema refresh, and Scheduled refresh. 

31) What is Power BI Designer?  

Power BI Designer is a compilation of the most extensively used tools available free for your desktop program. This on-premises (Windows) version comprises Power Pivot, Power Query, Power Map, and Power View for data analysis and creating reports, aiding in sharing and viewing on the dashboard. 

32) Which language is used in Power Query?

The Power Query M formula language, also known as M language, is used in Power Query. 

33) How to import data on the Power BI desktop? 

Follow the following steps to manually import data analytics 

1) In Power BI, click Get Data on the lower left screen. 

2) Under Import or Connect to Data > Files, click Get. 

3) Click on Local File. 

4) Choose which file to upload and click Open. 

5) Click Upload under Upload your Excel file to Power BI. 

6) Once uploaded you should get a popup message - Your File has been uploaded. 

You can import or connect to data and reports from the three types of files mentioned below. 

1) Microsoft Excel (.xlsx or .xlsm) 

2) Power BI Desktop (.pbix) 

3) Comma Separated Value (.csv) 

34) Is Power BI available on-premises?  

No. Power BI is not available on-premises as an internal private cloud service. But you can safely connect your on-premises data sources with Power BI and Power BI Desktop. 

35) What is Power Pivot Data Model?  

Power Pivot is used to create sophisticated data models and perform powerful data analysis. This Excel add-in can assist you to perform information analysis rapidly, fusing large volumes of data from various sources and easily sharing insights. 

36) Differentiate the views available in Power BI Desktop? 

The left side of the Power BI Desktop has three icons for the three different views in Power BI. Each of these following views mentioned below serves a particular purpose. 

Report View – It is a default view. In this view, users can build visualisations, add report pages, and publish the same on the portal. 

Data View - In this view, data shaping can be performed using Query Editor tools in the Query Settings pane. 

Model View – This view offers users to manage relationships between complex datasets. 

37) How many Active relationship between two tables in Power Pivot Data Model can we have?

There cannot be more than one Active-relationship between two tables. Between two tables, there can be more than one relationship, but only one can be active. 

38) Is it possible to have a table in the data model which does not have any relationship with other tables? 

Yes. The main reason you can have disconnected tables is: 

1) The disconnected table is used to present the user with parameter values based on selected slicers or filters. 

2) Sometimes we need to solve some specific problem without any relationship to get an accurate data comparison. 

39) What are content packs, and their uses? 

Content packs the encased reports, dashboards, and datasets. These content packs can be shared with other Power BI users within the organisation to boost your collaboration and reporting efforts. The content packs feature can be accessed by the user, if you have either Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium version. 

The prominent features of content packs are as follows: 

1) Provides access to specified groups or entire organisations 

2) Collect and store data in a single space 

3) Can customise with a title and a description to help users select, create, and edit their versions 

4) Users who have access to the content pack can create new dashboards and get customised reports from those services offered. 

40) What is Grouping?  

In Power BI Desktop, you can group visuals (such as buttons, shapes, images, text boxes, and any other visuals created by you) in the report, like the items being grouped in the PowerPoint. 

To use Grouping 

1) Select two or more elements on a visual by using Ctrl+click.

2) Then right-click on one of the multiple-selected elements. 

3) Choose Group data from the context menu.  

4) The group is added to the Legend bucket for the visual Once created. 

5) The group appears in the Fields list also. 

You can select from the following grouping operations: 

1) Column groupings. 

2) Row groupings. 

Groupby button options can be found in three places: 

1) In Transform group - On the Home tab. 

2) In Table group - On the Transform tab. 

3) When you right-click to select columns - On the shortcut menu option. 

41) What is the common GroupBy function for grouping data?  

The common GROUPBY functions for grouping data are SUMMARIZE and SUMMARIZECOLUMNS. 

The Syntax for both functions is listed below 

SUMMARIZE 

SUMMARIZE (, [, ]…[, , ]…) 

SUMMARIZECOLUMNS 

SUMMARIZECOLUMNS( [, < groupBy_columnName >]…,[]…[, , ]…) 

42) What is query folding in Power BI?  

Power Query queries may undergo query folding for all their phases or only a portion of them. If complete or partial query folding is not possible, the Power Query mashup engine must make up the difference by handling data transformations on its own. The source query results may need to be retrieved, which is a long and resource-intensive procedure for big datasets. 

43) What is a Slicer? Explain the difference between Slicer and filter  

Slicers play a crucial role in each business report created with Power BI. A slicer's functionality is comparable to that of a filter. However, unlike a filter, a slicer may show a visual representation of all values and give users the option of selecting from the choices in the drop-down menu.  

By clicking on the buttons provided by slicers the Tables or PivotTables can be filtered. Slicers not only do quick filtering but also display the filtering status, making it simple to comprehend what exactly is being presented at any given time.  

Users are not permitted to interact with dashboards or reports while using Normal filters. But the users can interact with dashboards and reports by using Slicers. 

44) Explain about Bidirectional Cross-Filtering in Power BI?  

It can be difficult for data modellers and report creators to decide how to apply filters to a report when filtering tables to provide the proper view of the data. The filter context of the table was previously retained on one side of the relationship but not the other. To get the desired outcomes, this arrangement sometimes needs complicated DAX formulas. 

All thanks to bidirectional cross-filtering, the Data modellers and report creators can now have the additional flexibility over how filters are applied when dealing with linked tables. They can apply filters on both sides of a table relationship. By propagating the filter context to a second related table on the other side of a table relationship, you may apply the filters. 

Enable bidirectional cross-filtering for DirectQuery 

You can enable the Bidirectional cross-filtering in the Edit relationship dialog box. You must configure the following options to enable cross-filtering for a relationship: 

1) Set Cross filter direction to Both 

2) Select Apply security filter in both directions 

45) Explain Power BI Query Editor  

Power Query Editor is another component of Power BI Desktop. Connect to one or more data sources using Power Query Editor, shape the data to suit your needs, and then import the model into Power BI Desktop. 

There is more to learn, but this paper gives an overview of working with data in Power Query Editor. Links to comprehensive documentation regarding the available data types are provided at the end of this text. You can get advice on how to get started and connect to data, manipulate data, and develop relationships. 

46) Can we use Power Query/Query Editor and SQL together?  

Yes. By defining an SQL statement as the source of a Power Query/Query Editor function the SQL and Power Query/Query Editor can be used together. It helps avoid any unnecessary complexity and processing by the client machine, ensuring a good database query has reached the source. 

47) Mention a few commonly used tasks in the Query Editor.  

Advanced Editor - Using Advanced Query Editor you can modify the data. 

Create Custom Columns - With the help of custom formulas, you can create custom columns. 

Group Rows - You can group the values of various rows in a single value by summarizing. 

Shape Data - You can transform your data according to your needs to shape and clean it. Connect to Data - You can collect the data from various sources and transform it. 

Pivot Columns - You can pivot columns and create a table with the aggregate values. 

48) Name some Power Query/Query Editor transforms?  

Grouping, adding new columns, choosing/removing columns, filtering rows, changing data types, splitting a row into multiple rows, splitting a column into multiple columns, etc. 

49) What are query parameters and Power BI templates?  

The query parameters provide users with a prompt local Power BI Desktop report. This aids in defining the values in which they are interested. 

1) Option to export PBIX files as Power BI Templates (PBIT) 

2) The query and calculation can use parameter selection 

3) Except for the data the Template files will contain everything from the PBIX files 

To improve the experience and the processing time the templates and parameters limit the amount of data and help share small template files that are imported into the local PBIX files. 

50) What are the data destinations for Power Queries?  

The different data destinations for Power Queries where the output of a query will be loaded are the Excel Data Model and a table in a worksheet. 

Power BI Interview Questions and Answers - Advanced Level 

Following are some of the most FAQs asked Power BI Interview Questions for experienced candidates:

51) How does SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) integrate with Power BI?  

A few ways SSRS can integrate with Power BI are 

1) By publishing Power BI reports on SSRS portals 

2) It will take the user to the SSRS report once you click on the tile in the Power BI dashboard 

3) Some report items like charts, can be pinned on Power BI dashboards 

52) Is it possible to export Power BI report data into other formats like SSRS?  

Yes, you can export a Power BI report data to another file format, such as Image, PDF, PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Word. 

You can export the report by generating an Atom service document. 

53) How to export a dashboard or a visual from power BI to excel?  

In Power BI, a user can export your data from Power BI to Excel by 

1) Choosing the ellipses (3 dots) on the top-right side of any visualisation  

2) Choose the icon 

3) Click on Export data 

4) Your data is exported as an a.CSV file 

5) You can even save and open the file in Excel 

54) Mention a few differences between the calculated column and measure?  

The measures and calculated columns can be used to compute values in DAX and Power BI. The context of the evaluation makes a difference. 

The calculated columns are computed at the row level when you first define them and at dataset refresh. Whereas in a report or DAX query, a measure is evaluated in the context of the cell. 

55) How can the performance of your data models be improved?  

Column utilisation should be restricted in accordance with the clean data principle. The model will be enhanced by using the star schema to restrict joins. 

Additionally, lookups can enhance functionality overall. It also helps to stop empty tables from loading. 

56) To show multiple measures dynamically, how can you change the value measure?  

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

57) What is a Z-order in Power BI?  

Z-order is a design technique for positioning visuals over shapes. Z-order is also a method of implementation that can be used for reports with multiple elements. Additionally, Z-order can refresh/reload the display once a report's components are rearranged. 

58) What are the most common data shaping techniques?  

The most common data shaping techniques are: 

1) Adding Indexes  

2) Applying for a Sort Order  

3) Removing Columns and Rows 

59) How can you refresh Power BI reports uploaded in the cloud?  

The Power BI reports can be refreshed with Data Management Gateway and Power BI Personal Gateway. 

60) Which professionals use Power BI the most?

Power BI is mostly used by the following and related Business Intelligence professionals. 

1) Business Developers: Business Developers are software developers who are contracted to create custom applications and dashboards for businesses to facilitate efficient corporate operations.  

2) Business Analysts: A business analyst is a specialist who examines business data and communicates the insights discovered using eye-catching graphs and dashboards.

3) Business Owners: Power BI is used by businesses, business owners, and decision-makers to analyse insights and comprehend predictions before making business decisions.

61) What are the data sources for Power Map?  

The data sources can be in either Excel or External format. To prepare the data, you must ensure that each row represents a distinct record, and that the data is fully organised in an Excel table format. The row/column headings must contain text and not the actual data. It is crucial to ensure that Power Map reads it correctly when plotting geographic coordinates. When constructing your tour in the Power Map Tour Editor pane, you may add meaningful labels to make the category and value field accessible. 

You can follow these steps to load data from an external source: 

Open Excel, Click Data, and then add the connection you want from the Get External Data group. 

A wizard will open. Follow the steps given. 

On the last step of the wizard, check on the Add this data to the Data Model. 

62) List the type of data sources you can connect to Power BI?  

Files: Data can be imported from Power BI Desktop files (.pbix), Excel (.xlsx, xlxm), and Comma Separated Values (.csv). 

Content Packs: These describe a set of linked files or documents that are kept together for storage. In Power BI, there are two sorts of content packs: those produced and shared by other users in the organisation and those from service providers like Google Analytics and Salesforce. 

Connectors: These connect databases and other datasets, including Database, Azure SQL, and SQL Server Analysis Services, tabular data, etc. 

63) Mention some applications of Power BI  

Here are some of the multiple applications of Power BI mentioned below: 

1) Business Analysis 

2) Data Analysis 

3) Database Administration 

4) Create reports and dashboards documentation 

5) Organise work in the new workspaces 

6) Publish to web 

7) IT Professional 

8) Data Science  

9) Collaborate, share, and integrate across products documentation 

10) Add conditional table formatting 

64) What are the KPIs in Power BI?  

The KPI stands for "Key Performance Indicator". The teams and employees in any professional business adhere to the KPI guidelines. KPIs are established with an objective by the businesses for each employee. These KPIs are used to analyse the progress and compare it to prior performance. 

65) What are the differences between Values () and Distinct () in DAX?  

The Distinct() method exclusively returns unique values, in contrast to the Values() function, which returns both blank values and unique values. To return the values into a column or cell on the worksheet, we can use both Distinct() and Values() functions.  

66) State the advantages of the Direct query method?  

The Direct query method has the following advantages listed below: 

1) The Direct Query Method allows users to create data visualisations on enormous data sets. However, the Power BI desktop only enables data visualisations on smaller data sets.   

2) The direct query technique does not have a dataset limit, and the 1GB dataset restriction does not apply. 

67) What are the major differences between visual-level, page-level, and report-level filters in Power BI?

In Power BI, visual-level filters impact only a specific visual or chart, restricting data based on defined criteria. Page-level filters, on the other hand, affect all visuals on a particular page, ensuring consistent filtering across multiple elements. Report-level filters exert control over the entire report, influencing data visibility across all pages. These distinctions offer varying levels of granularity and scope when tailoring data presentation and analysis in Power BI, allowing users to customise filtering mechanisms according to the specific requirements of their reports and dashboards.

68) Which in-memory analytics engine does Power Pivot use? 

Power Pivot, a component of Microsoft Excel, uses the VertiPaq in-memory analytics engine. This British English response confirms the engine's usage in providing efficient data processing and analysis capabilities within the Power Pivot framework.

69) Mention important components of SSAS 

Important components of SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) include Cubes, Dimensions, Data Source Views, Mining Structures, and Perspectives. Cubes organise data in a multidimensional model, Dimensions define the hierarchical structure of data, Data Source Views connect to source data, Mining Structures support data mining, and Perspectives enable customized views of cubes.

70) Describe what a star schema is and how it works.

A star schema is a database design where a central fact table is connected to multiple dimension tables, resembling a star when visualized. In this schema, the fact table stores quantitative data, and dimensions store descriptive information. The fact table's primary key links to foreign keys in dimension tables, establishing relationships. This design optimises query performance by simplifying complex queries and facilitating efficient data retrieval. It enhances data analysis by allowing users to drill down into specific dimensions. Star schemas are prevalent in data warehousing and business intelligence environments, contributing to streamlined data organization and improved analytical capabilities.

71) What are the three Edit interactions options of a visual tile in Power BI Desktop?

In Power BI Desktop, a visual tile offers three edit interactions options. Firstly, the "None" option implies no interaction between the selected visual tile and other report elements. Secondly, the "Filter" option allows the visual to filter other report visuals based on user selection. Lastly, the "Highlight" option emphasises the selected visual tile while maintaining its impact on others. These options provide users with dynamic control over visual interactions, enabling them to tailor their reports for a more intuitive and personalized data exploration experience in Power BI Desktop.

Conclusion

This set of interview questions is hand-picked based on the most frequently raised questions in Power BI interviews for 2023. We hope that this set of Power BI interview questions will get you the best results in the Power BI interview you attend.

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