If you want to build your career in Power BI and search questions & Answers that can be asked to you in an interview whether you are a fresher or experienced, then yes you are at the right spot where you will get a deep understanding of power BI as well as power BI interview questions. 

power BI interview questions. 

 

Power BI Concept

With Power BI, a business intelligence tool, you can connect to several data sources, see the data in dashboards and reports, and share them with whomever you choose.

Power BI consists of three primary components:

  1. A free desktop program for creating and designing reports is called Power BI Desktop.
  2. The online publishing tool for viewing and sharing dashboards and results is called Power BI Service.
  3. Use the Power BI mobile apps to examine dashboards and reports while on the go.

Top Interview Questions to Ace Your Next Job

Let’s move further and give crystals to your Power BI journey. So, in this blog we are going to cover all the Power BI interview questions:

Ques 1. Difference between Power BI and Tableau.

Ans 1. Power BI vs. Tableau

Performance and Scalability:

Tableau: Known for its strong performance and ability to handle massive datasets efficiently. It employs an in-memory data engine, which aids in the rapid processing and visualization of large amounts of data. Tableau’s architecture enables it to give a seamless experience with large amounts of data, regardless of row or size limits.
Power BI: While Power BI can handle massive datasets, it may have performance concerns with exceptionally large amounts of data or complicated queries. It also use in-memory technology, however it may not be as efficient as Tableau for really huge datasets.

Data Visualization:

Tableau: Tableau provides a wide range of sophisticated visualization possibilities and is noted for its flexibility and customization. It enables users to construct elaborate and advanced charts and dashboards, as well as detailed and interactive visualizations.
Power BI: Offers a robust collection of visualization possibilities, but is more user-friendly for basic and intermediate visualizations. It works seamlessly with other Microsoft programs and provides a wide range of common visualizations.

Easy to Use:

Power BI: Power BI is generally seen as more user-friendly and easier to learn, particularly for people who are already familiar with Microsoft Office products. Its connection with Excel and other Microsoft programs can help to speed data preparation.
Tableau: Tableau’s extensive capabilities and customization possibilities require a higher learning curve, but they also enable for more complex and personalized visualizations.

Integration and connectivity:

Power BI: Power BI has great interaction with Microsoft products like as Azure, Excel, and SharePoint, which can be useful if you currently use the Microsoft ecosystem.

Tableau: Tableau offers comprehensive connection to a diverse set of data sources, including cloud services, databases, and big data platforms. It is well-known for its adaptability in data integration.

Pricing:

Power BI: Power BI is typically more affordable for small to medium-sized enterprises. It provides both a free version with limited functionality and a Pro edition with a subscription model.

Tableau: Tableau is often more expensive, with a variety of pricing choices based on the size of the business and the functionality needed. Tableau’s pricing may be a consideration for smaller enterprises.

Ques 2. Difference between Power Query and Power Pivot?

Ans 2. Power Pivot is utilized for data modeling and analysis, while Power Query is mostly utilized for data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tasks. With the business intelligence application Power BI, customers can generate reports and interactive visualizations from their data.

Ques 3. What is Power BI Desktop?

Ans 3. You may connect to, alter, and visualize your data with Power BI Desktop, a free program that you install locally. You can connect to several distinct data sources using Power BI Desktop and merge them (also known as modeling) into a data model.

Ques 4. What is Power Pivot?

Ans 4. With the Excel add-in Power Pivot, you can do effective data analysis and build complex data models. Power Pivot makes it simple to share insights, analyze massive amounts of data from several sources quickly, and mash together data.

Ques 5. What is a Power Query?

Ans 5. Power Query, also called Get & Transform in Excel, allows you to import or connect to external data and then modify it to your specifications. For instance, you can merge tables, remove columns, or change the kind of data. After that, you may use Excel to import your query and generate charts and reports.

Ques 6. What is DAX?

Ans 6. A formula, or expression, can utilize DAX, which is a set of functions, operators, and constants, to compute and return one or more values. DAX facilitates the creation of new data from existing model data.

Ques 7. What are Filters in Power BI?

Ans 7. After the necessary data has been extracted from the massive amount of dataset, Power BI filters are used to control the type of information that will appear in the report and graphics. The primary objective of the Power BI filter is to concentrate on a certain type of dataset subset according to its unique characteristics.

Ques 8. What are Custom Visuals in Power BI?

Ans 8. The code to execute custom visuals in your Power BI application is contained in the custom visual files (.pbiviz). Developers write bespoke visual codes, which are then packed in custom visual files that end in.pbiviz. These files are saved to the computers of clients or report writers, who then utilize them in Best Power BI reports.

Ques 9. What is GetData in Power BI?

Ans 9. A web query can be used to extract data from online sites with Power BI’s GetData function. It lets users extract, filter, and convert data from an HTML table on a website into a format that Power BI can use.

Ques 10. Explain Power business intelligence tools.

Ans 10. Microsoft offers Power Business Intelligence (Power BI), a technology-driven business intelligence solution for presenting actionable information by analyzing and visualizing raw data. To assist an organization in making data-driven decisions, it integrates best practices, data visualization, and business analytics.

Ques 11. Explain Microsoft Power BI suite features.

Ans 11. Users can get BI reports and dashboards with Microsoft Power BI, which links data sources. It can link to an Excel spreadsheet alone or combine on-premises and cloud-based data warehouses. Refreshing data from cloud-based sources, such as Salesforce CRM, is automatic.

Ques 12. What Microsoft suite of tools is Power BI a component of?

Ans 12.

Microsoft Power BI is a component of Microsoft’s Power Platform. The Microsoft Power Platform contains the following:

  • Power BI provides business analytics and data visualization.
  • Power Apps allows you to create custom applications.
  • Power Automate (previously Microsoft Flow) automates workflows.
  • Power Virtual Agents for building chatbots.

Power BI can be integrated with other Microsoft products such as Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365) and Azure, but it is better known as a component of the Microsoft Power Platform package.

Ques 13. What are some differences between Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel? 

Ans 13. Here is the table which shows clear differences between the Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot for excel:

Feature Power BI Desktop Power Pivot for Excel
Platform Part of the Power BI suite, independent business intelligence application. An Excel add-in within the Excel environment.
User Interface Dedicated data modeling view, complete with visualisation tools. Integrated within Excel and uses the Excel interface.
Data Modeling Capabilities Advanced data modeling includes relationships, computed columns, measurements, and a wide range of DAX operations. Relationships, computed columns, and measurements are supported via DAX functions.
Data Sources A wide range of data sources, including cloud and on-premises. Primarily confined to data within or imported into Excel.
Data Volume Handling Designed for larger datasets, resulting in improved speed and scaling. Excel’s capacity limitations may have an impact on performance.
Data Transformation Includes Power Query, which allows for advanced data manipulation and preparation. Data transformation is more limited and depends on Excel’s features.
Visualisation & Reporting An extensive variety of interactive infographics, unique visuals, and comprehensive reporting features. Basic visualizations created with Excel’s charting and pivot table tools.
Scalability Increased scalability, with publishing and sharing possibilities via the Power BI service. Excel’s file size and speed constraints restrict its scalability.
Collaboration & Sharing Easy sharing and collaboration through the Power BI service and web dashboards. Sharing is limited to Excel files, with no integrated collaboration tools.

Ques 14. Name the different connectivity modes available in Power BI.

Ans 14. Connection Modes available in Power BI are:

  1. Import Mode
  2. DirectQuery Mode
  3. Live Connection Mode
  4. Composite Model
  5. DirectLake

Ques 15. Which data sources is Power BI capable of connecting to?

Ans 15.  Cloud data sources include Azure databases such as SQL Database, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Spark in Azure HDInsight. Since Power BI is cloud-based, it may use DirectQuery to establish a live connection to various data sources.

Ques 16. What is a dashboard in Power BI? 

Ans 16. A Power BI dashboard is a single page, sometimes referred to as a canvas, that uses visuals to create a narrative. A beautifully designed dashboard only includes the most important parts of that tale because it is condensed into one page. For further information, readers can view linked reports. One feature of the Power BI service is dashboards.

Ques 17. What is the CALCULATE function in DAX?

Ans 17. In a modified filter context, the CALCULATE function determines the total of the Sales table’s Sales Amount column.

Ques 18. What is row-level security?

Ans 18. With row-level security, you may restrict access to particular rows in a table and filter data according to certain user restrictions.

Ques 19. Why should you apply general formatting to Power BI data?

Ans 19. Generic formatting helps Power BI recognize and classify data more easily, making it much easier to deal with.

Ques 20. What are the various versions of Power BI?

Ans 20. Power BI per-user licenses come in three varieties: Desktop (Free), Pro, and Premium.
The location of the data, the way the user will use it, and whether Premium features are needed for it will all influence what kind of license the user needs.
The license type that applies to your company determines where data can be stored.

Ques 21.  Explain the building blocks of Microsoft Power BI.

Ans 21. Building Blocks for Microsoft Power BI

1. Datasets:

Definition: A dataset is a collection of data that Power BI uses to generate reports and dashboards. It can be imported from a variety of data sources or generated with Power Query.
Role: Power BI’s data analysis and visualization are built on this foundation.

2. Reports:
Definition: Reports are collections of data-driven visualizations (charts, tables, and maps). Reports can contain numerous pages and are intended to present data in a structured and interactive format.
Role: Enables people to examine data and obtain insights using various visualizations.

3. Dashboards:

Definition: Dashboards provide interactive views of data on a single page. They are constructed by pinning visualizations from reports to a dashboard, which gives a high-level overview of critical metrics and KPIs.
Role: Provides a consolidated view of key data and insights, which are commonly utilized for monitoring and decision-making.

4. Dataflows:

Definition: Dataflows are ETL operations that prepare and transform data for loading into Power BI datasets. They are defined and controlled via Power Query.
Role: Allows you to clean, convert, and integrate data from many sources before using it in reports and dashboards.

5. Workspaces:

Definition: Workspaces are containers for Power BI content, including as datasets, reports, dashboards, and dataflows. They assist organizations in organizing and managing their Power BI assets.
Role: Ensures that team members collaborate and share Power BI content effectively.

6. Apps:

Definition: Apps are bundled collections of dashboards, reports, and datasets that may be shared with individuals or groups. They enable content distribution and management throughout an enterprise.
Role: The role is to simplify content sharing and access management by delivering bundled views of Power BI content.

7. Semantic models:

Definition: Semantic models are data models developed with Power BI’s modeling tools, which include data relationships, computed columns, metrics, and hierarchies.
Role: Determines how data is arranged and interacted with in reports and dashboards, allowing for more complex analytics.

Ques 22. What are the critical components of the Power BI toolkit?

Ans 22. Power BI critical components are:

  1. Power Query.
  2. Power Pivot.
  3. Power View.
  4. Power Map.
  5. Power Q&A.
  6. Power BI Desktop.
  7. Power BI Website.
  8. Power BI Mobile Apps.

Ques 23. What are the major differences between visual-level, page-level, and report-level filters in Power BI?

Ans 23.

Filter Type Scope Impact Use case
Visual – Level Specific visual (table, chart, etc.) Affects only the specified visual. Fine-tuning data for specific graphic aspects
Page – Level Complete report page Affects all visuals on that particular page. Create a focused view for an entire page of the report.
Report Level All pages within the report Affects all visuals and pages in the report. Applying global filters to ensure consistency throughout the report

Ques 24. What is the meaning of SSAS?

Ans 24. Meaning of SSAS:

SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services) is a Microsoft SQL Server component that analyzes data and provides business analytics. Here is a more detailed explanation.

Definition: SSAS is a multidimensional and tabular data analysis tool for Microsoft SQL Server. It is intended to analyze and interpret massive amounts of data by arranging it in structures that are optimized for querying and reporting.

Components:

Multidimensional Analysis: Data is organized into multiple dimensions using OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) cubes. This enables more complicated inquiries and analysis, such as slicing and dicing data.
Tabular Model: A newer SSAS model that stores data in a columnar format and queries using DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). Compared to standard OLAP cubes, it is easier and more intuitive.

Tabular Model: A modern SSAS paradigm that stores data in a columnar format and queries using DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). Compared to standard OLAP cubes, it is easier and more intuitive.

Purpose: SSAS assists in aggregating data from many sources and arranging it in a way that facilitates analysis, reporting, and understanding. SSAS improves efficiency for huge datasets by simplifying difficult searches with cubes or tabular models.

Usage: IT specialists and data analysts typically utilize it to build data models, design multidimensional cubes or tabular models, and support business intelligence and reporting solutions.

Ques 25. What is an advanced editor?

Ans 25. You may view the code that Power Query Editor is producing with each step in the Advanced Editor. It also allows you to write custom Power Query M formula code.

Conclusion

Hence, here in this blog, we have covered all the Power BI interview questions & answers from the basic to the technical level which can be asked from you in the Power BI interview. Hope the questions and answers will help you to crack your dream job interview.