Power BI Introduction: What It is, Why It’s Used, and How It Works

Before understanding Power BI, lets first understand what is business intelligence? Business intelligence (BI) is the practice of turning raw, scattered data into information a business can actually act on, for example, sales numbers, survey responses, website logs, spreadsheets from three different departments.

In practice, BI means getting the right data to the right person at the right time, so a decision doesn’t get delayed waiting for someone to manually pull numbers together. For years this was mostly an IT function, where end users depended on technical teams to build every report. BI tools have since moved that work closer to the people who need the answers, and Power BI is one of the tools driving that shift.

What is Power BI?

Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence and data visualization platform that connects to your data sources, transforms unstructured data into a usable model, and turns that model into reports and dashboards you can interact with.

It connects to a wide range of sources, like cloud-based apps, spreadsheets, on-premise databases and more, and combines them into a single view. What sets it apart from simply charting data in Excel is the self-service angle, where a drag-and-drop interface and a large library of visuals mean a business user, not just a developer or DBA, can build and publish a working report without writing code.

Why do Teams Use Power BI?

Four things come up consistently when teams explain why they picked up Power BI:

• Data visualization: Power BI turns rows of numbers into interactive charts, maps and dashboards, so trends, outliers and patterns are visible at a glance instead of buried in a spreadsheet.
• Data exploration: Beyond fixed reports, you can run ad hoc analysis on the fly: filter, drill down or ask a question in plain language and get a chart back, without waiting on a formal report request.
• Data modelling: Real business data rarely lives in one place. Power BI lets you combine, shape, and relate data from several sources, a CRM export, a finance sheet, a web analytics feed, into a single consistent model instead of three disconnected files.
• Collaboration: Once a report is built, it can be shared with colleagues, clients or partners, so a decision gets made from one shared set of numbers instead of several slightly different versions of the same spreadsheet.

Core Components of Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is built from a handful of components, each handling a different stage of turning raw data into a finished report:

Power Query

Power Query is where data preparation happens. It locates, connects to, and cleans up your data sources, like removing duplicates, fixing column types, merging tables, before anything reaches your model. You’d reach for it any time the data itself is messy, not the report.

Power Pivot

Power Pivot is the modelling layer underneath your report. It builds relationships between tables and runs calculations using DAX (Data Analysis Expressions), the formula language behind Power BI’s more advanced metrics, like a running total or a year-over-year comparison.

Power View

Power View (legacy) is a visualization layer available inside Power BI, Excel, SharePoint, and SQL Server. It lets you filter a single visual or an entire report by connecting it back to your data source. In current Power BI Desktop, most of what Power View did is now handled by native report visuals.

Power Map

Power Map (legacy, now 3D Maps) is a 3D geographic visualization tool, useful when the story in your data is fundamentally about location, like regional sales, delivery routes, branch performance, built from Excel tables or a data model.

Power Q&A

Power Q&A lets you query a data model in plain language instead of writing a formula, like type “what were total sales last year” and get a chart back instantly. It works once a data model exists and has been published to the Power BI platform.

How Power BI Fits Together

Power BI Desktop is where reports get built, it’s free, and it’s the tool most people mean when they just say “Power BI.” Once a report is ready, Power BI Service is the cloud side where it gets published, shared, and refreshed, and Power BI Mobile lets people view and interact with that same report from a phone or tablet. Desktop builds it, Service shares it, Mobile carries it, that’s the whole loop.

Who Uses Power BI?

Power BI is used by data analysts and business intelligence professionals building reports as their core job, but also by business users with no technical background, such as a plant manager checking a production dashboard, or a procurement lead comparing supplier costs, who just need an answer, not a query language. That range is largely the point: the tool is built so both groups can work from the same report without one depending on the other to get an answer.

This introduction covers what Power BI is, why it’s used, and the components you’ll work with inside it. To go from concept to a working dashboard, explore Prwatech’s Power BI training program, which includes placement assistance.