Transcripts
1. Introduction: Making sense of the data through data visualizations
and data modeling, specifically through Power BI, which is a very powerful
tool to help you put visual to the data in order to drive decision making and analytics. As a CEO entrepreneur,
as an engineer, it's very helpful to make
sense of the data that you have in order to make
up informed decisions. This current class, I'm
going to show you how to use Power BI to model
and visualize data and specifically
create bar charts which are essential
and crucial as part of the data analytics
data modeling and data visualization approach in which we are going to learn how to utilize the Power
BI interface to create and visualize bar charts to help us make
sense of the data. Let's get the class started.
2. Your Project: Your project for the class
revolves around creating your own bar charts
through Power BI and which I'm going to
be providing you with a sample dataset. Make sure that you download
it in the projects section. That way, you're able to
actually upload it to Power BI and apply what we have learned in the
lesson step by step. That way, you're able to
create your bar charts, model and visualize your data in the simplest way possible. After you're done, you'll
be sharing your bar charts, how you have customized it, how you have utilized the data in order to create
those bar charts. You're going to be sharing
them with the rest of the community for feedback.
3. Data Visualization With Bar Charts: In order to be able to build
the visuals for our data, to create a report, to create a dashboard, because at the end of the day, the whole point is to
model and visualize the data for the best analysis as part of data
analytics, right? This is the whole point of using Power BI in
the first place. So how do we go about
building our report? How do we go about
building our dashboards? And before we go into the practical step
by step application, we need to understand
the tools that we have, the visualizations that we have, how could we select the
best ones for our cases? How could we modify them? How could we alter them? So we have what we call as
the Canvas over here. This is the canvas.
Think about it like the slate in which you are going to add the
visuals or the tiles. Now, take a look at these
segments over here. Here you have your data, which includes your data source. Here you get the visualizations, the different types of visuals that we are
going to build. This where we're
going to go through one at a time to see what are the best fit options for
our cases and the filters. So click on the data
over here first. If you take a look at
this, all of these are the columns that we have already added to
our data sources. It's very important when you are trying to work
with your data, you could modify the
data model over here, but it's a good idea
from the get go, when you are building
your datasets, imported the data source, whether an Excel sheet or a
live sheet, whatever it is. Make sure that you give some
time to get your tables, your columns arranged in
the best way possible, cleaned in the best
way possible in order to get the visuals to reflect what you're
looking for specifically. In other words, make sure that the data makes sense
and it's useful. Now, the first visual
that we're going to be learning about is the
stacked bar chart. So what I'm going
to do is I'm going to be adding the
stacked bar chart, and I'm going to fill up
my entire tile over here, just simply to understand how it works and how do
we go about using it? If you take a look
at the visuals, once you click on
a certain visual, you have the representation
for the visual. What are the elements
which are included? You have the Y axis, which represents the
vertical line over here. You got the X axis, which represents the
horizontal line over here. So before you add
data to these fields, think about what are you trying to achieve. Now,
let's test this out. So for the Y Access, since we're going
through we're going to go through an
example where we utilize sales reports for video games across
various video games, as you're going to see in the practical step by step example. So I'm going to be using this information for demonstration
at this current stage. And once you are up
to that level of doing the examples and
the practical guide, you're able to download the
data and you are able to use it in order to help you build
the reports from scratch. So let's go for the
data that we have already added as part
of our data source. Now, if you are wondering how would I have gotten the
data in the first place, there's nothing to be
concerned about at this current stage because I'm showing you
only the visuals. The whole purpose is for you to understand these
visualizations, and then I'm going to show you how would you get your
data up and running, how to incorporate,
building your report, how to build your dashboards. So we're going to go at
this one level at a time. That way, you're finding
it quite easy to apply. So let's say I would like
to have, for example, on the Y Aces over here, I'm going to have
the game title. I'm going to drag. Notice
what happens over here. I got the game title, but I do not see any data. Because I have a bar chart, I need to fill the
X axis as well. Let's say I would like to
go for the total sales. So I'm going to drag
this over here. So I got the total
sales per game title. Take a look at the X axis, some of the total sales,
the Y axis, the game title. And as you can see, I have
the names of the video games. And I'm able to see the number
of sales per video game. Now, this is a great visual. I'm able to modify my tiles
and change the sizes. And as you get to see as we're
going to build our report, I have the ability to add
many of these visualizations, stacking them the way I see
fit to present my data. But we're learning the
visual tiles one at a time. So I do have in front
of me right now the presentations for
the stacked bar chart, but I would like to modify it. Now, I could have small
multiples to represent, let's say, for example,
the release date. Let's add this over here. Now, I've added the release date to represent the data over here. And as you can see, it altered the representation
of the chart where I'm having quarters
now because I included all of the data. So
I'm going to remove this. How about we add
another critique score, which is very important,
small multiples. Look what happens over here. So you're able to
combine the X axis, the Y axis with a further representation or segmentation of the data
based on critique score. So I have the games with such
a critique score over here, and at the bottom, I'm able to reflect the sales
for such games, including the critique score. So I'm showing you the
horizons in that case. What are you trying to achieve? Now, what is a tool tips data? So when I click on this
or I hover over the tile, if I'm going to
add, for example, the total sales over here, whenever you publish
this and you hover, you're going to see a small
text being displayed. This small text being displayed is what we call as the tool tip, where you add
information to help people just simply
hovering over the tile. See what it represents. Now, we've understood now the representation for
the stacked bar chart, but I would like to modify
it even further, right? Since let's say
you're working for a project or you're
doing something that requires your own unique
visuals, it's up to you. But we selected our visuals.
I'm going to hover now. To format your visual. This is where we actually
fix up the themes. We take a look at it, how
it's going to be represented. Now, we got the Y axis
and we got the X axis. Now for the Y axis, we have what we call
an actual text based. So we're going to click on the title if I would
like to change it. So for the Y axis, we have the values.
We got the colors. Let's increase the size,
for example, to ten, and I'm going to
change the color if you'd like to go for red. And then the width, you're able to modify
this as you please. Then let's take a
look at the title. It says, O presents the
the name of the column. How about we go for game titles
of the year. This is one. If you notice what happened
when I selected this, it shifted over here. And then I'm going to
click on the layout. You're able to increase or
decrease the category height, see what happens, right? You can minimize them,
how they look like. Then for the X axis, I could do the same approach. This includes values. For example, you
toggle this on or off. Notice what happens.
The numerical values, they go on and off. Now I'm going to
show you how you could reflect the currencies, because at the end of the day, this is the total sales, right? It should reflect a
certain numerical figure, which is the currencies. So we're fixing the
visuals, right? Now, we go for the title. I'm going to go for
the total sales, which was reflected over here. Now, feel free to do
the edits the way that you'd like them to happen
based on your own preferences. Now, let's go for
the grid lines. I don't want to have
any grid lines. Zoom slider is helpful. I'm going to toggle this to be on. Look what happens over here. When you drag this you're
able to zoom in on the data. Notice what happens
with the X axis, it zooms in on the data. This is very helpful if
you have a lot of data. You could add ribbons
if you'd like, just simply to add some visuals, data labels when
you click on this, it adds the numerical values for every single
one of these bars. That way, you do not have
to look at the X axis and try to figure it out by
yourself. It's very helpful. Now, the playground,
the background, you're able to add an image. You're able to
change the colors. It's up to you. So this is how we modify
the visual, right? Now, let's say, I
would like to fix up certain elements of the
X axis and the Y axis. So we've added the title, which is the sum, and we could add the background
colors if we'd like. So we're going to
remove this part. We've already settled the title, which is the sum of the
total sales by game tile. But I would like
to have it placed somewhere in the
middle. Here we go. So it got shifted over here. Then subtitle. If you'd like to have a
subtitle, it's up to you. Then you have a divider,
you're able to add this. Then if you're able to modify the spacing between the
title and the dividers, then you have the ability to add a background if you'd
like. Take a look at this. It's up to you to modify them
the way that you'd like to. That's why I'm showing you
at this current stage, the options that you have
for every single visual. You could add a visual
border or a shadow. For example, let's remove
the borders and you add a shadow looks like this. If I click on this, let's
go for the shadows. Here we go Zooms,
ribbons, data labels. Okay. We got the sliders,
we got the general, header icons, data
format is something we're going to do right
now. We got the title. Spacings, shadows,
add some shadow. I will help you just simply add some sort of
card visual to it. But what you need to keep
in mind is the data format. This is very, very crucial. We would like our data to be reflected in the
best way possible. So apply settings to the game title or the
sum of the total sale. It's up to you. Now for the
game title, it's by name. So we don't have to do anything about it, but for
the total sales, we need to change this to actual an actual numerical figure
like dollars currency, so we'll get currency over here. Dollars, for example,
and notice what happens. Now you're able to make
sense of the data. See, by simply just doing basic modifications
to the visuals, you are able to reflect the data in the
best way possible. Now, obviously, there are many more tweaks that you could do, and I've walked
you through a lot of them as you go about
building your own data. You're able to reset
all the settings by the way to default
in case you have changed your mind about anything along the way where you would
like to fix that problem. You can just simply
click on the reset. So at this current
stage, we have seen the stacked bar chart from a simple visual
representation, how you could modify it, how you could fix
up the theme a bit, how you could reflect the
X axis and the Y axis and the figures in order
to represent your data.
4. Wrapping Up: So what do you think? I truly hope that you found
the class helpful. If it helped you level up your knowledge in terms of using Power BI for data modeling
and visualization, it means it's a job well done. And I look forward to
receiving your feedback. Make sure to follow
my profile for the latest releases and updates. I'll see you in the next class.
Engr. Hussein Attié, Entrepreneur I Engineer I Educator
