About This Course
In today's data-driven economy, organisations that can quickly extract insights from their data hold a decisive competitive advantage. Yet many professionals still rely on static spreadsheets and manual reporting processes that are slow, error-prone, and difficult to share. Microsoft Power BI has emerged as the world's leading business intelligence platform, enabling analysts and managers alike to connect to dozens of data sources, build sophisticated data models, and publish interactive dashboards in a fraction of the time required by traditional tools.
TrainingComplex's Data Analysis & Business Intelligence with Power BI programme is a comprehensive five-day training experience designed to take participants from foundational concepts all the way through to advanced analytics and enterprise deployment. The course balances rigorous technical instruction with real-world business scenarios drawn from finance, supply chain, HR, sales, and project management — ensuring that every skill learned can be applied immediately on the job.
Whether you are an analyst looking to modernise your reporting toolkit, a manager who needs to interpret dashboards with confidence, or an IT professional tasked with rolling out a self-service BI environment, this course provides the structured knowledge and practical experience you need. Participants work with realistic datasets throughout, building a portfolio-worthy dashboard by the final day that demonstrates end-to-end BI capability.
Who Should Attend
- - Data analysts and business analysts who want to move beyond Excel-based reporting
- - Finance, HR, operations, and marketing professionals responsible for departmental reporting
- - IT professionals and database administrators supporting BI infrastructure
- - Monitoring & Evaluation officers who need to visualise programme data for donors and stakeholders
- - Project managers and team leaders who consume or present data-driven performance reports
- - Entrepreneurs and business owners seeking affordable, powerful insights from their operational data
Learning Objectives
- - Install, navigate, and configure the Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service environments
- - Connect to and import data from multiple sources including Excel, SQL databases, SharePoint, and web APIs
- - Clean, reshape, and transform data using Power Query (M language) to ensure data quality and consistency
- - Design efficient star-schema and snowflake data models with appropriate relationships and hierarchies
- - Write DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) measures and calculated columns to perform time intelligence, ratio, and ranking calculations
- - Build interactive reports featuring bar charts, line charts, maps, slicers, drill-throughs, and custom visuals
- - Apply UX and data visualisation best practices to design dashboards that communicate insights clearly
- - Publish reports to the Power BI Service and configure scheduled data refresh, row-level security, and sharing permissions
- - Use Power BI's Q&A natural language feature and AI visuals (Key Influencers, Decomposition Tree) to surface hidden insights
- - Present data stories to business stakeholders with confidence, choosing the right visual for each message
Course Modules
Module 1: Introduction to Business Intelligence and the Power BI Ecosystem
- The BI landscape: from spreadsheets to modern self-service analytics
- Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, and Power BI Mobile — roles and relationships
- Installing and configuring Power BI Desktop and creating your first workspace
- Understanding the report, data, and model views and navigating the interface
- Key Power BI licensing tiers (Free, Pro, Premium Per User, Premium Capacity) and what each unlocks
- How Power BI fits within the broader Microsoft data stack alongside Azure Synapse, Fabric, and Excel
Module 2: Connecting to Data Sources and Importing Data
- Connecting to Excel workbooks, CSV files, and folders of files
- Importing data from SQL Server databases and SharePoint lists
- Using web connectors and REST APIs to pull live data
- Managing data source credentials and refresh settings
- Differentiating Import, DirectQuery, and Live Connection modes and the trade-offs of each
- Parameterising data source paths and server names for portable, environment-agnostic reports
Module 3: Data Transformation with Power Query
- Understanding the Power Query Editor interface and applied steps
- Cleaning data: removing duplicates, handling nulls, and correcting data types
- Reshaping data: pivoting, unpivoting, merging queries, and appending tables
- Introduction to the M language for custom transformations
- Creating reusable custom functions in Power Query to apply consistent logic across multiple queries
- Using query diagnostics and step-level profiling to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks
Module 4: Data Modelling: Building a Solid Foundation
- Star schema vs. snowflake schema — choosing the right structure
- Creating and managing table relationships, cardinality, and cross-filter direction
- Building date tables and enabling time intelligence
- Optimising model performance: hiding unnecessary columns and reducing cardinality
- Using calculation groups to centralise reusable measure logic and reduce DAX duplication
- Leveraging aggregation tables and composite models to balance query speed against data detail
Module 5: DAX Fundamentals: Measures and Calculated Columns
- Understanding evaluation context: row context vs. filter context
- Creating basic measures: SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE, DISTINCTCOUNT, and DIVIDE
- Using CALCULATE to modify filter context and build conditional aggregations
- Organising measures with display folders and formatting conventions
- Writing iterator functions — SUMX, AVERAGEX, and MAXX — to perform row-by-row calculations over a table
- Using variables (VAR and RETURN) in DAX to improve readability and avoid repeated expression evaluation
Module 6: Advanced DAX: Time Intelligence and Business Calculations
- Year-to-date, quarter-to-date, and month-to-date calculations using TOTALYTD and DATESYTD
- Period-over-period comparisons: SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR and PARALLELPERIOD
- Ranking, top-N analysis, and dynamic segmentation using RANKX and SWITCH
- Building dynamic titles and conditional formatting expressions
- Creating rolling averages and moving totals using DATESINPERIOD and DATESBETWEEN for trend smoothing
- Implementing what-if parameters with disconnected tables to let end users model scenarios interactively
Module 7: Report Design and Interactive Visualisations
- Choosing the right chart type: column, bar, line, scatter, map, matrix, and card visuals
- Adding slicers, filters, drill-through pages, and bookmarks for interactivity
- Applying themes, corporate colour palettes, and accessibility best practices
- Using custom visuals from the AppSource marketplace
- Configuring field parameters to allow users to dynamically swap measures and dimensions within a single visual
- Designing tooltip pages and smart drill-through to surface contextual detail without cluttering the main canvas
Module 8: AI-Powered Analytics and Advanced Features
- Q&A natural language queries and configuring synonyms for business terms
- Key Influencers visual: identifying drivers of business outcomes
- Decomposition Tree for root-cause analysis
- Smart Narratives and anomaly detection for automated insight generation
- Integrating Python and R scripts within Power BI Desktop for custom statistical models and visualisations
- Connecting Power BI to Azure Machine Learning endpoints to operationalise predictive scores directly in reports
Module 9: Publishing, Sharing, and Governance in the Power BI Service
- Publishing reports to workspaces and organising content in apps
- Configuring scheduled data refresh and gateway setup for on-premises sources
- Implementing row-level security (RLS) to control data access by role
- Sharing reports, setting permissions, and embedding reports in Teams and SharePoint
- Using deployment pipelines to promote content through development, test, and production stages with change control
- Monitoring workspace usage metrics and audit logs to track adoption and identify governance risks
Module 10: Data Storytelling and Dashboard Presentation
- Structuring a data story: context, conflict, resolution, and call to action
- Designing executive dashboards vs. operational dashboards — layout principles
- Presenting findings to non-technical stakeholders with clarity and confidence
- Capstone project: building and presenting a complete BI solution from raw data to insight
- Applying progressive disclosure techniques to layer detail — leading with the headline metric before revealing supporting analysis
- Handling live audience questions during a dashboard walkthrough: techniques for drilling down, filtering on the fly, and maintaining narrative control
Requirements & Prerequisites
- Basic computer literacy and familiarity with Microsoft Windows
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel (ability to create formulas, pivot tables, and basic charts)
- No prior Power BI experience is required, though exposure to any BI tool is an advantage
- Participants must bring a laptop with at least 8 GB RAM and Windows 10 or later installed
- Power BI Desktop (free) should be downloaded and installed before the first day of training
Training Methodology
- This programme follows an instructor-led, learn-by-doing methodology where every concept is immediately reinforced through a hands-on exercise using realistic business datasets. Each day begins with a short conceptual briefing to frame the session's objectives, followed by live demonstrations in Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service. Participants replicate each step in real time on their own laptops, receiving immediate feedback from the facilitator. Group activities challenge delegates to apply skills to unfamiliar scenarios drawn from sectors such as retail, NGO programme management, and financial services. Daily wrap-up sessions consolidate learning through peer review of each participant's evolving dashboard. On the final day, participants present their completed BI solution to the group in a simulated stakeholder briefing, building both technical competence and communication confidence. Post-training, participants receive a curated digital resource pack including sample datasets, DAX cheat sheets, and a library of Power BI templates.
Organisational Benefits
- - Reduced time spent on manual reporting, freeing staff for higher-value analytical work
- - Consistent, accurate, and real-time dashboards replacing fragmented spreadsheet reports
- - Improved decision-making speed through self-service BI accessible to non-technical managers
- - Stronger data literacy culture across departments, reducing dependency on IT for basic reporting
- - Enhanced donor and stakeholder confidence through professional, interactive programme reports
- - Cost savings from consolidating multiple reporting tools into a single, licensed Microsoft platform
- - Better identification of revenue opportunities, cost overruns, and operational bottlenecks through visual analytics
Where Is Data Analysis & Business Intelligence with Power BI Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Cape Town, Riyadh, Kigali, Lagos, Mombasa, Naivasha, Johannesburg, Kampala, Accra, Dar es Salaam, Kisumu, Pretoria, Arusha, Addis Ababa, Nakuru, Dubai, Abuja, Nairobi, Zanzibar, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
19 Sept 2026 – 11 Oct 2026 |
KES 80,000 |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,500 |
| Kigali, Rwanda |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
| Lagos, Nigeria |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,500 |
| Mombasa, Kenya |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Naivasha, Kenya |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Johannesburg, South Africa |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,500 |
| Kampala, Uganda |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
| Accra, Ghana |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,300 |
| Kisumu, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Pretoria, South Africa |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,300 |
| Arusha, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,100 |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,400 |
+238 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need prior Power BI experience to attend this course?
No prior Power BI experience is required. The course is designed for professionals with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel who are new to Power BI, though participants with some exposure to BI tools will also find plenty of advanced content to build on.
What software do I need to install before the training?
You will need a Windows laptop (Windows 10 or later, minimum 8 GB RAM) with Power BI Desktop installed — it is free to download from Microsoft's official website. The facilitator will send detailed pre-course instructions one week before the training starts.
Will I receive a certificate upon completion?
Yes. All participants who attend the full five days and complete the capstone project will receive a TrainingComplex Certificate of Completion in Data Analysis & Business Intelligence with Power BI. The certificate includes the training hours and key competencies covered.
Is the course available online for delegates who cannot travel?
Yes. The course is offered in a hybrid format, meaning it runs simultaneously in-person and via a live virtual stream. Remote participants interact with the facilitator in real time, access all exercises and datasets, and participate in group activities through breakout rooms.
Can the training be customised for our organisation's specific data and reporting needs?
Absolutely. TrainingComplex offers tailored in-house delivery where the datasets, dashboard examples, and case studies are adapted to your organisation's sector and actual data sources. Contact us to discuss a bespoke programme for your team.
View Live Schedule & Book →