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1. Introduction to Business Intelligence and Power BI

1.5 The Typical Power BI Workflow

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Start with a problem

Amir jumped straight into charts with the raw file. After 20 visuals he found that Amount was text and had to redo everything.

Explain simply

Follow the same order every time: Connect → Transform → Model → Calculate → Visualise → Publish → Share → Refresh.

Show the data

Order ID Order Date City Store Platform Category Amount (₹) Delivery mins Status
301 06-Apr-2026 Pune Kothrud Blinkit Dairy 400 8 Delivered
302 06-Apr-2026 Pune Baner Amazon Now Snacks 200 12 Delivered
303 07-Apr-2026 Nashik Gangapur Blinkit Dairy 300 14 Delivered
304 04-May-2026 Nashik College Road Blinkit Fruits 150 9 Delivered
305 04-May-2026 Kolhapur Rajarampuri Amazon Now Snacks 450 7 Delivered
306 05-May-2026 Pune Kothrud Blinkit Fruits 250 16 Delivered
307 05-May-2026 Nashik College Road Amazon Now Dairy 350 11 Delivered
308 05-May-2026 Kolhapur Rajarampuri Blinkit Dairy 0 Cancelled

About this data: This table uses columns: Order ID, Order Date, City, Store, Platform, Category, Amount (₹), Delivery mins, Status. This table uses columns: Rows. This table uses columns: Column quality, Delivery Mins. Values shown are the lesson examples already on this page (not a new dataset).

Fictional sample data. Practice file: visuals_orders_apr_may_2026.csv, dark_stores_maharashtra.csv (source: src/practice/).

Demonstrate

  1. Connect: Get data › Text/CSV › the practice file › Transform Data.

    Your result should look like this:

    Rows
    8

  2. Transform: set types; check that order 308 has a blank Delivery Mins.

    Your result should look like this:

    Column quality, Delivery Mins
    7 valid, 1 empty

  3. Model: load dark_stores_maharashtra.csv and relate Store to Store (Module 11).

    Your result should look like this:

    Relationships
    1 (DarkStore 1 → * Orders)

  4. Calculate: Total Sales = SUM(Orders[Amount]) and Delivered Orders = CALCULATE(COUNTROWS(Orders), Orders[Status] = "Delivered").

    Your result should look like this:

    Cards
    ₹2,100 · 7 delivered orders

  5. Visualise: Total Sales by City (bar) and by Platform (column).

  6. Publish to a workspace; Share as an app; Refresh on a schedule.

Show the result

Your result should look like this (fictional sample):

Step Check on the sample
Connect 8 rows
Transform Amount numeric; Delivery Mins 7 valid, 1 empty
Model 1 relationship
Calculate ₹2,100; 7 delivered orders
Visualise Pune 850, Nashik 800, Kolhapur 450

Explain what happened

Each step had a small check before the next one. Data problems were found at the Transform step, when they are cheap to fix, not after the visuals were built.

Explore further

  • Interviewers often ask you to "walk through a project"; use these eight steps as your structure.

Detailed reference for this lesson:

Almost every Power BI project follows the same steps. Remember this order – interviewers love to ask about it.

  1. Connect to data sources (Home › Get data).
  2. Transform and clean the data in Power Query (remove errors, fix data types, reshape).
  3. Model the data: create relationships, a date table, hide columns you do not need.
  4. Calculate with DAX measures and, only where needed, calculated columns.
  5. Visualise: design report pages with charts, tables, slicers and filters.
  6. Publish the report to a workspace in the Power BI Service.
  7. Share and distribute: apps, sharing links, dashboards, Teams, subscriptions.
  8. Refresh and maintain: schedule refresh (with a gateway for on-premises data), watch usage, improve the report.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

The most common workflow mistake is jumping straight into visuals with raw, uncleaned data. Follow the order: get data → clean in Power Query → model → measures → visuals → publish. Fixing data problems after twenty visuals are built costs far more time. Never forget this.

Fix common mistakes

Wrong result Reason Correction
Visuals break after fixing types Visualised before transforming Fix types in Power Query first
Two cities show the same total Model step skipped (no relationship) Create the relationship before measures
Report never updates Refresh step forgotten after publishing Set scheduled refresh

Practise independently

Practice task

What is the average delivery time of delivered orders, and which step of the workflow would show you that one order has no delivery time?

Hints
  • Delivered minutes: 8, 12, 14, 9, 7, 16, 11.
Solution

77 ÷ 7 = 11.0 minutes. The Transform step (column quality/profile in Power Query) shows 1 empty value (order 308, cancelled).

Think like a professional

A checklist with one check per step is faster than debugging a finished report.

Ravi Sir's Cards for this lesson

The typical Power BI workflow. If you jump straight to charts, you get wrong numbers. A fixed order of steps keeps reports correct.Revision cardExplain the end-to-end Power BI workflow. Get data, clean it in Power Query, build the model (tables and relationships), write DAX measures, build visuals, then publish and schedule refresh.Interview card

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