My impressions and study material for the DA-100 certification exam - Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI (beta)

Speak guys!
On Saturday, May 09th, I took the beta test “DA-100 - Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI (beta)”, which is focused on business analysts and report / dashboard creators in Power BI, replacing the 70-778 and 70-779 exams (yes, now it’s just 1 exam) and I wanted to share my impressions about the exam and some study materials .

First of all, if you want tips on how to take certification exams at home without having too many problems, I suggest reading my post Microsoft Certification - Tips on how to take the test at home without a headache and remembering that Beta tests can only be done in Japanese or English, so if you still can't at least do a reading in English, you need to change that for yesterday. URGENT!! Working in the IT or data area in general without knowing even the basics of English, means that you will always be late and limited in relation to other professionals. It will take a few good months to have this test in Portuguese.

And to learn more about how Microsoft certification exams work, how Beta exams work and also study material for exam 70-778 (Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power BI), visit my post Microsoft Certifications - Tips, Links, and Study Materials for SQL Server 2016 MCSA and MCSE Tests.

In general, I found this test very easy, especially in relation to 70-778, which demanded more knowledge of DAX, in addition to Office 365 Administration, Integration with Sharepoint, One Drive and several other comprehensive knowledge unrelated to Power BI and which now were not charged in this test (remembering that there is a bank of questions and that maybe it did not fall in my test, but yours may have questions about it), but the test is more up to date, already with questions about Main influencers and decomposition tree , for example.

However, there are many questions of logic in this test, where you have to reason to solve some questions (not only technical knowledge is enough), some basic knowledge of data types are present (integer is faster than string, for example). Knowledge of types of relationships, cardinalities, optimization of report performance (both in loading and in the type of data, cardinalities and other good practices) were also charged.

UPDATE (01/07): The test result came out and I went APPROVED!

And if you are studying Power BI, you cannot miss the pioneering Power BI channel in Brazil and the largest and most complete Power BI channel in Latin America, the Planilheiros Brazil, which has almost 400 videos with content from basic to advanced.

DA-100 exam material (Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI)

As this test is still in beta, the Learning Path page for that exam it is not yet available, that is, it does not have official material for study (like any beta test).

Study material according to what I remember from the exam

I will highlight what I remember that fell on the test to try to direct your study, remembering that there are several variations of the test and will not always be the same questions:

• Permissions and roles in Workspaces
• Power BI Analysis Dashboard (pay attention to Forecasting)
• Using Row Level Security (RLS) in Power BI Desktop and Service (and how to test the filter as if it were another user)
• M functions like Text.Split, Text.Replace
• Split functions to transform a column into multiple rows
• PowerQuery: Merge vs Append
• PowerQuery: Pivot vs Unpivot
• Calculate last day of the month in M ​​and DAX
• Performance of reading large volumes of data with WHERE in the query, FILTER in DAX or Filter in Power Query (which can work with large volumes of data)
• Performance Tuning: Calculated vs Measured column
• Understanding the relationships between tables in Power BI (Cardinality, Direction) (Another very good link on that too)
• Power BI with Sharepoint: Differences between importing a file, folder or list
• Understanding Data Profiling and Column Distribution
• Import multiple CSV files from one folder (also with different structures)
• DAX: FORMAT function for numbers and dates (including custom formats)
• Key Influencers: Understand what it's for and how it works
• Data segmentation: Study everything, and also synchronization between tabs
• Integration between visuals with the option to Edit interaction (Crossfilter, Hightlight or do nothing)
• Types of Power BI filters (Report, Page, Visual)
• Accessibility in Power BI: Tab Order
• KPI creation
• Applications in Power BI: When, why
• Isolation of environments between development and production
• Shared Datasets
• DAX functions: KEEPFILTERS, ISFILTERED, EOMONTH, DIVIDES, ALLSELECTED, TOPN, FORMAT
• Customized visual security
• Importing JSON files
• Use of synonyms and good practices to improve questions and answers (Q&A)

Study material according to the Microsoft exam page

I am also making available this collection of links to help in the studies in this test according to the official content of the test:

Prepare the data (20-25%)

• Get data from different data sources
  Click here to view content
  • identify and connect to a data source
  • change data source settings
  • select a shared dataset or create a local dataset
  • select a storage mode
  • choose an appropriate type of consultation
  • identify query performance issues
  • use the Common Data Service (CDS)
  • Use parameters
  
• Data profile
  Click here to view content
  • identify data anomalies
  • examine data structures
  • interrogate column properties
  • interrogate data statistics
  
• Clean, transform and load data (ETL)
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  • resolve inconsistencies, unexpected or null values ​​and data quality problems
  • use value substitutions through the Power BI interface
  • identify and create appropriate keys for joins
  • evaluate and transform column data types
  • apply data shape transformations to table structures
  • combine queries
  • apply easy-to-use naming conventions to columns and queries
  • use the Advanced Editor to modify the Power Query M code
  • configure data loading
  • resolve data import errors
  

Modeling the Data (25-30%)

• Design the model date
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  • define the tables
  • configure table and column properties
  • define quick measures
  • create and optimize a parent-child hierarchy
  • define role-playing dimensions
  • define the cardinality of a relationship and the direction of the cross filter
  • design the data model to meet performance requirements
  • resolve many to many relationships
  • create a common date table
  • define the appropriate level of data granularity
  
• Develop a data model
  Click here to view content
  • apply cross filter direction and safety filtering
  • Create calculated tables
  • create hierarchies
  • create calculated columns
  • implement line-level security functions
  • set up the question and answer (Q&A) feature
  
• Create measurements using DAX
  Click here to view content
  • use DAX to create complex measures
  • use CALCULATE to manipulate filters
  • implement Time Intelligence using DAX
  • replace numeric columns with measures
  • use basic statistical functions to improve data
  • create semi-additive measures
  
• Optimize model performance
  Click here to view content
  • remove unnecessary rows and columns
  • identify measures, relationships and visual aids with poor performance
  • improve cardinality levels by changing data types
  • improve cardinality levels by way of summary
  • create and manage aggregations
  

View the Data (20-25%)

• Create reports
  Click here to view content
  • add display items to reports
  • choose an appropriate view type
  • format and configure views
  • import a custom look
  • configure conditional formatting
  • create filters and data segmentation
  • add an R (R link) or Python (Python link)
  • configure the report page
  • design and configure for accessibility
  
• Create dashboards
  Click here to view content
  • set mobile view
  • manage blocks in a panel
  • configure data alerts
  • use the question and answer (Q&A) feature
  • add a panel theme
  • pin an active report page to a dashboard
  • configure data classification
  
• Enrich reporting usability
  Click here to view content
  • configure bookmarks
  • create custom tooltips
  • edit and configure interactions between visual aids
  • configure navigation for a report
  • apply rating
  • configure synchronization synchronizers (Sync Slicers)
  • use the selection panel
  • use drillthrough and cross filter
  • detailed data search using interactive images
  • export report data
  

Analyze the Data (10-15%)

• Enhance reports to expose ideas and insights
  Click here to view content
  • apply conditional formatting
  • apply data segmentation and filters
  • perform “upper N” analysis (top N)
  • explore statistical summary
  • use the question and answer (Q&A) visual
  • add a Quick Insights result to a report
  • create reference lines using the Analytics dashboard
  • use the Play Axis feature of a visualization
  
• Perform advanced analysis
  Click here to view content
  • identify extreme values
  • conduct time series analysis
  • use groupings and compartmentalization
  • use key influencers to explore dimensional variations
  • use the decomposition tree look to decompose a measurement
  • apply AI Insights
  

Publish and Maintain Deliverables (10-15%)

• Manage data sets
  Click here to view content
  • configure a scheduled dataset update
  • configure row level security group membership
  • provide access to data sets
  • configure incremental update settings
  • endorse a dataset
  
• Create and manage workspaces
  Click here to view content
  • create and configure a workspace (Workspace)
  • recommend a development lifecycle strategy
  • assign roles to a workspace
  • configure and update a workspace application
  • Publish, import or update assets in a workspace
  

Live on the Planilheiros channel about the event

With that, I close this collection of study materials for the DA-100 certification test - Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI (beta), in which I believe that if you study everything in this article, in addition to passing the test, you should learn a lot about Power BI.

That's it folks!
I hope you enjoyed this article and even more!