Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst — knowledge map
The 65 core concepts of Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst and how they connect. Click a node in the map above to explore related terms and prerequisites; the list below indexes every concept with its definition and links to its prerequisites and related concepts.
Concepts (65)
Microsoft Power BI
A BI tool to visualize/share data as reports (multi-page interactive analysis) and dashboards (single-screen summary).
Related: Dashboard (Power BI)
Report (Power BI)
Multi-page interactive analysis on one dataset—arrange visuals and explore with filters and drill-down; authored in Power BI Desktop.
Prerequisites: Drilldown
Related: Dataset
Visualization (visuals)
Showing data with chart elements (bar, line, pie, map, table, KPI) placed on a report to convey trends and comparisons at a glance.
Measure
A DAX expression that aggregates; computed at evaluation time (lazy), not stored in the model, and changes with filter context.
Prerequisites: Filter context and row context
Related: DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)
Power Query
Power BI’s data-prep engine to get data from sources and clean/shape it (remove columns, change types, merge); steps are repeatable.
Workspace (Power BI)
A place in the Power BI service where teams co-manage and distribute reports, dashboards, and datasets, sharing via assigned access.
Prerequisites: Dashboard (Power BI)、Dataset、Report (Power BI)、Microsoft Power BI
Dataset
The ingested, shaped data and model (tables, relationships, measures) a report references; one can back multiple reports. In Power BI this content type was renamed to "semantic model" in November 2023.
Prerequisites: Measure、Microsoft Power BI
Related: Report (Power BI)、Semantic model
Semantic model
Power BI’s meaning layer (formerly dataset)—tables, relationships, measures, hierarchies, and formatting that reports reference.
Related: Dataset
Fact table
The central table holding numeric measures (sales, quantity) and foreign keys to dimensions; first decide its grain (what one row represents).
Prerequisites: Measure
Data visualization and report types
Choose visuals by purpose (bar, line, pie, matrix, map, KPI). There are interactive reports and paginated reports formatted for printing.
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)、Visualization (visuals)
Calculated column (DAX)
A column precomputed per row and stored in the model; unlike a measure it is stored, so it can bloat the model—prefer source-side or measures.
Prerequisites: Measure
Filter context and row context
The two DAX evaluation contexts: row context (the current row) and filter context (active filters); CALCULATE manipulates the filter context.
Related: CALCULATE function
DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)
The expression language for measures and calculated columns in a semantic model; evaluated via row context and filter context.
Prerequisites: Calculated column (DAX)、Filter context and row context、Semantic model
Related: Measure
Dashboard (Power BI)
A single-screen summary collecting key metrics (KPIs) from multiple reports; created/shared in the Power BI service (reports are multi-page, dashboards single-screen).
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)
Related: Microsoft Power BI
Decomposition tree
An AI visual that drills a measure down by dimension to decompose contributors, with AI suggesting the next dimension to split by.
Prerequisites: Measure、Visualization (visuals)
Drilldown
Descending a hierarchy (year→quarter→month) one level at a time within the same visual. Distinct from drillthrough (jump to another page).
Prerequisites: Visualization (visuals)
Related: Drillthrough
Drillthrough
A feature that carries a selected value (e.g., a product) to another report page for detail, with a back button. Distinct from drilldown (descend a hierarchy in the same visual).
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)、Visualization (visuals)
Related: Drilldown
Binning (Power BI)
A Power BI/Power Query feature that manually splits a numeric or date field into fixed-width or custom-boundary bins, e.g., to create age brackets or price tiers for aggregation. The boundaries are explicitly chosen by the user, in contrast to clustering, which auto-groups similar data points.
Prerequisites: Clustering、Microsoft Power BI、Power Query
Workspace roles (Fabric)
The workspace permission hierarchy Admin > Member > Contributor > Viewer; assign by least privilege and combine with data-level permissions.
Prerequisites: Workspace (Power BI)
Append queries (Power Query)
A Power Query operation that stacks multiple tables with the same column layout vertically into one table—a row-wise combination equivalent to a SQL UNION. Columns are matched by name even if order differs, though type mismatches can error. Commonly used to combine monthly data files.
Prerequisites: Power Query
Related: Merge queries (Power Query)
Dimension table
A table of analysis perspectives/attributes (date, product, customer); joined one-to-many to the fact, serving as filter/group axes.
Prerequisites: Fact table
DirectQuery mode
Queries the source on each request; always live but depends on source performance and is generally slower than Import.
Alt text
Text describing a visual for screen readers; a basic of accessible report design, used with tab order and contrast.
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)、Visualization (visuals)
Anomaly detection (Power BI)
An analytics feature that auto-detects outliers in a time series and suggests explanations. Different in purpose from forecasting (future estimate).
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI
Related: Forecasting (Power BI)
Automatic page refresh
A feature that auto-refreshes a report page at an interval or on events for real-time monitoring, requiring a supported storage mode like DirectQuery.
Prerequisites: DirectQuery mode、Report (Power BI)
Build permission
The permission required for other authors to build new reports on a published semantic model. Viewers cannot reuse it.
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)、Semantic model
Conditional formatting (Power BI)
Formatting that varies background/font color, data bars, or icons by value to highlight—distinct from a theme (blanket palette).
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI
Related: Theme (Power BI)
Custom tooltip (report-page tooltip)
A feature showing a separately built report page as a tooltip, revealing detail on hover over a visual.
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)、Visualization (visuals)
DirectLake mode
A Power BI storage mode that reads Parquet directly on a Microsoft Fabric lakehouse/OneLake, giving Import-like performance on large data without refresh. Distinct from Import (load) and DirectQuery (query source).
Prerequisites: DirectQuery mode、Microsoft Power BI
Forecasting (Power BI)
An analytics feature estimating future values from a time series. Distinct from a reference line (baseline); requires a time series. Often paired with anomaly detection.
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI
Related: Anomaly detection (Power BI)
On-premises data gateway
A bridge required to refresh on-premises (or VNet) data sources from cloud Power BI. Often not needed for cloud SaaS sources.
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI
Key influencers
An AI visual that auto-analyzes and shows the factors most affecting an outcome (e.g., churn). Different in purpose from the decomposition tree (decompose by dimension).
Prerequisites: Visualization (visuals)、Decomposition tree
Paginated report
A fixed-layout, print/PDF-oriented report that splits detail-heavy tables cleanly across pages, built in Power BI Report Builder. Different in purpose from an interactive Power BI report.
Prerequisites: Data visualization and report types、Report (Power BI)、Microsoft Power BI
Personalize visuals
A feature letting viewers change a visual’s type/fields for themselves (without altering the original report). Distinct from automatic page refresh.
Prerequisites: Data visualization and report types、Report (Power BI)、Visualization (visuals)、Automatic page refresh
Theme (Power BI)
Formatting that applies colors/fonts across a report at once—distinct from conditional formatting (value-driven).
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)、Microsoft Power BI
Related: Conditional formatting (Power BI)
Star schema
A denormalized design placing dimension tables (analysis perspectives) radially around a central fact table; few joins, fast for BI.
Prerequisites: Dimension table、Fact table
Time intelligence
Time-series DAX calculations (YoY, YTD, moving average) that rely on a date dimension (TOTALYTD, SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR).
Related: Date dimension
CALCULATE function
The core DAX function that modifies filter context to re-aggregate; combined with FILTER/ALL/USERELATIONSHIP for conditional aggregation.
Related: Filter context and row context、USERELATIONSHIP (DAX)
Calculated table
A table generated by a DAX expression; used to create helper tables not in the source, like date or parameter tables.
Prerequisites: DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)
Clustering
An unsupervised task grouping similar items (e.g., customer segmentation).
Power BI app
A mechanism to distribute workspace content as an organized package to many viewers. Choose vs individual sharing (a few) or workspace roles (development).
Prerequisites: Workspace (Power BI)、Microsoft Power BI、Workspace roles (Fabric)
Bookmarks (Power BI)
A feature saving the current state (filters/visibility/sort) to build toggles/presentations with buttons and show/hide via the selection pane.
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI
Cross-filter direction
The direction a filter propagates over a relationship. Single (dimension→fact, one-way) is the safe default; bidirectional risks ambiguity/cycles and is used only when needed.
Prerequisites: Fact table
Role-playing dimension
Using one dimension (e.g., date) in multiple roles (order/ship date), switching inactive relationships at calculation time via USERELATIONSHIP.
Prerequisites: USERELATIONSHIP (DAX)
Scheduled refresh
A setting to periodically refresh Import models; on-prem/VNet sources need an on-premises data gateway.
Prerequisites: On-premises data gateway、Microsoft Power BI
Sharing (Power BI)
A distribution method handing a specific individual item to a few recipients—chosen vs apps (organized to many) or workspace roles (development).
Prerequisites: Workspace (Power BI)、Microsoft Power BI、Workspace roles (Fabric)
Visual calculations
A feature to compute with DAX over a visual’s displayed results (visible rows/columns), expressing running totals or shares within the visual without adding model measures.
Prerequisites: Measure、Visualization (visuals)
USERELATIONSHIP (DAX)
A DAX function that temporarily activates an inactive relationship in the model, scoped to a single calculation. Used as a CALCULATE modifier, it lets you pick which of several relationships between two tables (e.g., order date vs. ship date) applies for a given expression.
Related: RELATED (DAX)、CALCULATE function
Calculation group
Applies the same logic (YoY, YTD) across many measures at once; reduces measure duplication and eases maintenance; built in Tabular Editor.
Prerequisites: Measure
Duplicate query (Power Query)
A Power Query feature that copies all of an existing query's steps to create an independent new query. After duplication it is detached from the source—editing one does not affect the other. Unlike a reference query, it is a fully independent copy that evolves separately from then on.
Prerequisites: Power Query、Reference query (Power Query)
Performance Analyzer
A Power BI Desktop feature that measures each visual’s DAX query and display time to find slow visuals; the starting point for tuning.
Prerequisites: Visualization (visuals)、Microsoft Power BI
Data profiling (column quality/profile)
Power Query features evaluating column quality (valid/error/empty), distribution (distinct/unique), and profile (min/max/average); defaults to top 1000 rows, switchable to the whole dataset.
Prerequisites: Dataset、Power Query
Date table
A contiguous date table required for time intelligence, used via Mark as date table.
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI、Time intelligence
Narrative visual (Copilot)
A visual that auto-explains key points in natural-language text, generatable via Copilot; always verify the output.
Prerequisites: Visualization (visuals)
Unpivot
A Power Query operation turning wide columns into tall attribute/value pairs; many analyses prefer the tall shape. Pivot is the inverse.
Prerequisites: Power Query
Merge queries (Power Query)
A Power Query operation that joins another table's columns by a shared key column—a column-wise combination equivalent to a SQL JOIN. You choose a join kind (inner, left/right outer, full outer, anti), and the result appears as a nested column you expand to use.
Prerequisites: Power Query
Related: Append queries (Power Query)
Reference query (Power Query)
A Power Query feature that creates a new query starting from an existing query's output. The source query's steps are not copied—the reference stays dependent, so changes to the source propagate to it. Used to reuse common upstream preprocessing across multiple downstream queries.
Prerequisites: Power Query
Semantic model refresh (monitoring)
Reloading data into a Power BI semantic model; monitor failures/duration—refresh behaves differently with Direct Lake.
Prerequisites: Microsoft Power BI、Semantic model
Date dimension
A dedicated dimension of contiguous dates and calendar attributes (year/quarter/month/weekday); the prerequisite for time intelligence (e.g., YoY).
Related: Time intelligence
Model row-level security (roles)
Defines roles in a semantic model and restricts visible rows via DAX predicates; dynamic RLS uses USERPRINCIPALNAME to scope to the user’s rows.
Prerequisites: Semantic model
Cardinality (relationship)
The row-correspondence multiplicity of a relationship—usually one-to-many (one dimension row to many fact rows); many-to-many needs bridges or careful design. A basic of data model design.
Prerequisites: Fact table
Query parameters
Values—server names, paths, filter values—changeable in one place; used to switch dev↔prod and templatize.
Prerequisites: Power Query
Sync slicers
A feature linking slicer selections across multiple report pages, carrying a selection from one page to others.
Prerequisites: Report (Power BI)