What's changed: Added §4.4 "Microsoft Fabric (Unified Analytics Platform)" to fix the drift from the 2026 refresh that centers the analytics domain on Fabric/OneLake/lakehouse/Real-Time Intelligence/Data Activator. Adds Fabric alongside the existing Synapse-centric content
4.3Power BI and Batch vs. Stream Processing
Understand data visualization with Microsoft Power BI (reports/dashboards) and the difference between batch and stream processing.
The final analytics stage is "present." Microsoft Power BI turns data into reports and dashboards anyone can understand.
4.3.1Visualization with Power BI
Power BI has parts with distinct roles. Power BI Desktop (a free authoring tool) ingests, transforms, and designs reports. You publish to the Power BI service (cloud) to share/publish, and view on Power BI Mobile. Note the split: who authors, who views, and where it is distributed.
- Reports: multi-page, interactive analysis combining charts and tables, with filters and drill-down.
- Dashboards: a single-screen view collecting key metrics (tiles) from multiple reports—good for an overview.
- Author in Power BI Desktop, share/publish via the Power BI service, view in Power BI Mobile.
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