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Guide Notes & Explanation
Accompanying breakdown for this slide deck
- Stop Repeating Your Data Work.
What Are Dataflows?
- A Power BI feature for data preparation.
- Lets you build reusable data transformations.
- Centralizes your ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) logic.
- Creates a single source of cleansed data.
- Dataflows are built and managed in the Power BI service.
- Think of them as a shared data kitchen.
The Repeating Problem
- Same data prep is often done for multiple reports.
- This wastes valuable time and effort.
- Leads to inconsistencies in calculations and definitions.
- Makes it hard to maintain and update logic.
- One change requires updating many reports.
- Creates a fragmented and messy data landscape.
How Dataflows Help
- Build your transformation logic just once.
- Any report can then use this prepared data.
- Ensures everyone uses the same definitions.
- Simplifies report development significantly.
- Makes maintenance and updates much easier.
- Creates a single source of truth for data.
Key Benefits
- Saves significant time and development effort.
- Improves data consistency and accuracy across reports.
- Empowers self-service for business users.
- Simplifies data governance and management.
- Faster to build new reports on trusted data.
- Reduces load on source systems.
Building a Dataflow
- Connect to your original data source.
- Apply necessary transformations and cleansing steps.
- Define computed columns and new measures.
- Create relationships between different entities.
- Schedule a refresh to keep data current.
- Publish it to your Power BI workspace.
Connecting Your Reports
- From Power BI Desktop, get data from Power BI.
- Select the published dataflow as your source.
- Choose the specific entities you need.
- The data is imported, already transformed and ready.
- Build your reports on this consistent foundation.
- No more starting from raw, messy data.
Ideal Use Cases
- Standardizing fiscal periods and date tables.
- Combining data from multiple source systems.
- Applying complex business logic and rules.
- Cleansing customer or product information.
- Creating certified, gold-standard datasets.
- When many reports need the same base data.
Get Started Today
- Identify a common transformation you repeat often.
- Open the Power BI service in your browser.
- Create a new dataflow in your workspace.
- Connect to a data source and build your ETL.
- Publish and share with your team.
- Start building smarter, more consistent reports.