Top 32 Power BI Interview

Questions and Answers for 2021

1. What is Power BI?

Power BI is a business analytics tool developed by Microsoft that

helps you turn multiple unrelated sources of data into valuable and
interactive insights. These data may be in the form of an Excel
spreadsheet or cloud-based/on-premises hybrid data warehouses.
You can easily connect to all your data sources and share the insights
with anyone.

2. List out some benefits of using Power BI.

Here are some benefits of using Power BI:

 It helps build interactable data visualization in data centres

 It allows users to transform data into visuals and share them with
anyone

 It establishes a connection for Excel queries and dashboards for

fast analysis

 It provides quick and accurate solutions

 It enables users to perform queries on reports using simple English

words 
3. List out some drawbacks/limitations of using Power BI.

Here are some limitations of using Power BI:

 It does not accept file sizes larger than 1 GB and also doesn’t mix
imported data, which is accessed from real-time connections

 There are very few data sources that allow real-time connections to
Power BI reports and dashboard

 Dashboards and reports are only shared with users logged in with
the same email address

 Dashboard doesn’t accept or pass user, account, or other entity

parameters

4. What are some of the differences in data modeling between

Power BI Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel? 

Power Pivot for Excel supports only single directional relationships

(one to many), calculated columns, and one import mode. Power BI
Desktop supports bi-directional cross filtering relationships, security,
calculated tables, and multiple import options. 

5. Name the different connectivity modes available in Power BI? 

There are three main connectivity modes used in Power BI are.

SQL Server Import

An SQL Server Import is the default and most common connectivity

type used in Power BI. It allows you to use the full capabilities of the
Power BI Desktop. 
Direct Query

The Direct Query connection type is only available when you connect
to certain data sources. In this connectivity type, Power BI will only
store the metadata of the underlying data and not the actual data.

Live Connection

In this connectivity type, data is not stored in the Power BI model. All
interaction with a report using a Live Connection will directly query the
existing Analysis Services model. There are only 3 data sources that
support the live connection method -  SQL Server Analysis Services
(Tabular models and Multidimensional Cubes), Azure Analysis
Services (Tabular Models), and Power BI Datasets hosted in the
Power BI Service

6. What are the different types of refresh options available in

Power BI? 

There are four main types of refresh options available in Power BI -

 Package refresh - This synchronizes your Power BI Desktop or

Excel, file between the Power BI service and OneDrive, or
SharePoint Online.

 Model or data refresh - This refreshes the dataset within the Power
BI service with data from the original data source.

 Tile refresh - This updates the cache for tile visuals every 15
minutes on the dashboard once data changes.

 Visual container refresh - This refreshes the visual container and

updates the cached report visuals within a report once the data
changes.
7. Name the data sources can Power BI connect to? 

There are a number of data sources that can be connected to Power

BI, which are grouped into three main types:

Files

Data can be imported from Excel (.xlsx, .xlxm), Power BI Desktop files
(.pbix) and Comma Separated Values (.csv). 

Content Packs

These are a collection of related documents or files stored as a group.

There are two types of content packs in Power BI:

 Content packs from services providers like Google Analytics,

Marketo or Salesforce and

 Content packs created and shared by other users in your

organization. 

Connectors

Connectors help you connect your databases and datasets with apps,
services, and data in the cloud.

8. What is a dashboard in Power BI? 

A dashboard is a single layer presentation sheet of multiple

visualizations reports. The main features of the Power BI
dashboard are:

 It allows you to drill through the page, bookmarks, and selection

pane and also lets you create various tiles and integrate URLs
 A dashboard can also help you set report layout to mobile view

9. Explain how relationships are defined in Power BI Desktop? 

Relationships between tables are defined in two ways: 

 Manually - Relationships between tables are manually defined

using primary and foreign keys

 Automatic - When enabled, this automated feature of Power BI

detects relationships between tables and creates them
automatically

10. Can you have more than one active relationship between two
tables in a Power Pivot data model?

No. There can be multiple inactive relationships, but only one active
relationship between two tables in a Power Pivot data model. Dotted
lines represent inactive relationships and continuous lines represent
active relationships.

11. Can you have a table in the model which does not have any
relationship with other tables? 

Yes. There are two main reasons why you can have disconnected
tables:

 The table is used to present the user with parameter values to be

exposed and selected in slicers 

 The table is used as a placeholder for metrics in the user interface

12. What is the CALCULATE function in DAX?

The CALCULATE function evaluates the sum of the Sales table Sales
Amount column in a modified filter context. It is also the only function
that allows users to modify filter context of measures or tables.

13. Where is data stored in Power BI? 

Data is stored in fact and dimension tables. 

 Fact tables: It is the central table in a star schema of a data

warehouse. It stores quantitative information for analysis.

 Dimension tables: It is just another table in the star schema of a

data warehouse. It stores attributes and dimensions that describe
objects stored in a fact table.

14. What are the different views available in Power BI Desktop? 

There are three different views in Power BI, each of which serves a
different purpose: 

 Report View - In this view, users can add visualizations and

additional report pages and publish the same on the portal.

 Data View - In this view, data shaping can be performed using

Query Editor tools

 Relationship View - In this view, users can manage relationships

between datasets


15. What is the format available in Power BI?

 Power BI Desktop—for desktop computers

 Power BI service—an online SaaS (software as a service)

 Mobile Power BI apps—for iOS and Android devices

All of these can be used in conjunction. For example, you might create
a report on your desktop, and then publish and share it online so that
colleagues on mobile devices can read it. 

16. Describe the building blocks of Power BI.

 Visualizations

Visualization is a chart, graph, or similar visual representation of

data.
 Datasets

A dataset is the group of data used to create a visualization, such

as a column of sales figures. Datasets can be combined and
filtered from different sources using built-in connectors.
 Reports

A report is a group of visualizations on one or more pages; for

example, charts, graphs, and maps can be combined to create a
report. 
 Dashboards

A dashboard lets you share a one-page visualization with others,

who can then interact with your dashboard.
 Tiles
 A tile is a visualization on your dashboard or in your report. As the
creator, you can move tiles around.

17. What are the main components of the Power BI toolkit, and
what do they do?

 Power Query: lets you discover, access, and consolidate info from
different sources

 Power Pivot: a modeling tool

 Power View: a presentation tool for creating charts, tables, and

more

 Power Map: lets you create geospatial representations of your data

 Power Q&A: lets you use natural language to get answers to

questions; for example, “What were the total sales last week?”

18. What is a content pack, and why would you use one?

A content pack is a ready-made, predefined collection of visualizations

and reports using your chosen service (for example, Salesforce).
You’d use one when you want to get up and running quickly, instead
of creating a report from scratch.

19. Describe DAX.

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It’s a collection of

functions, operators, and constants used in formulas to calculate and
return values. In other words, it helps you create new info from the
data you already have. 
20. What are the three fundamental concepts of DAX?

 Syntax

This is how the formula is written—that is, the elements that

comprise it. The Syntax includes functions such as SUM (used
when you want to add figures). If the syntax isn’t correct, you’ll get
an error message.
 Functions

These are formulas that use specific values (also known as

arguments) in a certain order to perform a calculation, similar to the
functions in Excel. The categories of functions are date/time, time
intelligence, information, logical, mathematical, statistical, text,
parent/child, and others.
 Context

There are two types: row context and filter context. Whenever a
formula has a function that applies filters to identify a single row in
a table, row context comes into play. When one or more filters are
applied in a calculation that determines a result or value, the filter
context comes into play.

21. Why and how would you use a custom visual file?

You’d use a custom visual file if the prepackaged files don’t fit the
needs of your business. Custom visual files are created by
developers, and you can import them and use them in the same way
as you would the pre-packaged files.
22. What are some of the most common sources for data in the
Get Data menu?

Excel, Power BI datasets, web, text, SQL server, and analysis

services.

23. What are the categories of data types?

 All

 File

 Database

 Power BI

 Azure

 Online Services

 Other

24. Name some commonly used tasks in the Query Editor.

 Connect to data

 Shape and combine data

 Group rows

 Pivot columns

 Create custom columns

 Query formulas
25. What is grouping, and how would you use it?

Power BI Desktop groups the data in your visuals into chunks. You
can, however, define your own groups and bins. For grouping, use Ctrl
+ click to select multiple elements in the visual. Right-click one of
those elements and, from the menu that appears, choose Group. In
the Groups window, you can create new groups or modify existing
ones.

26. Describe responsive slicers.

On a report page, you can resize a responsive slicer to different sizes

and shapes, and the data contained in it will be rearranged to match. If
a visual becomes too small to be useful, an icon representing the
visual takes its place, saving space on the report page.

27. In Power Query, what is query folding?

This is when steps defined in the Query Editor are translated into SQL
and executed by the source database, instead of by your own device.
It helps with scalability and efficient processing.

28. Explain the term “M language”.

This is the programming language used in Power Query. It’s a

functional, case-sensitive language that’s similar to other
programming languages and easy to use.
29. What are the differences between visual-level filters, page-
level filters, and report-level filters? 

Visual-level filters filter data within a single visualization. Page-level

filters work on an entire page in a report, and different pages can have
different filters. Report-level filters filter all the visualizations and pages
in the report.

30. How does the Schedule Refresh feature work?

You can configure an automatic refreshing of data daily or weekly, and

at different times. You can schedule only one refresh maximum daily
unless you have Power BI Pro. In the Schedule Refresh section,
simply use the pulldown menu choices to select a frequency, time
zone, and time of day.

31. What information is needed to create a map in Power Map?

Power Map can display visualizations that are geographical in nature.

Therefore, some kind of location data is needed—for example, city,
state, country or latitude and longitude.
32. Explain Power BI vs. Tableau

Microsoft Power BI and Tableau are both data analytics tools. Power BI has an extensive free
version as well as a premium paid version, while Tableau’s free version has limited capabilities.
Power BI is considered more intuitive to use than Tableau, as some features in Tableau are
hidden behind menus, which makes it harder to learn and use. Power BI has a natural-language
query tool, which Tableau doesn’t. Overall, however, Tableau may offer more capabilities for
those who are experienced in data analytics. So for the question of Power BI vs. Tableau,
Microsoft Power BI is generally considered better for those new to data analytics, especially if
they already have experience in Microsoft products such as Excel, Azure, and Office 365.
Power BI Interview Questions – General Questions

1). What are the parts of Microsoft self-service business intelligence

solution?
Ans: Microsoft has two parts for Self-Service

Excel BI Toolkit : It allows users to create an interactive report by

importing data from different sources and model data according to
report requirement.

Power BI : It is the online solution that enables you to share the

interactive reports and queries that you have created using the Excel
BI Toolkit.

2). What is self-service business intelligence?

Ans: Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI)

 SSBI is an approach to data analytics that enables business

users to filter, segment, and, analyze their data, without the in-
depth technical knowledge in statistical analysis, business
intelligence (BI).
 SSBI has made it easier for end users to access their data and
create various visuals to get better business insights.
 Anybody who has a basic understanding of the data can create
reports to build intuitive and shareable dashboards.
3). What is Power BI?

Ans: Power BI is a cloud-based data sharing environment. Once you

have developed reports using Power Query, Power Pivot and Power
View, you can share your insights with your colleagues. This is where
Power BI enters the equation. Power BI, which technically is an aspect
of SharePoint online, lets you load Excel workbooks into the cloud and
share them with a chosen group of co-workers. Not only that, but your
colleagues can interact with your reports to apply filters and slicers to
highlight data. They are completed by Power BI, a simple way of
sharing your analysis and insights from the Microsoft cloud.

Power BI features allow you to:

 Share presentations and queries with your colleagues.

 Update your Excel file from data sources that can be on-site or in
the cloud.
 Display the output on multiple devices. This includes PCs,
tablets, and HTML 5-enabled mobile devices that use the Power
BI app.
 Query your data using natural language processing (or Q&A, as
it is known).

4). What is Power BI Desktop?

Ans: Power BI Desktop is a free desktop application that can be
installed right on your own computer. Power BI Desktop works
cohesively with the Power BI service by providing advanced data
exploration, shaping, modeling, and creating report with highly
interactive visualizations. You can save your work to a file or publish
your data and reports right to your Power BI site to share with others.
5). What data sources can Power BI connect to?
Ans: The list of data sources for Power BI is extensive, but it can be
grouped into the following:

 Files: Data can be imported from Excel (.xlsx, xlxm), Power BI

Desktop files (.pbix) and Comma Separated Value (.csv).
 Content Packs: It is a collection of related documents or files
that are stored as a group. In Power BI, there are two types of
content packs, firstly those from services providers like Google
Analytics, Marketo or Salesforce and secondly those created and
shared by other users in your organization.
 Connectors to databases and other datasets such as Azure
SQL, Databaseand SQL, Server Analysis Services tabular data,
etc.

6). What are Building Blocks in Power BI?

Ans: The following are the Building Blocks (or) key components of
Power BI:

1. Visualizations: Visualization is a visual representation of data.

Example: Pie Chart, Line Graph, Side by Side Bar Charts,
Graphical Presentation of the source data on top of
Geographical Map, Tree Map, etc.

2. Datasets: Dataset is a collection of data that Power BI uses to

create its visualizations.
Example: Excel sheets, Oracle or SQL server tables.

3. Reports: Report is a collection of visualizations that appear

together on one or more pages.
Example: Sales by Country, State, City Report, Logistic
Performance report, Profit by Products report etc.

4. Dashboards: Dashboard is single layer presentation of multiple

visualizations, i.e we can integrate one or more visualizations
into one page layer.
Example: Sales dashboard can have pie charts, geographical
 maps and bar charts.

5. Tiles: Tile is a single visualization in a report or on a dashboard.

Example: Pie Chart in Dashboard or Report.

7). What are the different types of filters in Power BI Reports?

Ans: Power BI provides variety of option to filter report, data and

visualization. The following are the list of Filter types.

 Visual-level Filters: These filters work on only an individual

visualization, reducing the amount of data that the visualization
can see. Moreover, visual-level filters can filter both data and
calculations.
 Page-level Filters: These filters work at the report-page
level. Different pages in the same report can have different
page-level filters.
 Report-level Filters: There filters work on the entire report,
filtering all pages and visualizations included in the report.

We know that Power BI visual have interactions feature, which makes

filtering a report a breeze. Visual interactions are useful, but they
come with some limitations:

 The filter is not saved as part of the report. Whenever you open
a report, you can begin to play with visual filters but there is no
way to store the filter in the saved report.
  The filter is always visible. Sometimes you want a filter for the
entire report, but you do not want any visual indication of the
filter being applied.

8). What are content packs in Power BI?

Ans: Content packs for services are pre-built solutions for popular
services as part of the Power BI experience. A subscriber to a
supported service, can quickly connect to their account from Power BI
to see their data through live dashboards and interactive reports that
have been pre-built for them. Microsoft has released content packs for
popular services such as Salesforce.com, Marketo, Adobe Analytics,
Azure Mobile Engagement, CircuitID, comScore Digital Analytix,
Quickbooks Online, SQL Sentry and tyGraph. 

Organizational content packs provide users, BI professionals, and

system integrator the tools to build their own content packs to share
purpose-built dashboards, reports, and datasets within their
organization.
Power BI Interview Questions – DAX

9). What is DAX?

Ans: To do basic calculation and data analysis on data in power pivot,
we use Data Analysis Expression (DAX). It is formula language used
to compute calculated column and calculated field.

 DAX works on column values.

 DAX can not modify or insert data.
 We can create calculated column and measures with DAX  but
we can not calculate rows using DAX.

Sample DAX formula syntax:

For the measure named Total Sales, calculate (=) the SUM of values
in the [SalesAmount] column in the Sales table.
 A- Measure Name

B-  = – indicate beginning of formula

C- DAX FUNCTION

D- Parenthesis for Sum Function

E- Referenced Table

F- Referenced column name

10). What are the most common DAX Functions used?

Ans: Below are some of the most commonly used DAX function: 

 SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG, COUNTROWS, DISTINCTCOUNT

 IF, AND, OR, SWITCH
 ISBLANK, ISFILTERED, ISCROSSFILTERED
 VALUES, ALL, FILTER, CALCULATE,
 UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT, NATURALINNERJOIN,
NATURALLEFTEROUTERJOIN,
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, ISEMPTY,
 VAR (Variables)
 GEOMEAN, MEDIAN, DATEDIFF

11). How is the FILTER function used?

Ans: The FILTER function returns a table with a filter condition

applied for each of its source table rows. The FILTER function is rarely
used in isolation, it’s generally used as a parameter to other functions
such as CALCULATE. 

 FILTER is an iterator and thus can negatively impact

performance over large source tables.
 Complex filtering logic can be applied such as referencing a
measure in a filter expression.
o FILTER(MyTable,[SalesMetric] > 500)

12). What is special or unique about the CALCULATE and

CALCULATETABLE functions?

Ans: These are the only functions that allow you modify filter context
of measures or tables.

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 Add to existing filter context of queries.

 Override filter context from queries.
 Remove existing filter context from queries.

Limitations:

 Filter parameters can only operate on a single column at a time.

 Filter parameters cannot reference a metric.
13). What is the common table function for grouping data?

Ans:  SUMMARIZE()

 Main groupby function in SSAS.

 Recommended practice is to specify table and group by columns
but not metrics.You can use ADDCOLUMNS function.

 SUMMARIZECOLUMNS

 New group by function for SSAS and Power BI Desktop; more

efficient.
 Specify group by columns, table, and expressions.

14). What are some benefits of using Variables in DAX ?

Ans: Below are some of the benefits: 

 By declaring and evaluating a variable, the variable can be

reused multiple times in a DAX expression, thus avoiding
additional queries of the source database.
 Variables can make DAX expressions more intuitive/logical to
interpret.
 Variables are only scoped to their measure or query, they cannot
be shared among measures, queries or be defined at the model
level.

15). How would you create trailing X month metrics via DAX against a
non-standard calendar?

Ans:  The  solution will involve:

1. CALCULATE function to control (take over) filter context of

measures.
2. ALL to remove existing filters on the date dimension.
3. FILTER to identify which rows of the date dimension to use.

Alternatively, CONTAINS may be used:

  CALCULATE(FILTER(ALL(‘DATE’),…….))

16). What are the different Excel BI add-in?

Ans: Below are the most important BI add-in to Excel:

 Power Query: It helps in finding, editing and loading external

data.
 Power Pivot: Its mainly used for data modeling and analysis.

 Power View: It is used to design visual and interactively reports.

 Power Map: It helps to display insights on 3D Map.

Power BI Interview Questions – Power Pivot

17). What is Power Pivot?

Ans: Power Pivot is an add-in for Microsoft Excel 2010 that enables
you to import millions of rows of data from multiple data sources into a
single Excel workbook. It lets you create relationships between
heterogeneous data, create calculated columns and measures using
formulas, build PivotTables and PivotCharts. You can then further
analyze the data so that you can make timely business decisions
without requiring IT assistance.

18). What is Power Pivot Data Model?

Ans: It is a model that is made up of data types, tables, columns, and
table relations. These data tables are typically constructed for holding
data for a business entity.

19). What is xVelocity in-memory analytics engine used in Power

Pivot?
Ans: The main engine behind power pivot is the xVelocity in-memory
analytics engine. It can handle large amount of data because it stores
data in columnar databases, and in memory analytics which results in
faster processing of data as it loads all data to RAM memory.
21). What are some of differences in data modeling between Power BI
Desktop and Power Pivot for Excel?
Ans: Here are some of the differences:

 Power BI Desktop supports bi-directional cross filtering

relationships, security, calculated tables, and Direct Query
options.
 Power Pivot for Excel has single direction (one to many)
relationships, calculated columns only, and supports import
mode only. Security roles cannot be defined in Power Pivot for
Excel.

22). Can we have more than one active relationship between two
tables in data model of power pivot?
Ans: No, we cannot have more than one active relationship between
two tables. However, can have more than one relationship between
two tables but there will be only one active relationship and many
inactive relationship. The dotted lines are inactive and continuous line
are active.

Power BI Interview Questions – Power Query

23). What is Power Query?

Ans: Power query is a ETL Tool used to shape, clean and transform
data using intuitive interfaces without having to use coding. It helps
the user to:

 Import Data from wide range of sources from files, databases,

big data, social media data, etc.
 Join and append data from multiple data sources. 
o Shape data as per requirement by removing and adding
data.
o
24). What are the data destinations for Power Queries?
Ans: There are two destinations for output we get from power query:

1. Load to a table in a worksheet.

2. Load to the Excel Data Model.

25). What is query folding in Power Query?

Ans: Query folding is when steps defined in Power Query/Query
Editor are translated into SQL and executed by the source database
rather than the client machine. It’s important for processing
performance and scalability, given limited resources on the client
machine.

26). What are some common Power Query/Editor Transforms?

Ans: Changing Data Types, Filtering Rows, Choosing/Removing

Columns, Grouping, Splitting a column into multiple columns, Adding
new Columns ,etc.

27). Can SQL and Power Query/Query Editor be used together?

Ans: Yes, a SQL statement can be defined as the source of a Power
Query/M function for additional processing/logic. This would be a good
practice to ensure that an efficient database query is passed to the
source and avoid unnecessary processing and complexity
by the client machine and M function.

28). What are query parameters and Power BI templates?

Ans:Query parameters can be used to provide users of a local Power
BI Desktop report with a prompt, to specify the values they’re
interested in.

 The parameter selection can then be used by the query and

calculations.
 PBIX files can be exported as Templates (PBIT files).
 Templates contain everything in the PBIX except the data itself.
Parameters and templates can make it possible to share/email smaller
template files and limit the amount of data loaded into the local PBIX
files, improving processing time and experience .

29). Which language is used in Power Query?

Ans: A new programming language is used in power query called M-
Code. It is easy to use and similar to other languages. M-code is case
sensitive language.

30). Why do we need Power Query when Power Pivot can import data
from mostly used sources?
Ans: Power Query is a self-service ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
tool which runs as an Excel add-in. It allows users to pull data from
various sources, manipulate said data into a form that suits their
needs and load it into Excel. It is most optimum to use Power Query
over Power Pivot as it lets you not only load the data but also
manipulate it as per the users needs while loading.

Power BI Interview Questions – Power Map

31). What is Power Map?

Ans: Power Map is an Excel add-in that provides you with a powerful
set of tools to help you visualize and gain insight into large sets of
data that have a geo-coded component. It can help you produce 3D
visualizations by plotting upto a million data points in the form of
column, heat, and bubble maps on top of a Bing map. If the data is
time stamped, it can also produce interactive views that display, how
the data changes over space and time.

32). What are the primary requirement for a table to be used in Power
Map?
Ans: For a data to be consumed in power map there should be
location data like:

 Latitude/Longitude pair
  Street, City, Country/Region, Zip Code/Postal Code, and
State/Province, which can be geolocated by Bing

The primary requirement for the table is that it contains unique rows. It
must also contain location data, which can be in the form of a
Latitude/Longitude pair, although this is not a requirement. You can
use address fields instead, such as Street, City, Country/Region, Zip
Code/Postal Code, and State/Province, which can be geolocated by
Bing.

33). What are the data sources for Power Map?

Ans: The data can either be present in Excel or could be present
externally. To prepare your data, make sure all of the data is in Excel
table format, where each row represents a unique record. Your
column headings or row headings should contain text instead of actual
data, so that Power Map will interpret it correctly when it plots the
geographic coordinates. Using meaningful labels also makes value
and category fields available to you when you design your tour in the
Power Map Tour Editor pane.

To use a table structure which more accurately represents time and

geography inside Power Map, include all of the data in the table rows
and use descriptive text labels in the column headings, like this:

In case you wish to load your data from an external source:

1. In Excel, click Data > the connection you want in the Get

External Data group.
2. Follow the steps in the wizard that starts.
3. On the last step of the wizard, make sure Add this data to the
Data Model is checked.
Power BI Interview Questions – Additional Questions

34). What is Power View?

Ans: Power View is a data visualization technology that lets you
create interactive charts, graphs, maps, and other visuals which bring
your data to life. Power View is available in Excel, SharePoint, SQL
Server, and Power BI.

The following pages provide details about different visualizations

available in Power View:

 Charts 
 Line charts 
 Pie charts 
 Maps
 Tiles 
 Cards 
 Images
 Tables
 Power View
 Multiples Visualizations 
 Bubble and scatter charts 
 Key performance indicators (KPIs) 

35). What is Power BI Designer?

Ans: It is a stand alone application where we can make Power BI
reports and then upload it to Powerbi.com, it does not
require Excel. Actually, it is a combination of Power Query, Power
Pivot, and Power View.

36). Can we refresh our Power BI reports once uploaded to cloud

(Share point or Powebi.com)?
Ans: Yes we can refresh our reports through Data Management
gateway(for sharepoint), and Power BI Personal gateway(for
Powerbi.com)
37). What are the different types of refreshing data for our published
reports?
Ans: There are four main types of refresh in Power BI. Package
refresh, model or data refresh, tile refresh and visual container
refresh.
 Package refresh

This synchronizes your Power BI Desktop, or Excel, file between the

Power BI service and OneDrive, or SharePoint Online. However, this
does not pull data from the original data source. The dataset in Power
BI will only be updated with what is in the file within OneDrive, or
SharePoint Online.
 Model/data refresh

It referrs to refreshing the dataset, within the Power BI service, with

data from the original data source. This is done by either using
scheduled refresh, or refresh now. This requires a gateway for on-
premises data sources.
 Tile refresh

Tile refresh updates the cache for tile visuals, on the dashboard, once
data changes. This happens about every fifteen minutes. You can also
force a tile refresh by selecting the ellipsis (…) in the upper right of a
dashboard and selecting Refresh dashboard tiles.
 Visual container refresh

Refreshing the visual container updates the cached report visuals,

within a report, once the data changes.

To know more about data refresh and understand how to implement

data refresh, you can check the following link.

38). Is Power BI available on-premises?

Ans: No, Power BI is not available as a private, internal cloud service.
However, with Power BI and Power BI Desktop, you can securely
connect to your own on-premises data sources. With the On-premises
Data Gateway, you can connect live to your on-premises SQL Server
Analysis Services, and other data sources. You can also scheduled
refresh with a centralized gateway. If a gateway is not available, you
can refresh data from on-premises data sources using the Power BI
Gateway – Personal.

39). What is data management gateway and Power BI personal

gateway?
Ans: Gateway acts a bridge between on-premises data sources and
Azure cloud services.

Personal Gateway:

 Import Only, Power BI Service Only, No central

monitoring/managing.
 Can only be used by one person (personal); can’t allow others to
use this gateway.

On-Premises Gateway:

 Import and Direct Query supported.

 Multiple users of the gateway for developing content.
 Central monitoring and control.

40). What is Power BI Q&A?

Ans: Power BI Q&A is a natural language tool which helps in querying
your data and get the results you need from it. You do this by typing
into a dialog box on your Dashboard, which the engine
instantaneously generates an answer similar to Power View. Q&A
interprets your questions and shows you a restated query of what it is
looking from your data. Q&A was developed by Server and Tools,
Microsoft Research and the Bing teams to give you  a complete
feeling of truly exploring your data.

41). What are some ways that Excel  experience can be leveraged with
Power BI?
Ans: Below are some of the ways through which we can leverage
Power BI:
  The Power BI Publisher for Excel:
o Can be used to pin Excel items (charts, ranges, pivot
tables) to Power BI Service.
o Can be used to connect to datasets and reports stored in
Power BI Service.
 Excel workbooks can be uploaded to Power BI and viewed in the
browser like Excel Services.
 Excel reports in the Power BI service can be shared via Content
Packs like other reports.
 Excel workbooks (model and tables) can be exported to service
for PBI report creation.
 Excel workbook Power Pivot models can be imported to Power
BI Desktop models.

42). What is a calculated column in Power BI and why would you

use them?
Ans: Calculated Columns are DAX expressions that are computed
during the model’s processing/refresh process for each row of the
given column and can be used like any other column in the model.

Calculated columns are not compressed and thus consume more

memory and result in reduced query performance. They can also
reduce processing/refresh performance if applied on large fact tables
and can make a model more difficult to maintain/support given
that the calculated column is not present in the source system.

43). How is data security implemented in Power BI ?

Ans:  Power BI can apply Row Level Security roles to models.

 A DAX expression is applied on a table filtering its rows at query

time.
 Dynamic security involves the use of USERNAME functions in
security role definitions.
 Typically a table is created in the model that relates users to
specific dimensions and a role.
44). What are many-to-many relationships and how can they be
addressed in Power BI ?
Ans: Many to Many relationships involve a bridge or junction table
reflecting the combinations of two dimensions (e.g. doctors and
patients). Either all possible combinations or those combinations that
have occurred.

 Bi-Directional Crossfiltering relationships can be used in PBIX.

 CROSSFILTER function can be used in Power Pivot for Excel.
 DAX can be used per metric to check and optionally modify the
filter context.

45). Why might you have a table in the model without any

relationships to other tables?
Ans: There are mainly 2 reasons why we would have tables without
relations in our model:

 A disconnected table might be used to present the user with

parameter values to be exposed and selected in slicers (e.g.
growth assumption.)
o DAX metrics could retrieve this selection and use it with
other calculations/metrics.
 A disconnected table may also be used as a placeholder for
metrics in the user interface.
o It may not contain any rows of data and its columns could
be hidden but all metrics are visible.

46). What is the Power BI Publisher for Excel?

Ans:  You can use Power BI publisher for Excel to pin ranges, pivot
tables and charts to Power BI.

 The user can manage the tiles – refresh them, remove them, in
Excel.
 Pinned items must be removed from the dashboard in the
service (removing in Excel only deletes the connection).
 The Power BI Publisher for Excel can also be used to connect
from Excel to datasets that are hosted in the Power BI Service.
  An Excel pivot table is generated with a connection (ODC file) to
the data in Azure.

The Publisher installs all necessary drivers on local machine to

establish connectivity .

47). What are the differences between a Power BI Dataset, a Report,

and a Dashboard?
Ans:  Dataset: The source used to create reports and visuals/tiles.

 A data model (local to PBIX or XLSX) or model in an Analysis

Services Server
 Data could be inside of model (imported) or a Direct Query
connection to a source.

Report: An individual Power BI Desktop file (PBIX) containing one or

more report pages.

 Built for deep, interactive analysis experience for a given dataset

(filters, formatting).
 Each Report is connected to atleast one dataset 
 Each page containing one or more visuals or tiles.

Dashboard: a collection of visuals or tiles from different reports and,

optionally, a pinned.

 Built to aggregate primary visuals and metrics from multiple

datasets.

48) What are the three Edit Interactions options of a visual tile in

Power BI Desktop? 
Ans: The 3 edit interaction options are  Filter, Highlight, and None.

Filter: It completely filter a visual/tile based on the filter selection of

another visual/tile.

Highlight: It highlight only the related elements on the visual/tile, gray

out the non-related items.
None: It ignore the filter selection from another tile/visual.

49). What are some of the differences in report authoring capabilities

between using a live or direct query connection such as to an
Analysis Services model, relative to working with a data model local
to the Power BI Desktop file?
Ans: With a data model local to the PBIX file (or Power Pivot
workbook), the author has full control over the queries, the
modeling/relationships, the metadata and the metrics.

With a live connection to an Analysis Services database (cube) the

user cannot create new metrics, import new data, change the
formatting of the metrics, etc – the user can only use the visualization,
analytics, and formatting available on the report canvas.

With a direct query model in Power BI to SQL Server, for example, the
author has access to the same features (and limitations) available to
SSAS  Direct Query mode.

 Only one data source (one database on one server) may be

used, certain DAX functions are not optimized, and the user
cannot use Query Editor functions that cannot be translated into
SQL statements.

50). How does SSRS integrate with Power BI?

Ans: Below are some of the way through which SSRS can be
integrated with Power BI: 

 Certain SSRS Report items such as charts can be pinned to

Power BI dashboards.
 Clicking the tile in Power BI dashboards will bring the user to the
SSRS report.
 A subscription is created to keep the dashboard tile refreshed.
 Power BI reports will soon be able to be published to SSRS
portal