Top 50 Power BI Interview Questions & Answers for Beginners | Crack Your Next IT Job! Part 1

25 beginner-level interview questions with corresponding answers related to Power BI:

1. What is Power BI?

Answer: Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft that provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface simple enough for end-users to create their own reports and dashboards.

2. What are the main components of Power BI?

Answer: The main components of Power BI are Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, and Power BI Mobile Apps.

3. How do you connect to a data source in Power BI?

Answer: In Power BI Desktop, you can connect to a data source by clicking on the "Get Data" button in the Home ribbon, selecting the appropriate data source, and following the prompts to establish the connection.

4. What is a Power BI Dashboard?

Answer: A Power BI Dashboard is a single-page, often called a canvas, that uses visualizations to tell a story. It is a collection of visuals from multiple reports, providing an overview of the data.

5. What is DAX in Power BI?

Answer: DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a collection of functions, operators, and constants used in Power BI to create formulas and expressions for calculating and analyzing data.

6. How do you create a calculated column in Power BI?

Answer: To create a calculated column in Power BI, go to the Data view, select the table where you want to add the column, and then click on "New Column" in the Modeling tab. Enter your DAX formula for the calculated column.

7. What is the difference between a report and a dashboard in Power BI?

Answer: A report in Power BI is a multi-page canvas with various visualizations based on a single dataset, while a dashboard is a single-page view with visuals from multiple reports, providing a consolidated view.

8. How do you share a Power BI report?

Answer: You can share a Power BI report by publishing it to the Power BI Service and then using the "Share" option to invite others via email, providing them with access to view or edit the report.

9. What is a Power BI Gateway?

Answer: A Power BI Gateway is a software that acts as a bridge, providing secure data transfer between on-premises data sources and Power BI service for refreshes and live queries.

10. Explain the role of filters in Power BI.

Answer: Filters in Power BI are used to restrict data at various levels (visual, page, or report) to display only the information that meets certain criteria, helping users focus on specific insights.

11. What is a Power BI slicer?

Answer: A Power BI slicer is a visual filter that allows users to segment and filter data on a report page dynamically. It provides an intuitive way to filter data by selecting values.

12. How do you handle missing data in Power BI?

Answer: In Power BI, missing data can be handled by using the Query Editor to replace null values, remove rows with missing data, or use DAX functions to handle blanks in calculations.

13. What are the steps to create a Power BI report?

Answer: The steps to create a Power BI report are: connect to data sources, transform and clean the data, create relationships between tables, build visuals and charts, apply filters and slicers, and finally, publish the report.

14. What is the Power Query Editor in Power BI?

Answer: The Power Query Editor in Power BI is a data transformation and data preparation tool that allows users to clean, transform, and shape data before loading it into the Power BI model.

15. How do you create a relationship between tables in Power BI?

Answer: To create a relationship between tables in Power BI, go to the Relationships view, drag a field from one table and drop it onto a related field in another table. Power BI will automatically create the relationship if the fields are compatible.

16. What are the different types of joins in Power BI?

Answer: The different types of joins in Power BI are Inner Join, Left Outer Join, Right Outer Join, Full Outer Join, Anti Join, and Cross Join.

17. How do you create a measure in Power BI?

Answer: To create a measure in Power BI, go to the Data or Report view, select the table where you want to create the measure, and then click on "New Measure" in the Modeling tab. Enter your DAX formula for the measure.

18. What is the difference between a calculated column and a measure?

Answer: A calculated column is computed at the row level and stored in the table, while a measure is computed on the fly during query time and is used in aggregations or calculations in visuals.

19. How do you implement row-level security (RLS) in Power BI?

Answer: To implement row-level security in Power BI, you define roles and create DAX expressions to restrict data access. Then, assign users to these roles in the Power BI Service.

20. What is Power BI Q&A?

Answer: Power BI Q&A is a natural language processing feature that allows users to ask questions about their data using plain English. Power BI interprets the question and generates the corresponding visualization.

21. How do you schedule data refresh in Power BI?

Answer: In the Power BI Service, you can schedule data refresh by going to the dataset settings, configuring the refresh frequency (daily, weekly, etc.), and specifying the credentials for data sources.

22. What is a Power BI theme?

Answer: A Power BI theme is a predefined set of colors, fonts, and formatting options that can be applied to reports and dashboards to ensure consistent and professional-looking visuals.

23. How do you use bookmarks in Power BI?

Answer: Bookmarks in Power BI are used to capture the current state of a report page, including filters, slicers, and visuals. They allow users to navigate to predefined views or create interactive storytelling.

24. Explain the use of custom visuals in Power BI.

Answer: Custom visuals in Power BI are additional visualizations created by the community or developers that can be imported into Power BI to extend the default visual options, providing more flexibility and customization.

25. What is the Power BI Service?

Answer: The Power BI Service is a cloud-based service that allows users to publish, share, and collaborate on Power BI reports and dashboards. It provides features like sharing, commenting, data refresh scheduling, and access control.