This is a practical-focused beginners introduction to Power BI. It runs as a series of four interactive sessions, aiming at building a simple dashboard from a group of Excel files. It's free to access for those working in health, social care, or housing across Scotland.

• introduction to Power BI desktop
• getting comfortable with the interface and terminology
• load some data
• start visualising your data
  • Quick line graph
  • Quick summary measure

• data tidying
  • especially working with numeric dates
  • thinking about how to collect data for Power BI
• calculations with data using measures

• visualising data using graphs
• summarising and displaying data
• dynamic text on the your dashboard

• finishing touches and storytelling
• troubleshooting
• publishing

• This is a beginner's course, so no previous Power BI experience is needed at all. That said, you will need good general computing skills. Excel experience is a bonus.
• It's definitely focused on applications in health, social care, and housing, so you should have some relevant experience in any of these sectors. It is not a generic introduction to Power BI.
• We'll be working on Power BI desktop. You'll need to arrange access to this in advance of the sessions yourself.
  • if you're an NHS Scotland employee, you'll need to be on an E5 licence to access Power BI desktop.