How do I access the course materials? Are they downloadable?
The videos are streamed on-demand and may be watched as often as you like. However, they are not downloadable. The example files and handouts for each lesson are downloadable.
Do I have to wait until the semester start date before I begin watching the videos?
No, you can begin watching the videos and using the example files as soon as you are registered. You do not have to wait for the kick-off call. Additionally, your subscription will be extended to one year from the semester start date, not the date of purchase.
Where are the course videos hosted?
All the videos for the course are hosted on Vimeo. Please note that some networks block access to Vimeo, in which case the videos will not be watchable. You may want to double-check that your network allows access to Vimeo before registering in the Academy, to ensure that you will be able to see the videos.
How do I receive my Certificate of Completion?
After all the modules and lessons have been completed, you will be able to download the Certificate of Completion from the My Courses area of your Account Dashboard.
What support is included with the course? How do I ask questions?
All users with a current course subscription receive access to our private Discussion Forum, where they can ask questions related to the course materials, as well as how to apply those teachings to their own work. This forum is also intended to act as a place for students to practice their own learnings by helping others with those questions. While the focus of this forum is primarily aimed at allowing students to learn by helping each other, they are monitored by our course authors as well. For technical issues related to the site, course access, or other questions regarding your account, please get in touch through our Contact Us page.
How do I submit questions for the AKA sessions? Can I still submit questions if I am not able to join the session live?
We recommend you may submit your questions (and upload any support files) at least 24 hours before the call via the 'Ask Ken Submissions' lesson. If you are not able to join the AKA session live, you can still submit your question and watch the session recording later.
How do I access the recordings of the live AKA sessions?
After the AKA session, the recording will be uploaded to the 'AKA Session Recordings' lesson (usually within 48 hours) so you can watch them whenever you like.
Can my corporate groups get private AKA sessions?
Yes, if you have a group of 15 or more people registered in the course, we are happy to offer one private AKA session in addition to the regular AKA sessions open to all students. This will allow the instructor to help you directly with questions on your organization's data, instead of having to provide a cleansed sample data set that is safe to be viewed by others.
How do I renew my subscription?
If you subscription is set to auto-renew, our system will automatically renew your subscription for another year on your renewal date using the billing information on file. If you subscription is set to manual renewal, our system will generate a manual invoice and email it to you on the renewal date. About a month (4 weeks) before your next renewal date, you will receive an email from us reminding you that the renewal is coming up and to confirm your billing details so your access is uninterrupted.
How do I cancel my subscription?
You may cancel your subscription at any time, and you will continue to have access to all of your course materials until your expiry date. To cancel your subscription, go to the Billing page from your Account Dashboard and select the subscription to cancel from the My Subscriptions area. Once in the Subscription Details page, you can then choose to cancel your subscription from the Actions field. After your subscription expires, you will not longer have access to the course materials, including the downloadable 'Master Your Data' book and Recipe Cards.
What payment methods do you accept? What currency is used?
We accept credit card payments through our secure online payment portal, Stripe. If you would like to discuss other payment options, please get in touch through our Contact Us page. All transactions are charged in US Dollars. Please note that because Skillwave is registered in Canada, we are required by Canada Revenue Agency to collect the 5% Goods & Services Tax (GST) on registrations made by Canadians.
What is your refund policy for this course?
We think you will love our training; however, if you are unsatisfied with the training for any reason, we offer a 14-day 100% money-back guarantee, as long as you have completed less than 25% of the course. All we ask in return is that you tell us why you were unsatisfied with the training. We do not offer refunds if you have completed over 25% of the course and/or it is more than 14 days after the purchase date.
Can an account be shared with or transferred to another user?
Logins, downloads, and other materials are for the exclusive use of the registered user only. Sharing of credentials is in violation of our site policies and may result in termination of product and/or site access without notice.
How to I receive my complimentary Monkey Tools license?
Our team will be in touch with you within 3 business days after you register with information on how to obtain your license. The annual license is free for as long as you are part of the course. Thus, if you choose to renew your subscription to the course, we will also renew your Monkey Tools license for another year at no charge. (If you choose not to continue your course access next year, you may choose to either cancel or renew the Monkey Tools license separately.)
What if I already have a Monkey Tools license?
For existing Monkey Tools license holders, we will extend your Monkey Tools pro license renewal date until one month after the course subscription renewal/expiration date. No refunds or other extensions will be provided for overlapping subscription terms.
Cristian (verified owner) –
This course is fantastic! It’s like the “swiss army knife” course for any Self Service BI professional : it goes from getting the data, transforming it with Power Query into a proper Dimensional Model, understanding relationships, filter context and use DAX to uncover “un-seen” insights by creating your own measures, creating the necessary visualizations and then publishing and secure-sharing the reports in Power BI service.
There’s a huge amount of great support material in this course and pre-recorded videos are very well prepared. The relevance and quality of both sample files and video materials, together with the excellent answers provided by Ken in the Q&As are just brilliant.
The combination of pre-recorded video materials, weekly Q&A Live Calls and especially the AMA sessions were the best fit for my style of learning. In between the Live Q&A sessions there is time to “digest” the new information and come up meaningful questions to clarify the concepts. I really enjoyed learning at my own pace and I am glad that I could grow my skills as a SSBI professional.
I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in learning or recapping on previous things they’ve learned on Power BI or Power Query and Power Pivot in Excel.
Steffen (verified owner) –
This course designed and led by Ken Puls is absolutely fantastic! From simple pivot tables to advanced subjects with Power Query, DAX, Dimensional Modeling and Power BI, you get the complete package with best practices, excercises, Q&A and AMA-sessions. There are also additional PDF files on DAX Measures that are very helpful.
Ken knows what is important and convey his knowledge very well and practically.
I can highly recommend the course to everyone who wants to get the most out of all the the Power BI Tools! Great content!
Stanton (verified owner) –
The Self Service BI Boot Camp is the best all-around course I’ve taken to understand better the ins and outs of data modeling with Power BI. Each module provides a clear and concise explanation of the subject matter, and example files deliver the practice you need to learn the techniques taught. Thank you, Ken Puls and Skillwave.
MARTIN STUBBINGS (verified owner) –
Ken and his team have put together a great course. The learning materials were really well presented and broken down into modules that built up from a refresher on pivot tables to publishing Power BI reports in order to make them accessible to colleagues. The Q&A calls with Ken allow participants to clarify any points that have not been fully understood. Although I had some very basic knowledge around the subject matter, the course clarified and consolidated a lot of my previous learning as well as introducing me to aspects that I had completely missed. I would recommend this course.
Jeff (verified owner) –
Huge props for the care and thought taken in both the structure and layout/visuals for this course. Most video courses don’t amount to much more than a narrated power point. But Ken delivers the material in a very casual (yet concise-no fluff), conversational tone that makes it so easy to digest – I can watch video after video and never get mentally fatigued.
Contrary to what I’ve found for learning DAX, Ken has ditched the static theory approach and explains the concepts to more reflect how we approach problem solving in the real world. And the visuals to support the explanations are just fantastic, which my brain loves.
This course manages to cover a very wide range of everything you need to: get your data into a clean and robust dataset; model and relate it all properly for speed and scalability; and then create visuals to tell the story in the data. It is not a deep dive into the coding side but it will leave you knowing exactly where you need to go deeper. With so many aspects to BI, I’ve found that knowing what to learn next is half the battle.
The AMA and Q&A sessions alone are worth the course price. Having Ken and the community to bounce questions off of would cost thousands in training and consulting fees.
John Hanson (verified owner) –
Ken has a wonderful teaching style. He’s very knowledgeable and clearly has a passion for Power Query and DAX. He dives into details yet walks through each step with very well laid out lessons and before and after files so I never felt lost. Additionally, Ken’s foundational teaching in proper setup of data sources, relationships, and other future-proofing concepts has benefited me greatly in building my own data models.
I got through 90% of the course and got side-tracked putting principles learned into real life practice… Glad I have the subscription because I wrapped things up and got to play around with my new Monkey Tools Pro add-in live while going through some of the unwatched lessons. Appreciate you all and the entire Skillwave Team!
Cynthia Scherbarth (verified owner) –
I really did like all the learning. There is so much that I don’t know. Taking me through step by step was great, and doing it while seeing it be done was the best. It went very fast, I had to slow down all the presentations and I had to watch them multiple times so I could get it. I’m just so thankful that I was able to do just that. I thought this was a very informative course. I did learn a lot and again, I’m very thankful that I will be able to come back to this and look up different courses when needed. I’m sure that I’ll be back. Thank you!
Stephen Ng (verified owner) –
I am a daily Excel user for over 10 years. This course completely transformed the way I use the software. It has improved my efficiency, enabled me to solve problems that I didn’t know was possible, and opened doors for my career. Overall, I highly recommend this course. Thank you Ken Puls!
Tristan (verified owner) –
I liked the vast content.
Geoff Mondy (verified owner) –
I liked the relatable content and ready-to-use solutions. Ken had a great way of demystifying complex terminology. I’m looking forward to my next course with Skillwave soon.
Rod Apfelbeck (verified owner) –
The best part was that it opened a bunch of new possibilities to me. I really, really enjoyed this course even though it was sometimes at the fringes of my understanding. I thought the content and your presentation style were both excellent. I also greatly value the continued access to the AMA sessions. Whether this was a good investment or not will be decided based on how much I’m able to implement these new tools/ideas/possibilities that you’ve made me aware of, and a key to that is if I have somewhere to turn when inevitably something doesn’t work as expected.
Mike (verified owner) –
Learning Power Query opened up a whole new world for me. I’m using it on a daily basis now. I’m saving so much time without having to manually filter reports, etc. The self service format is great. I can easily follow the instructions and get practice on my own time. My days can be so busy, so having a self service course is very helpful.
Jon Krueger (verified owner) –
The examples provided and the clarity of the instruction given were all excellent. I particularly appreciated the complexity involved and look forward to going back through the videos a second, maybe even a third time, to try and master the concepts. Ken appears to be super nice, and super helpful. A genuine teacher. Happy that I purchased the course.
Basma Hassan (verified owner) –
I loved how every explanation was followed with a worked through example as well as resources to work in our own time. Also I liked how the website would automatically jump to the next video, very efficient! Thank you for creating this course and I look forward to future courses.
Douglas Munsch (verified owner) –
I liked the quality of the lessons and the promptness of feedback from Ken and the other students in the forums and Ask Me Anything sessions. The class was a grand slam.
Andrew Hunt (verified owner) –
The content was well laid out, but it would be nice if there was assignments.