Average Rating: (19 Reviews)
We know that data is not usually stored in nicely curated databases and often – even when it is – the data analyst doesn’t have access to it. Instead, we must piece together data provided in text files, Excel files, web pages, and even the body of emails to build the business intelligence solutions we need. Until now this has been a painful process with a great deal of cut and paste effort, and updates have been tedious and error prone. That stops with this workshop!
The Self Service BI Boot Camp begins with a deep exploration of Power Query. Built-in to both Excel and Power BI, Power Query can clean, reshape, and combine your data with ease – no matter where it comes from. Converting ASCII files into tables, combining multiple text files in one shot, and even un-pivoting data is not only simple, but an investment in the future. With Power Query’s robust feature set at our fingertips, and our data clean and ready to be used, we’re now ready to explore creating dynamic business intelligence models that are refreshable with a single click.
Next, we introduce the benefits, concepts and key terminology of Dimensional Modeling. Based on the Power Pivot Data model, it’s this portion that lays the cornerstone of your reporting solution. You’ll learn the difference between Facts, Dimensions and Relationships, where they live, and how to design and link their parent tables correctly. You’ll also learn some key Power Query recipe patterns for solving two of the most frequent challenges when trying to relate tables together.
While learning to create the proper dimensional model is critical to every solution, the visible magic happens when we talk about DAX in the next section of the workshop. This powerful formula language allows us to report on much more than just the ‘Sum of Sales’. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create a variety of DAX measures, understand how DAX measures are calculated, and how to control their Filter Context. These are all critical skills for building your own advanced measures for your work.
No course on self-service BI would be complete without discussing calendar intelligence, which is exactly why we cover it. From building calendar tables on the fly to exploring the “Golden Date” pattern, we’ll work through the steps required for extending our model to report based on our own year-end.
Finally, we’ll dive into specific features of Excel and Power BI that every analyst should know. How easy is it to create a Power BI report and use a variety of different visuals for displaying data? How can you publish a Power BI report and share it with other users? How do you manage those permissions? All these questions will be answered!
Throughout this workshop, you’ll be working with both Excel and Power BI. Why? Because the tools and concepts you’ll be learning work in both places. So how do you know which one is right for the job? We’ll talk not only about that, but also how they can be used together in one solution. Come and join us to revolutionize your reporting process!
You can view a full listing of the topics covered in this course in the Course Content section further down this page.
Experience creating and modifying Excel PivotTables is highly encouraged.
If you are comfortable creating PivotTables from a data source, you’ll will be able to get a lot out of this course. But if you have ever run into one (or both) of the following two issues, you’ll know you are absolutely ready:
Ultimately, experience with Power Pivot and Power BI are optional as we will teach you what you need to know in both these areas.
Having said this, if you are already using Power Pivot, here are some key factors that also indicate you are ready for this course. You may have:
If any of these sound familiar (or not), we’ll show you how to solve them.
For Power BI users, we recommend that you have experience getting data from a raw data source and building reports. As long as you’re able to do this with some success you’re good to go.
Keep in mind that our journey will start in Excel, but we will teach you the ‘how’ and ‘why’ so that you can apply the techniques in the correct tool for the correct job.
Visit our Learning Journey page to compare courses by skill level and area of specialization.
This course is a hybrid format of pre-recorded video training interspersed with live online Q&A and coaching with Ken Puls, for direct help with your questions. The Boot Camp is broken down into two main sections:
The main course curriculum includes nearly 24 hours of pre-recorded video training, of which approximately 2.5-3.5 hours will be assigned per week. While attendees are able to consume as much as they want at any time, our recommendation is to dedicate one afternoon per week. Doing so allows completion of the entire course over a period of approximately 14 weeks (including a ‘reading week’ every 4th week.)
In addition to the main course curriculum, this course also includes access to twice-monthly “Ask Ken Anything” (AKA) sessions for as long as your subscription is active. Each of these sessions is up to 2 hours in length, conducted live and recorded for later review. This is a great way to receive continued coaching on a longer-term basis, as you apply your skills in the real world and run into real world problems.
Questions for the sessions may be submitted in advance, and all of the live AKA sessions will be recorded and shared with participants. Thus, you will still be able to learn from the discussions even if you are not able to join Ken live (due to time zone conflicts, other commitments, etc.) or get called away for part of the session. This also allows you to watch the recordings on your own schedule, and to pause, rewind, and practice more with example files.
If you are not able to join us live for the AKA calls (please see below for schedule), you can still submit your questions to Ken beforehand and he will answer them in the session. You will then be able to watch the answer later on in the session recording.
As with all of our training courses, we also provide access to our curated Skillwave Support Forum as well, allowing you to get answers on a quicker basis should you need more immediate help.
The core of this course contains approximately 42.5 hours of training, based on:
If registrants attend (or watch the recordings of) all 46 hours of the AKA sessions, this course includes more than 70 hours of training in total.
Registration is ongoing with new intakes beginning each month. Upon joining the course, attendees will be invited to join a “Kick-off” calls where Ken will walk through the details on how the program works. These calls are generally hosted on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Pacific Time and 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM Pacific Time. Attendees are encouraged to join the call that makes the most sense for their time zone.
With the exception of December, Ken hosts 2 “Ask Ken Anything” sessions per month – generally on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month, resulting in approximately 23 AKA calls held each year. Call times alternate between morning and afternoon (Pacific Time), in order to allow students from different time zones the opportunity to join the sessions in person. All AKA calls are recorded, and students are able to submit questions in advance.
Also, you may join any of the AKA sessions for as long as you are subscribed to the course, even those after your initial enrollment semester ends.
Average Rating
(based on 19 reviews)
First release of the course.
Release of Master Your Data with Excel and Power BI book (formerly titled M is for (Data) Monkey). Course registrants now receive the new second edition instead of the original first edition.
Updates made to the Power Query Recipes:
Power Query Recipes Updates:
Power Query Recipes Updates:
Updates made to the Power Query Recipes:
Power Query Recipes Updates:
Power Query Recipes Updates:
The original format of weekly 30-minute Q&A calls + monthly ‘Ask Ken Anything’ (AKA) calls replaced with twice-monthly AKA calls that are 2-hours each. This is to better accommodate new semesters kicking off each month instead of each quarter.
7.5 hours of new and updated content added to the course, including:
This course is built on an annual subscription format. Your registration comes with 12 months of access to the course materials, so you can refer back to the videos and example files whenever you like. Your subscription also gives you access to our private Discussion Forum, where you can ask questions related to the course materials, as well as how to apply those teachings to your own work. This forum is an invaluable resource that also allows students to practice their own learnings by helping others with those questions.
On your annual renewal date, your subscription will be automatically renewed with the credit card information on file, unless you cancel your subscription beforehand. You will be emailed a renewal reminder about one month before the renewal date. Please see the FAQs below for information about subscription renewals and cancellations.
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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.