Data Modeling with DAX - Overview

The decision makers in all the organizations have identified the need for analyzing the historical data of their organization in specific, and of the industry in general. This is becoming crucial day-by-day in the present competitive world, to meet the ever-changing business challenges.

Big Data and Business Intelligence have become the buzzwords in the business world. Data sources have become huge and data formats have become variant. The need of the hour is to have simple-to-use tools to handle the ever-flowing vast data in less time to gain insight and make relevant decisions at the appropriate time.

Data analysts can no longer wait for the required data to be processed by the IT department. They require a handy tool that enables them to quickly comprehend the required data and make it available in a format that helps the decision makers take required action at the right time.

Microsoft Excel has a powerful tool called as Power Pivot that was available as an add-in in the prior versions of Excel and is built-in feature in Excel 2016. The database of Power Pivot, called the data model and the formula language that works on the data model, called DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) enables an Excel user to perform tasks such as data modeling and analysis in no time.

In this tutorial, you will learn data modeling and analysis using DAX, based on the Power Pivot data model. A sample Profit and Analysis database is used for the illustrations throughout this tutorial.

Data Modeling and Analysis Concepts

The data that you obtain from different variety of sources, termed as raw data, needs processing before you can utilize it for analysis purposes. You will learn about these in the chapter − Data Modeling and Analysis Concepts.

Data Modeling and Analysis with Excel Power Pivot

Since the tool that you will be mastering in this tutorial is Excel Power Pivot, you need to know how the data modeling and analysis steps are carried out in Power Pivot. You will learn these at a broader level in the chapter - Data Modeling and Analysis with Excel Power Pivot.

As you proceed with the subsequent chapters, you will learn about the different facets of Power Pivot, DAX and DAX functions in data modeling and analysis.

By the end of the tutorial, you will be able to perform data modeling and analysis with DAX for any context at hand.