Course lexiconInterface & files
Power BI Desktop
The free Windows application where you connect to data, clean it, model it, write calculations and design reports. The whole of this course except sharing happens here.
Course lexicon
Power BI, in plain language
Sixty-eight terms from the course, defined for development practitioners rather than corporate analysts. Search, or filter by part of the workflow.
Interface & files
Power BI Service
The cloud at app.powerbi.com where finished reports are published and shared. Viewing and light editing work in any browser; publishing needs a paid licence.
Interface & files
Power BI Mobile
The phone and tablet apps for viewing published reports. A consumption surface, not an authoring one.
Interface & files
.pbix file
The Power BI file format. A single file that can bundle the queries, the data model with its calculations, and the report pages, which makes a whole analysis portable.
Interface & files
Report view
The canvas where you build and arrange visuals. The first of the three view icons on the left edge.
Interface & files
Data view
The grid that shows the actual rows of a loaded table, for inspecting values. The middle view icon.
Interface & files
Model view
The diagram where tables and their relationships are shown and edited. The third view icon, where you build a star schema.
Interface & files
Ribbon
The command bar across the top: Home, Insert, Modeling, View and others. Get Data and Refresh live on Home.
Interface & files
Fields pane
The list on the right of every table, column and measure in your model. You drag from here onto visuals.
Interface & files
Visualizations pane
The panel where you choose a chart type and drag fields into wells such as Axis, Values and Legend.
Get Data & Power Query
Get Data
The Home-ribbon entry point to over a hundred connectors: Excel, Text/CSV, Web, databases and more. Where every project begins.
Get Data & Power Query
Connector
A built-in method for reading a particular kind of source, such as the Excel, CSV or Web connector.
Get Data & Power Query
Load
The button that brings data straight into the model as-is, skipping cleaning. Usually the wrong default.
Get Data & Power Query
Transform Data
The button that opens the Power Query Editor so you can clean before loading. Usually the right default.
Get Data & Power Query
Power Query Editor
The environment for cleaning and reshaping data through a recorded sequence of steps.
Get Data & Power Query
Applied Steps
The ordered list of every transformation applied to a query. An audit trail and a recipe that re-runs on each refresh.
Get Data & Power Query
M language
The functional language behind Power Query. Each Applied Step is M code; the Advanced Editor shows it.
Get Data & Power Query
Promote headers
Turn the first row of values into column names. Common after removing a stray title row from a government export.
Get Data & Power Query
Change type
Set a column's data type, such as decimal number or text. Wrong types are the most common cause of broken totals.
Get Data & Power Query
Filter rows
Drop unwanted rows in Power Query, such as blanks, footnotes or a Total row that would double-count.
Get Data & Power Query
Trim and Clean
Transformations that remove leading and trailing spaces (Trim) and non-printing characters (Clean), fixing keys that look equal but are not.
Get Data & Power Query
Replace values
Swap one value for another across a column, such as turning the text NA into a true null.
Get Data & Power Query
Split column
Break one column into several by a delimiter, such as separating State and District from a combined label.
Get Data & Power Query
Unpivot
Reshape a wide table (one column per indicator) into a long one (one row per observation). The key move for survey factsheets.
Get Data & Power Query
Unpivot Other Columns
Unpivot everything except a chosen key column, so newly added indicators flow in automatically on future files.
Get Data & Power Query
Merge
Join two queries by a matching key, bringing columns from one into the other. Supports left, inner, full outer and anti-joins.
Get Data & Power Query
Append
Stack the rows of two queries into one, a union. Used to combine survey rounds into one long table.
Get Data & Power Query
Reference vs Duplicate
Reference creates a query that points at another and follows its changes; Duplicate makes an independent copy.
Get Data & Power Query
Close & Apply
The command that exits Power Query and loads the cleaned tables into the model.
Modelling
Star schema
A model with one central fact table joined to surrounding dimension tables. The shape to aim for in nearly all cases.
Modelling
Fact table
The table of events or measurements, one row per observation, holding the numbers you aggregate and keys to the dimensions.
Modelling
Dimension table
A table of descriptive context, each item listed once, such as a District or Date table. What you slice and group by.
Modelling
Relationship
A defined link between two tables on a shared key, letting filters and calculations flow between them.
Modelling
Cardinality
The nature of a relationship: usually one-to-many, from a dimension to the fact table.
Modelling
Cross-filter direction
Which way a filter flows across a relationship. Single is the safe default; bidirectional only for a named need.
Modelling
Date table
A dedicated table with one continuous row per period, marked as a date table, required for reliable time intelligence.
Modelling
Key
The column used to match rows across tables in a relationship, such as a district code. Must share type and be clean.
DAX
DAX
Data Analysis Expressions, the formula language for calculations. Looks like Excel formulas; behaves differently.
DAX
Measure
A calculation evaluated on demand against the current filter context, not stored. The right tool for rates, totals and shares.
DAX
Calculated column
A calculation evaluated row by row at refresh and stored in the table. Used sparingly, for things like a classification flag.
DAX
Row context
The single-row perspective in which a calculated column is evaluated.
DAX
Filter context
The set of filters active when a measure is evaluated, set by slicers, the visual, and any CALCULATE around it.
DAX
SUM / AVERAGE
Basic aggregate functions over a column.
DAX
DIVIDE
Safe division that returns blank instead of an error when the denominator is zero. Use it instead of the slash, always.
DAX
CALCULATE
The central DAX function: it evaluates a measure while modifying the filter context, which is how comparisons are built.
DAX
FILTER
Returns a filtered table, often used inside CALCULATE for conditions a simple equals cannot express.
DAX
DISTINCTCOUNT
Counts the unique values in a column, such as how many distinct districts reported.
DAX
VAR / RETURN
Variables in a DAX expression, used to make multi-step measures readable and to compute a value once.
DAX
Time intelligence
Calculations comparing periods, such as change between survey rounds, which depend on a proper date table.
Visualisation
Bar chart
Encodes magnitude as length, read accurately. The default for comparing categories; sort it for an instant ranking.
Visualisation
Line chart
Encodes change over an ordered axis such as time. Not for unordered categories.
Visualisation
Choropleth / filled map
A map shading regions by a value. Map a rate, not a raw count, or it mostly shows where people live.
Visualisation
Card
A visual showing one big headline number, such as a national rate.
Visualisation
Matrix / table
Visuals for exact values across one or two dimensions, when the reader needs numbers rather than a shape.
Visualisation
Slicer
An on-canvas control that filters the page, such as a state selector.
Visualisation
Truncated axis
A value axis that does not start at zero, which exaggerates differences. Avoid for bar charts.
Visualisation
Conditional formatting
Colouring values by a rule, such as turning districts above a threshold amber. Updates as data refreshes.
Visualisation
Alt text
A written description of a visual for screen readers and accessibility, part of responsible report design.
Report & sharing
Cross-filtering
Clicking a data point in one visual filters the others on the page. On by default; tunable via Edit interactions.
Report & sharing
Drill-through
A right-click jump to a dedicated detail page that carries the selected item's filter.
Report & sharing
Bookmark
A saved page state (filters and visibility) that a button can trigger, used to build view toggles.
Report & sharing
Report-page tooltip
A mini-page set as a hover tooltip, showing custom detail instead of a bare value.
Report & sharing
Theme JSON
A small file that sets palette and fonts across a whole report, the Power BI equivalent of design tokens.
Report & sharing
Publish to web
A free option that creates a fully public, unauthenticated link. For open content only, never for personal or sensitive data.
Report & sharing
Power BI Pro
The per-user licence (14 US dollars per month in 2026) needed to publish and to view shared reports outside large capacity.
Report & sharing
Row-level security (RLS)
Roles that restrict which rows a user sees. Defined in Desktop but only enforced once published with a paid licence.
Report & sharing
Export to PDF / PowerPoint
Free static export from Desktop, suitable for a board pack or email attachment.
Report & sharing
DPDP Act, 2023
India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, governing digital personal data. Favour aggregates and keep identifiable records off shared artifacts.
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