In the fast-paced world of Financial Services, the ability to harness and analyze data is not just an advantage—it’s a necessity for staying competitive and making informed decisions. Our Power BI for Financial Service Professionals course is designed to empower financial services professionals to make data-driven decisions, drive business growth, and improve customer outcomes by transforming raw data into actionable insights. Whether you’re in risk management, financial planning, or investment analysis, this course provides a comprehensive foundation in Power BI. By the end of this two-day intensive program, you’ll be able to create powerful data visualizations that drive strategic decision-making and business growth.
Imagine being able to turn complex financial data into compelling stories that influence key stakeholders. Our course ensures you leave with a playbook for tackling full end-to-end Power BI projects, giving you the confidence to navigate real-world data challenges. This is more than just learning software; it’s about becoming a data-driven professional who can make a tangible impact on your organization’s success.
The instructor fort his class is a PhD economist and highly-rated instructor known for turning complex, data-driven insights into clear, actionable insights and strategies. She holds a doctorate in sustainability, and has effectively applied her skills for real world impact. She’s built dashboards referenced in congressional hearings on the Endangered Species Act and led high-stakes analysis for projects like saving the Great Salt Lake.
Katie also brings deep technical fluency across Power BI, R, and advanced statistical methods, and she specializes in helping professionals amplify their existing expertise with AI. With a 4.87/5 instructor rating, she excels with her approachable and practical teaching style. Her focus is always the same: help you produce work that decision-makers will actually read, understand, and act on.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PARTICIPATION for CPAs: As part of our sponsorship with NASBA, we have agreed to provide at least one (1) instance of engagement per CPE hour (50 minutes). These may come in the form of open-ended questions, hand-raising, polling, and other techniques. You must answer or respond to all three opportunities to engage in order to receive credit for that CPE hour.
Explore and interact with example PowerBI reports and dashboards to understand best practices and potential applications, tailored to financial services scenarios
Master the art of data extraction, transformation, and loading using the Power Query Editor tool, ensuring your financial data is clean and ready for analysis
Design and implement a Star Schema data model, a fundamental structure for organizing financial data efficiently and effectively
Create, format, and organize basic measures using DAX language, unlocking the power of data manipulation and analysis to track KPIs and metrics specific to financial services
Select and format visuals that not only look great but also communicate insights clearly and effectively, helping you present complex financial data with clarity
Learn how to push a report to Power BI services and create a dashboard, making your work accessible and interactive for stakeholders, from executives to analysts
Connect to a variety of data sources, ensuring you can pull in data from anywhere to support your financial analyses, whether it’s market data, customer information, or transaction records
1. Module 1: Exploring PBI Services
Key Power BI Concepts and Terms: Understand the language of Power BI to communicate effectively with data in a financial context
Power BI Report Capabilities and Features: Discover the tools at your disposal for creating impactful financial reports
Power BI Dashboard Capabilities and Features: Learn how to turn your reports into interactive dashboards that drive financial decision-making
2. Module 2: Making A Report and Dashboard
Data Storytelling Best Practices and Mistakes to Avoid: Craft narratives that resonate with financial stakeholders, such as investors or regulators, and avoid common pitfalls in financial reporting, using examples from real-world financial scenarios
Report editing and building: Gain hands-on experience in constructing reports that tell a story, specifically for financial services
Visual selection and page formatting: Choose the right visuals and layout to enhance the clarity and impact of your financial reports
Dashboard Use Cases: Explore real-world applications of dashboards to solve business problems in financial services
Tile Pinning: Master the technique of pinning key visuals to your dashboard for quick access and impact
Guided Report and Dashboard Building Exercise: Apply what you’ve learned in a practical, step-by-step exercise focused on financial data
3. Module 3: PowerBI Desktop Tour
Desktop Views: Navigate through Report, Data, and Model views with ease and confidence in a financial context
Report: Focus on creating and customizing visuals for financial data
Data: Dive into the data behind your financial reports, understanding how to manage and analyze financial datasets effectively, and emphasizing the importance of data quality in financial decision-making
Model: Understand the relationships and structure of your financial data
Taskbar: Familiarize yourself with the essential tools in Home, Insert, Modeling, and View tabs for financial analysis
4. Module 4: Power Query Fundamentals
Power Query Editor Capabilities: Learn to extract, transform, and load financial data efficiently
Extract: Pull data from various financial sources, such as market data feeds or internal databases
Transform: Clean and shape your financial data for analysis, ensuring accuracy and reliability
Load: Import data into Power BI for visualization, making it accessible for stakeholders
Common Connectors: Connect to a wide range of data sources to expand your financial data possibilities
Power Query Panes: Utilize Query, Data, and Query Settings panes to manage and refine your financial data
Taskbar Review: Get comfortable with the Home, Transform, Add Column, and View tabs for financial data manipulation
5. Module 5: Star Schema Table Relationships
Manage Relationships: Learn how to define and manage relationships between tables in your financial data model
Star Schema Breakdown: Understand the structure of a Star Schema and why it’s important for organizing financial data
Configuring Relationships: Set up relationships that reflect the true nature of your financial data, ensuring it aligns with financial data standards and regulatory requirements, and providing guidance on how to handle complex data relationships
Cardinality: Learn about the different types of relationships and when to use each in a financial context
Direction: Understand the flow of data through your financial model and how to control it
6. Module 6: Creating, Formatting, and Organizing DAX Measures
Create Measures Using DAX: Write DAX formulas to create custom financial calculations and metrics, such as return on investment (ROI), risk-adjusted return, or customer lifetime value (CLV)
Create Columns Using DAX: Add calculated columns to your data model to enhance your financial analyses
Using Quick Measures Feature: Save time with pre-built measure templates that you can customize for financial data
Filtering: Learn how to apply filters to your financial data to focus on specific insights
Key Aggregations: Master the basics of totals, averages, and counts to summarize your financial data effectively
Formatting: Make your measures easy to read and understand with proper formatting for financial reports
Organizing in Measures: Keep your measures organized and accessible for easy use and management in financial analysis.
7. Module 7: Visual Selection and Report View Creation
Fundamental Report Visuals and Their Use Cases: Choose the right visuals for your financial data and storytelling needs, such as using line charts to show market trends or using bar charts to compare portfolio performance
Unguided Report Creation: Put your skills to the test by creating a report from scratch, focusing on financial data
Show and Tell: Report Build Idea Pooling: Share and learn from others’ report-building ideas and techniques for financial services
8. Module 8: Publish Report to PBI Services and Make Dashboard
Develop Dashboard From Report Build: Turn your report into a dynamic dashboard that stakeholders can interact with, specifically for financial insights
9. Module 9: Capstone
End-to-End Build From Dataset: Apply everything you’ve learned in a comprehensive financial services project, from data model to dashboard, using a realistic financial dataset and focusing on a specific challenge, such as analyzing customer behavior or optimizing investment portfolios
Data Model: Organize and structure your financial data for analysis
Report: Create a detailed and insightful report tailored to financial services
Dashboard: Build an interactive dashboard that brings your financial report to life
