DS Interview Guide

COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
TO INTERVIEWS FOR
DATA SCIENCE
ZEP ANALYTICS
Introduction
We've curated this series of interview guides to
accelerate your learning and your mastery of data
science skills and tools.
From job-specific technical questions to tricky

behavioral inquires and unexpected brainteasers and
guesstimates, we will prepare you for any job
candidacy in the fields of data science, data
analytics, or BI analytics.
These guides are the result of our data analytics

expertise, direct experience interviewing at
companies, and countless conversations with job
candidates. Its goal is to teach by example - not only
by giving you a list of interview questions and their
answers, but also by sharing the techniques and
thought processes behind each question and the
expected answer.
Become a global tech talent and unleash your next,

best self with all the knowledge and tools to succeed
in a data analytics interview with this series of guides.
ZEP ANALYTICS
COMPREHENSIVE
GUIDE TO
INTERVIEWS
FOR DATA
SCIENCE
Data Science interview questions cover a wide

scope of multidisciplinary topics. That means
you can never be quite sure what challenges
the interviewer(s) might send your way.
That being said, being familiar with the type of

questions you can encounter is an important
aspect of your preparation process.
Below you’ll find examples of real-life questions

and answers. Reviewing those should help you
assess the areas you’re confident in and where
you should invest additional efforts to improve.
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TABLE OF
CONTENTS
1. What is business intelligence?
2. What is self-service BI?
3. What is Power BI? Why is Power BI so powerful?
4. What are the various components of Power BI?
5. What are reports in Power BI?
6. What are dashboards in Power BI?
7. What is a DAX function?
8. What is M language?
9. What are two types of connectivity?
10. Explain the various data sources that can be used in
Power BI.
11. What are the various components in the architecture
of Power BI?
12. What are the building blocks of Power BI?
13. Explain .pbix file format.
14. What are the various views in Power BI Desktop?
15. What are the various features of PBI Query editor?
16. What is Lock Aspect in Power BI?
17. What are common data shaping techniques?
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18. Where is data stored in PBI?
19. What is the business need for PBI?
20. How can we calculate average in PBI?
21. What is PBI cloud?
22. How can one connect to an Oracle DB in PBI?
23. How can we represent different levels of hierarchy
of data in one single visualization?
24. How can one connect a SQL server in PBI?
25. What is embedded PBI?
26. What are the different relationships in PBI?
27. Explain the difference between merge and append.
28. What are visualizations in PBI?
29. What is Power BI Designer?
30. What is PBI service?
31. Explain the difference between PBI pro and PBI
premium.
32. What is z-order in Power BI?
33. Explain the custom visuals in Power BI: How can they
be used efficiently?
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34. How can we categorize the types of users in Power
BI?
35. How can you make sure that each category
manager can see sales of their category only, and
allow the CEO to see all sales in a single report? Your
solution must involve minimal effort.
36. Why use the selection pane in PBI?
37. Explain the various joins in PBI.
38. What is the purpose of the ‘Get Data’ icon in Power
BI?
39. Name different filters used in Power BI and explain
each of them.
40. What is grouping? How we can use it?
41. How are slicers used?
42. What are KPIs in PBI?
43. What is PBI Q&A?
44. How can we create calculated columns in PBI?
45. What are combination charts in PBI?
46. Explain security level in PBI.
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47. Describe all types of visuals segments with
examples.
48. What are the advantages of using variables?
49. Can SQL be used in Power Query Editor?
50. Consider functions like SUM,SUMX and
AVERAGE,AVERAGEX. What is this X implying?
51. Why should we use Calculated measures over
Calculated columns whenever possible?
52. State the difference between the COUNT and
COUNTD Function.
53. In DAX functions like VAR.S & VAR.P, what are the
P&S implying?
54. What is a Bookmark? How do you create it?
55. Give an example of a visual from Power BI which
serves as a Cross-Table.
56. How can one create Hierarchies in Power BI?
57. State two ways to navigate in Reports.
58. How can one import/scrape data from the web
using Power BI?
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59. Suppose you notice that there is a relationship
between the Date column from a Date table and the
Invoice Date Key column from a Sales table, but the
relationship is inactive. All other visuals in your report
will be analyzing values by delivery date. How should
you approach this problem? Give reasoning for your
approach.
60. What is the difference between Histograms and Bar
charts?
61. How can one create filters in Power BI?
62. How can one sort data in Power BI?
63. What are the differences between MSBI and PBI?
64. How can one publish a dashboard in Power BI?
65. How can PBI dashboards be shared?
66. What is MDX in Power BI?
67. How can one add Page Level Filters in Power BI?
68. How can two columns be combined in Power BI?
69. How can one change the date format in Power BI
Query Editor?
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70. How can one edit interactions in Power BI?
71. What is the main difference between LTRIM and
RTRIM?
72. Write a DAX for dynamic security.
73. What is Workspace in Power BI?
74. How can one show Percentage in Power BI?
75. How to filter Top N in Power BI?
76. Why is Top N not accessible by or for report level
filters and page level filters?
77. What is query collapsing?
78. What is the difference between MAX and MAXA?
79. What is CORR function? When do we use it?
80. What are content packs in Power BI?
81. How can we use PBI in MS Excel?
82. How can we change the X-axis value in Power BI?
83. Which two cross filter directions are available in
Power BI table relationships?
84. What is Bidirectional Cross-filtering in Power BI?
85. What is OData feed in Power BI?
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86. What is forecast in PBI?
87. What is Power BI Data Gateway? How can we use
it?
88. How can we refresh a PBI report once it is published
on cloud?
89. What are the different data refresh options in PBI?
90. What is Power Map? What are the primary
requirements for a table to be used in Power BI?
91. What are some of the differences in report authoring
capabilities between a live or direct query connection
to an Analysis service model, relative to working with a
data model local to a Power BI Desktop file?
92. Explain the term, ‘incremental refresh’.
93. You've imported a spreadsheet, but Power BI
Desktop hasn't detected that the first row should be
used as column titles. What tool should you click on?
94. What do you call a single page, also known as a
canvas, that uses visualizations to tell a story?
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95. Goal: You want to create a new Calculated Column
that determines if the person was a bad hire based on
a set of rules. If they were a bad hire then the result is 1,
otherwise the Calculated Column displays a zero.
96. Goal: You want to create a DAX formula that
automatically calculates the previous month number.
For example, if the month was June then the formula
would return 5.
97. You have created a table with a column 'population'
with numbers 53222122, 5322122, 33333. You want to
display the 'population' column with comma signs at
the thousand separators. How can you do this?
98. What are Data alarms?
99. Which type of visualisation would you choose if you
wanted to show relationships between 3 numerical
values, and turn the horizontal axis into a logarithmic
scale?
100. You are viewing a Power BI dashboard in a browser
window. What happens when you click the ‘In-focus’
mode of a tile?
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101. How would you include different terms into Q&A?
102. Goal: To extract the balance for the last period for
which a figure has been entered from a balances table.
103. What are some of the unique data invigorations
used for generating distributed reports within Power BI?
104. What should be kept in mind while sharing
visualizations outside the organization?
105. Write a DAX expression that checks if a product
code contains the letters “ex”.
106. What type of chart should be used to compare
data side by side?
107. What type of chart should you choose to show
correlation between 2 variables?
108. What is Row-level security in Power BI?
109. What is natural language search choice?
110. State the differences between Power BI and SSRS.
111. What are the drawbacks of using Power BI?
112. What are the differences between Power BI and
Tableau?
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POWER BI | COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO INTERVIEWS FOR DATA SCIENCE
01
1. What is business intelligence?
Business intelligence is a technology-driven method. It
helps you to analyze data and to provide actionable
information which in turn helps corporate executives,
business managers, and other users to take decisive and
data-driven business decisions.
2. What is self-service BI?

Self-service business intelligence (BI) is an approach to
data analytics that enables business users to access and
explore data sets even if they don't have a background in
BI or related functions like data mining and statistical
analysis.
3. What is Power BI? Why is Power BI so powerful?

Power BI (PBI) is a collection of Business Intelligence tools,
techniques, and processes that are used to extract
valuable information by connecting, transforming, and
visualizing raw data sets from multiple sources.
It provides the right tools to create interactive dashboards

and live reports that can be shared and published on
various platforms to help business users and stakeholders
make better decisions.
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There are many features in Power BI. The most notable ones
are:
It allows users to transform data into visuals and share
those visuals with colleagues
It allows users to explore and analyze data from all
sources
It allows users to scale across organizations with built-in
governance and security.
Once an output is generated, users can display the
same in multiple devices that are compatible with the
Power BI application
With Power BI natural language processing, users can
perform queries on reports using simple English words.
4. What are the various components of Power BI?

Power Query: It allows you to discover, access, and
consolidate information from different sources.
Power Pivot: A modelling tool.
Power View: It is a presentation tool for creating charts,
tables, and more.
Power Map: Helps you to create geospatial
representations of your data.
Power Q&A: Allows use of natural language to get
answers to questions.
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5. What are reports in Power BI?
A Power BI report is a multi-perspective view into a dataset,
with visuals that represent different findings and insights
from that dataset. A report can have a single visual, or
pages full of visuals.
6. What are dashboards in Power BI?

A Power BI dashboard is a single page, often called a
canvas, that uses visualizations to tell a story. Since it is
limited to one page, a well-designed dashboard contains
only the most important elements of that story.
7. What is a DAX function?

It is a formula expression language called DAX that can be
used with various visualization tools like Power BI. It is also
known as a functional language, where the full code is kept
inside a function.
8. What is M language?
It is a programming language used in Power Query. It’s a
functional, case-sensitive, language which is similar to other
programming languages and easy to use.
9. What are two types of connectivity?

The two connectivity modes are Import Mode and Direct
Query Mode.
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10. Explain the various data sources that can be
used in Power BI.
The list of data sources for Power BI is extensive, but
it can be grouped into the following:
Files: Data can be imported from Excel (.xlsx,
xlxm), Power BI Desktop files (.pbix), and Comma
Separated Value (.csv).
Content Packs: It is a collection of related
documents or files that are stored as a group. In
Power BI, there are two types of content packs:
firstly, those from services providers like Google
Analytics, Marketo or Salesforce and secondly,
those created and shared by other users in your
organization.
Connectors to databases and other datasets
such as Azure SQL, Server Analysis Services
tabular data, etc.
11. What are the various components in the

architecture of Power BI?
Data Sources
An important component of Power BI is its vast
range of data sources. You can import data from
files in your system, cloud-based online data
sources, or connect directly to live connections. If
you import from data on-premise or online services,
there is a limit of 1 GB.
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Power BI Desktop
Power BI Desktop is a client-side tool known as a
companion development and authoring tool.
This desktop-based software is loaded with tools and
functionalities to connect to data sources, transform
data, conduct data modelling and create reports.
You can download and install Power BI Desktop in your
system for free. Using Power BI Desktop features, one can
do data cleansing, create business metrics and data
models, define the relationship between data, define
hierarchies, create visuals and publish reports.
Power BI Service
Power BI Service is a web-based platform from where
you can share reports made on Power BI Desktop,
collaborate with other users, and create dashboards.
It is available in three versions: Free version, Pro version,
Premium version.
Power BI Service is also known as, “Power BI.com”, “Power
BI Workspace”, “Power BI Site” and “Power BI Web Portal”.
This component also offers advanced features like
natural language Q&A and alerts.
Power BI Report Server

The Power BI Report Server is similar to the Power BI
Service. The only difference between these two is that
Power BI Report Server is an on-premise platform. It is
used by organizations who do not want to publish their
reports on the cloud and are concerned about the
security of their data.
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Power BI Report Server enables you to create dashboards

and share your reports with other users following proper
security protocols. To use this service, you need to have a
Power BI Premium license.
Power BI Gateway
This component is used to connect and access on-
premise data in secured networks. Power BI Gateways are
generally used in organizations where data is kept under
security and watch. Gateways help to extract out such
data through secure channels to Power BI platforms for
analysis and reporting.
Power BI Mobile
Power BI Mobile is a native Power BI application that runs
on iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices. These
applications are used for viewing reports and
dashboards.
Power BI Embedded
Power BI Embedded offers APIs which are used to embed
visuals into custom applications.
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12. What are the building blocks of Power BI?
Visualizations
Visualizations are a visual representation of data.
Examples: Pie Chart, Line Graph, Side by Side Bar Charts,
Graphical Presentation of the source data on top of
Geographical Map, Tree Map, etc.
Datasets
Datasets are a collection of data that Power BI uses to
create its visualizations. Examples: Excel sheets, Oracle or
SQL server tables.
Reports
Reports are a collection of visualizations that appear
together on one or more pages. Examples: Sales by
Country, State, City Report, Logistic Performance report,
Profit by Products report etc.
Dashboards
Dashboards are a single layer presentation of multiple
visualizations, i.e we can integrate one or more
visualizations into a one page layer.
Tiles
Tiles are a single visualization in a report or on a
dashboard. Example: Pie Chart in a Dashboard or Report.
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13. Explain .pbix file format.
A PBIX file is a document created by Power BI
Desktop. It contains queries, data models,
visualizations, settings, and reports added by the
user.
The PBIX file is the primary file type created by

Power BI Desktop along with the .PBIT template. The
file is used to store all of the data visualization
information.
PBIX files are saved in the Office XML format, which
is used to save .DOCX, .XLSX, and .PPTX files. The
format stores a PBIX file as a collection of files and
folders in a compressed zip package. If you need to
manually view the contents, you can rename the
".pbix" extension to ".zip" to create a .ZIP file and
then extract the contents of the file.
14. What are the various views in Power BI Desktop?

There are three different views in Power BI, each of
which serve a different purpose.
Report View: Users can add visualizations and
additional report pages and publish the same on
the portal from here.
Data View: Data shaping can be performed
through Query Editor tools.
Relationship View: Users can manage
relationships between datasets in this view.
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15. What are the various features of PBI Query editor?
Connect to data
Shape and combine data
Group rows
Pivot columns
Create custom columns
Query formulas
16. What is Lock Aspect in Power BI?

Lock Aspect is used to lock the proportion of a visual
when you try to drag through the corners to resize it. So,
for example, if you create a visualization chart & turn the
Lock Aspect on – and then try to resize it with the help of
your mouse, it won’t change, and it keeps proportions the
same as earlier.
You can find the lock aspect in the Format Tab in the
Visualization Pane.
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17. What are common data shaping techniques?
The most common data shaping techniques are:
Removing Columns and Rows
Adding Indexes
Applying a Sort Order
18. Where is data stored in PBI?

When data is ingested into Power BI, it is stored in
Fact and Dimension tables.
Fact tables: The central table in a star schema of
a data warehouse, a fact table stores
quantitative information for analysis and is not
normalized in most cases.
Dimension tables: It is another table in the star
schema that is used to store attributes and
dimensions that describe objects stored in a fact
table.
19. What is the business need for PBI?

You can take the data and create robust reporting
very easily. This assists in attracting new clients
toward servicing and monitoring the customers
already present. It also becomes possible to track
information and set goals. Therefore, completely
building an extraction, transformation and loading
solution ultimately assists the management so they
are able to make better decisions in the process.
The return on investment when it comes to Power BI
is also very high. Lastly, it makes some of the
unwanted data into information, which can be
utilized progressively.
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20. How can we calculate average in PBI?
Average can be calculated in two ways-
When we add a measure to a visual; by default,
it summarizes any measure. When we click on
the drop-down for the measure- we can change
from Sum to Average.
Creating a calculated measure for average using
the AVERAGE() DAX function.
21. What is PBI cloud?

Power BI Cloud is a Cloud-Based Data Visualization
set-up which gives access to its users for editing,
viewing, creating and sharing the dashboards’
reports & datasets across organizations and a
group of people by protecting the Admin Rights &
Credentials. Access is required to view & edit these
reports & dashboards.
22. How can one connect to an Oracle DB in PBI?

To connect to Oracle Databases from a server, you
need to open the Power BI desktop in your Machine
& click on the get data, under the Home Tab in
Ribbon. Once you do so, you will get a list of Files/
Databases & other Sources. To connect to the
Oracle databases, click on database, select Oracle
database, & click on connect.
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Once you do so, you will be asked to give the Server

Information that you want to access. Provide those
details, select the connectivity Mode-Direct Query or
Import Mode, whichever you prefer based on your
requirements, & then Click OK.
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Once you click on OK, a window will be opened
asking your credentials to access the database. By
using your credentials (Username/Password), you
will then be allowed to access the database, select
the Schema/Drag & drop the tables, etc., in the
preview section & click to load to view the required
tables in the Power BI environment.
23. How can we represent different levels of

hierarchy of data in one single visualization?
Create a hierarchy by grouping the required
data from the data tab and pull that into Axis
Tab and enable drill down option by clicking on
the down arrow on the chart.
Pull all the hierarchical columns separately into
the axis pane in the order of their hierarchy and
enable the drill down action by clicking on the
down arrow on the chart.
24. How can one connect a SQL server in PBI?

SQL Server database connection is available in
Power BI. Steps to be followed are:
In Power BI desktop go to the Get Data option in
Home. Under Get Data, we have SQL Server as an
option, or when you click on More - you can
select SQL Server database from the list.
When we click on Connect- it asks us to provide a few
basic details related to the connection. Server info,
Database info (optional), Data connectivity mode
(either a direct query or an import mode).
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Once the above information is furnished, we can click
on OK to connect.
In case you need to write a specific query to load the
data, you can do so under Advanced options.
If you click on OK, a window opens which asks us for
the credentials for the login to the database. We have
the option to provide the specific credentials or use
Windows login. It depends on how you have been
given access to the database. Current credentials
refer to your windows credentials. Alternate refers to
Specific to the database.
Once access is verified, you’ll get a window with all the
databases on the server shown in the left and right
pane showing preview of the data from any table
selected on the left.
Once you select the table to use, you can see three
options at the bottom – load, edit and cancel. Load
will directly load the data. Edit will open Power Query
Editor and will allow you to do transformations in the
data before loading.
Once data is loaded, you can use it to create visuals
as per your choice.
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25. What is embedded PBI?
Power BI Embedded is an analytics solution, provided as
a Microsoft Azure Service, a platform-as-a-service
(PaaS), wherein the developers & Individual Software
Vendors (ISVs) can easily embed their dashboards,
visuals & reports into an application for their customers.
Fully interactive reports & visuals can be embedded into
the applications.
The great thing about Power BI Embedded is that your

customers are not required to have knowledge about
Power BI.
Power BI gives you the capability to create an embedded

application using two different methods. The first method
is using a Power BI Pro account & the second method is
using the service principle.
The Power BI Pro account acts as the master account of

your application. This account will help you generate the
required embed tokens for providing access to your
customers to view the shared Power BI dashboards and
reports.
Service principal embeds Power BI Dashboards / Reports

/ Visuals into an application using an app-only token.
This will allow you to generate the embed tokens for
providing access to your shared application’s Power BI
dashboards and reports.
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26. What are the different relationships in PBI?
There are basically 4 types of relationships in any
database design. Out of which, three types of
relationships are supported by Power BI.
One to One Relationship: In this type of
relationship, both side tables can have unique
values. This relationship is not too common.
One to Many: In one-to-many cardinality, one
side of the table will have the unique values but
the other (many) side of the table can have
multiple values in it. For example, Product table &
Customer Table, you can connect /join them with
the Product ID. Customer table can have multiple
customer IDs for the same Product ID. When you
relate them from product table to customer
table, it will be one-to-many relationships.
You can see the status of the relationships in the
Power BI Desktop’s Model view, by just looking at the
indicators as (1 or *), on either side.
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Many to One Relationship: In this type of relationship,
one side of the common column will have multiple
values & in the other table it will have a unique value.
For example, in the below shown images there are two
tables: Fact table Sales & Dimension table Date. Date
can have only the unique values but sales table, order
date, key column can have multiple values for a
particular date.
Cardinality is not supported by Power BI.
In Power BI, we can have many relationships in between

the tables, but only one relationship active at a time.
Further, we also see the relationship status of a particular
relation in the Power BI model view, active relation is a
straight line, whereas, an inactive relation will be a dotted
Line. For further understanding, please refer to the images
shown below:
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27. Explain the difference between merge and

append.
Append
Append refers to the results of two (or more)
queries (which are tables themselves) being
combined into one query in this way:
Rows will be appended after each other (for
example, appending a query with 50 rows
with another query with 100 rows, will return a
result set of 150 rows)
Columns will be the same number of columns
for each query*. (for example, col1, col2,…,
col10 in the first query, after appending with
same columns in the second query will result
into one query with a single set of col1,col2, …,
col10)
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Merge
Merge is another method of combining queries
which is based on matching rows, rather than
columns. The output of merge will be a single query
with:
There should be joining or matching criteria
between two queries (for example, StudentID
column of both queries to be matched with
each other)
Number of rows will be dependent on
matching criteria between queries
Number of columns will be dependent on
what columns are selected in the result set
(Merge will create a structured column as a
result).
28. What are visualizations in PBI?

Visualizations are used to represent our data in
more than a tabular form. In Power BI, we have the
design space with all the elements of a report,
different visuals, slicers/filters, etc. These elements,
when put into the design space, are called tiles. All
the visuals that are available in Power BI are put
under the Visualization Pane. It includes basic
visuals such as bar, pie, line, column, and map with
their varieties. We have a lot of custom visuals
available as well. They can be imported into the
report from App Marketplace, and then we can
bring them into our design view.
If one knows R or Python, then we also have the
option to create visuals using code.
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29. What is Power BI Designer?
A powerful and flexible new tool under the Power BI
umbrella, Power BI Designer empowers users to
create intuitive reports and dashboards, easily and
quickly. It also lets the users change visual views of
their data for better analytics and informed
decision-making.
This designer is a host of drag-and-drop
capabilities that help users place content exactly
where they want it on the report canvas in a well-
structured layout.
30. What is PBI service?

Power BI service is a secure Microsoft hosted cloud
service that lets users view dashboards, reports,
and Power BI apps using a web browser or via
mobile apps for Windows, iOS, and Android.
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31. Explain the difference between PBI pro and PBI
premium.
With Power BI Pro, users are licensed individually
and participate fully in the use of Power BI – both
the creation of content and the consumption. All Pro
users can connect to hundreds of data sources on-
premises and in the cloud, create interactive
reports and 360-degree dashboards, share that
content with other Pro users, and consume content
shared by others.
With Power BI Premium, you are licensing capacity
for your content rather than licensing all users of
that content. Content is stored in Premium and can
then be viewed by as many users as you want,
without additional per-user costs. These users can
only view content, not create it. Viewing includes
looking at dashboards and reports on the web, in
mobile apps, or embedded in your organization’s
portals or apps. The creators of content in Premium
still need their own Pro licenses.
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32. What is z-order in Power BI?
The z-order in Power BI refers to the strategy or order of
arrangement of different elements on a Power BI report.
The z-order helps us in properly arranging all the
elements in a report such as visualizations, tables, slicers,
etc. The Arrange option in Power BI helps us arrange or
place report elements in z-order. Using that option, we
can bring objects on front, send them to back, and layer
the visualizations, according to our need. So, in a nutshell,
z-order is the order of arranging or layering multiple
objects and visual elements in a report on top of each
other. Z-order is also applied when we are using shapes
to enhance the design of a report.
33. Explain the custom visuals in Power BI:

How can they be used efficiently?
Graphs or visuals which are not included in Power BI
desktop are imported for better visualization. Such
custom visuals are developed and uploaded on
AppSource. This is done as community service to benefit
Power BI users as they can explore new aspects of their
data by using these custom visuals.
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34. How can we categorize the types of users in Power BI?
There are mainly four types of users as per their purpose

of usage of Power BI. These four types of users are 1.
Analysts, 2. Business users, 3. IT professionals, and 4.
Developers.
Analysts: Analysts use Power BI to develop reports,

dashboards, data models and study them to discover
valuable insights in the data. Power BI offers a wide
range of data sources from which an analyst can
extract data, make a common dataset, clean and
prepare that data to make reports and conduct
analysis.
Business users: The business users are the common
users who study the reports and dashboards shared
with them on Power BI website or mobile app. Business
users remain updated with the latest information
which helps in taking an important decision in time.
IT professionals: The IT professionals are mainly
concerned with the technical and managerial aspects
like scalability, availability, and security of data. They
also centrally manage all the Power BI services and
users.
Developers: Developers are involved in technical work.
Their key roles are to create custom visuals to be used
in Power BI, embedding Power BI into other
applications, creating reports, etc.
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35. How can you make sure that each category manager
can see sales of their category only, and allow the CEO to
see all sales in a single report? Your solution must involve
minimal effort.
Configuring dynamic row-level security for managers
involves least effort and a separate role for the CEO
ensures full accessibility to him.
Creating different reports will be a very hectic task and
difficult to maintain. Slicer provides no security.
36. Why use the selection pane in PBI?

Selection Pane helps you to take control over visuals. It
allows you to combine multiple visual pages in the group
and is also used in bookmarking.
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37. Explain the various joins in PBI.
We have 6 types of Joins in Power BI which we use
in Power Query Editor:
Left Outer Join: If we want all the records from
left table and only matching records from right
table then will use left outer join/left join.
Right Outer Join: If we want to display all the
records from right table and only matching
records from left table then will right outer
join/right join.
Full Outer Join: If we want to display all the
records from both the tables then will use full
outer join.
Inner Join: If we want only the matching records
from both the tables then will use Inner
join/Simple join.
Left Anti: Displays only the mismatched records
from Left Table.
Right Anti: Displays only the mismatched records
from the Right Table.
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38. What is the purpose of the ‘Get Data’ icon in
Power BI?
When users click on the Get Data icon in Power BI, a
drop-down menu appears and it shows all data
sources from which data can be ingested. Data can
be directly ingested from any source including files
in Excel, CSV, XML, JSON, PDF, and SharePoint
formats and databases such as SQL, Access, SQL
Server Analysis Services, Oracle, IBM, MySQL, and
much more. Also, Power BI datasets and Power BI
data flows are compatible. Data can also be taken
in from Azure and other online sources.
39. Name different filters used in Power BI and

explain each of them.
Power BI provides a variety of options to filter
reports, data and visualizations. The following are
the list of filter types:
Visual-level Filters: These filters work on only an
individual visualization, reducing the amount of
data that the visualization can see. Moreover,
visual-level filters can filter both data and
calculations.
Page-level Filters: These filters work at the
report-page level. Different pages in the same
report can have different page-level filters.
Report-level Filters: These filters work on the
entire report, filtering all pages and visualizations
included in the report.
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40. What is grouping? How we can use it?
Power BI Desktop allows you to group the data into
small chunks. For grouping, you should use Ctrl +
click to select multiple elements in the visual. Right-
click one of those elements which appear in the
groups window.
41. How are slicers used?

Slicers in Power BI are the simple forms of filters
that play a key role in designing customized charts
and reports on the Power BI Desktop. These slicers
play the most crucial role in creating comparative
charts or customized reports. Also, Power BI Slicers
act as an alternative solution in filtering the narrow
portions of datasets that are represented in the
form of other visualizations in a particular report.
42. What are KPIs in PBI?

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. These are
specific measures or calculations which provide us
with insights into our data and help us make
decisions based on them. These are the parameters
on which business decisions are made. Power BI has
a visual called KPI, which helps to visualize these
specific measures. This KPI visual shows the trend of
the specific measure/calculation across time
(year/month) and shows how it has changed.
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43. What is PBI Q&A?
The Q&A feature in Power BI allows you to explore
your data using intuitive, natural language
capabilities in your own words & ask questions
about your data. The quickest possible way to get
an answer to the question asked about your data is
using natural language.
Q & A recognizes the words you type & figures out

where to find the answer from. For example, you can
ask questions like, “what was the total profit last
year?”
You can use this feature once your Data Modelling

is done, reports are built, and you have deployed it
into the Power BI service.
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44. How can we create calculated columns in PBI?
Calculated columns are built to extend the data
attributes. They are columns that are created when
the available columns in the data do not serve our
purpose or we are not able to generate any useful
insight from the same. That is when calculated
columns come into the picture. These are created
using different DAX functions as per business need.
We can have a simple example of a date where we

do not want to work with the complete date but
rather with the individual day, month, or year. For
this, in the data part of the Power BI desktop, we
have the option of a ‘New Column.’ When we click
that, we get a formula bar on top (like excel), where
it asks us to type the new column name with its
calculation.
So, if we consider the date example, it will be

something like this: yearcol = YEAR([Date column])
where YEAR is a DAX function, and ‘yearcol’ is your
calculated column.
45. What are combination charts in PBI?

Combination charts are charts supported by Power
BI which can plot various measures over a single
chart. These charts plot all the measure values. Any
requirements of different measures can be plotted
using combination charts. Stacked column charts
and line charts are the widely used combination
chart types in PBI.
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46. Explain security level in PBI.
Power BI requires Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
access for every user who uses the PBI service. User
requires login credentials to build the PBI account, which
could be also an email account. User also needs a
unique username to access this account. Azure cloud
provides security to Power BI. It includes various level of
security that are ADD based security, multi-tenant
platform security, and networking security.
47. Describe all types of visuals

segments with examples.
(e.g. this Pie chart shows us how
the revenue is composed of
different Products)
Distribution segment – Histogram, KDE Plots

The Distribution chart tells us about the approximate
representation of distribution of numerical data
(Univariate data). Let’s look at this Histogram showing
the distribution of response time (in hrs) of a medicine.
Distribution is bi-modal. This type of distribution helps us
to find outliers and skewness of a variable.
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Trend Segment – Line charts
The charts in this segment tells us about the
change of a variable over time.
These are widely used in Time-Series analysis.
Maps – ArcGis graph, Chloropleth map.

These are Geographical graphs used for variables
containing actual locations. These graphs are helpful as
they are more interactive than, for example, a bar graph
or slicer when analyzing a quantity by region. Note: Using
these graphs in Power BI will require an Internet
connection.
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Relation – Scatter Plot, Bubble Chart
These charts tell us the relation between two/three
variables: whether they are positively related (one
increases with other & one decreases with other) or
negatively related (one decreases while the other
increases and vice-versa) or not related (no
relation, both are independent). We can find out a
lot about distributions (Bi-Variate), outliers and
discover clusters if any exist.
Comparison – Bar graph, Funnel charts etc

These are helpful and widely used for comparing
values because of their high interpretability. For
example – if we want to compare Top N customers
by the amount they spend on our products.
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48. What are the advantages of using variables?
The advantages are:
Reusability: By declaring and evaluating a variable,
the variable can be reused multiple times in a DAX
expression, thus avoiding additional queries of the
source database.
Interpretability: Variables can make DAX expressions
more intuitive/logical to interpret.
Scope-of-Variables: Variables are only scoped to
their measure or query, they cannot be shared among
measures, queries or be defined at the model level.
49. Can SQL be used in Power Query Editor?

Yes, a SQL statement can be defined as the source of a
Power Query/M function for additional processing/logic.
This would be a good practice to ensure that an efficient
database query is passed to the source and avoid
unnecessary processing and complexity by the client
machine and M function. It is also used in Query Folding
for optimization.
50. Consider functions like SUM,SUMX and

AVERAGE,AVERAGEX. What is this X implying?
The X tells us that the function works in a row context.
Absence of this X tells that the agg func works in a
column context. Also, we can enter an expression to be
evaluated on which the aggregation will be performed,
simple SUM & AVERAGE don’t provide it and just return a
scalar value after aggregating the whole column.
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51. Why should we use Calculated measures over
Calculated columns whenever possible?
Calculated Columns are DAX expressions that are
computed during the model’s processing/refresh
process for each row of the given column and can
be used like any other column in the model.
Calculated columns are not compressed and thus
consume more memory and result in reduced query
performance. They can also reduce processing
/refresh performance if applied on large fact tables
and can make a model more difficult to maintain
/support given that the calculated column is not
present in the source system.
Calculated measures are DAX expressions which are

calculated on the fly, that is, calculated when
needed. The greatest advantage is that measure
value is not stored in the memory. The measure will
not consume Memory or RAM at all but it is
calculated by the CPU. Measures are not pre-
calculated either, they are calculated when needed.
52. State the difference between the COUNT and COUNTD

Function.
COUNT Function will count all values except NULL/BLANK
values, whereas COUNTD will count all DISTINCT values
except for NULL/BLANK values.
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53. In DAX functions like VAR.S & VAR.P, what are the
P&S implying?
The P implies that the value (variance) is being
calculated for the whole population whereas S
implies that the value is being calculated for a
sample.
54. What is a Bookmark? How do you create it?

Bookmark in Power BI helps you to capture the
configured view of a report page at a specific time,
including filters and states of visuals.
To create it: while on a Report Page --> Click on

View Tab --> Click on Bookmarks --> Click on Add
(if the current page that you are on is the one you
want to create a bookmark for, think of it like a
screenshot)
55. Give an example of a visual from Power BI which

serves as a Cross-Table.
Matrix visual from Visualization pane in Power BI
Desktop can serve as a Cross-Table and not normal
Table visual as Cross-Tables can be multi-
dimensional and expanding and collapsing
components of columns are available in a Matrix
visual only.
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56. How can one create Hierarchies in Power BI?
When you have a set of fields that is on hierarchy, for
example: Product Category and Product names, you can
set up hierarchy by dragging the product name over the
product category so that a new hierarchy field is created
where we can drill down the data and see the detailed
data. For instance, if you have a list of countries and
cities you can create hierarchy as follows: In the fields
pane  drag city field onto country field  the hierarchy
will be created.
57. State two ways to navigate in Reports.

Create Buttons and set action to Bookmarks
Create Buttons and set action to Page Navigation
58. How can one import/scrape data from the web using
Power BI?
Go to Get Data option which is present in the Home
Ribbon tab on Power BI Desktop and then select web
option.
Copy and paste the URL in the web dialog box and
then click ok.
After that, the connection is established to the
particular URL, and the Power BI navigator dialog box
shows the catalogue of the tables on the page.
Finally, select the Results in the Navigator page and
then click edit. Now, the preview of the tables will be
opened in the Power BI query editor in which we can
analyze and transform the data from a web page.
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59. Suppose you notice that there is a relationship
between the Date column from a Date table and the
Invoice Date Key column from a Sales table, but the
relationship is inactive. All other visuals in your
report will be analyzing values by delivery date. How
should you approach this problem? Give reasoning
for your approach.
Using a measure:
Quantity by Invoice Date = CALCULATE ( SUM (
Sale[Quantity] ), USERELATIONSHIP ( ‘Date’[Date],
Sale[Invoice Date Key] ) )
No change or deleting of existing relationships as
other visuals in the report rely on that.
Hence using DAX measure will activate relationships
when needed at the query time and involves least
effort.
60. What is the difference between Histograms and Bar

charts?
Visual difference – Histograms appear vertically
stacked whereas Bars are separated.
Intuitive difference – Histograms study distributions
whereas Bar charts are used in making comparisons.
Histograms show distribution of non-discreet
variables/continuous variables (quantitative data)
whereas Bar graphs show comparison of discreet
variables (categorical data)
Bars can be re-ordered in Bar graphs but not in
histograms.
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61. How can one create filters in Power BI?
Filters are an integral part of Power BI reports. They are
used to slice and dice the data as per the dimensions we
want. Filters are created in a couple of ways.
Using slicers – Slicer is a visual under Visualization
Pane. This can be added to the design view to filter
our reports. When a slicer is added to the design view,
it requires a field to be added to it. For example, Slicer
can be added for Country fields, then the data can be
filtered based on countries.
Using Filter Pane – The Power BI team has added a
filter pane to the reports, which is a single space
where we can add different fields as filters. These
fields can be added depending on whether you want
to filter only one visual (Visual level filter), all the
visuals in the report page (Page level filters), or
applicable to all the pages of the report (report level
filters).
62. How can one sort data in Power BI?

Sorting is available in multiple formats. In data view, there
is a common sorting option of alphabetical order. Apart
from that, we have the option of Sort by column, where
one can sort a column based on another column. The
sorting option is available in visuals as well. Sort by
ascending and descending option by the fields and
measures present in the visual is also available.
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63. What are the differences between MSBI and PBI?
64. How can one publish a dashboard in Power BI?

To publish a dashboard, first, we need to be signed in to
Power BI using our professional account; it only takes the
work/ org account. Once you are signed in, there is a
publish option available. Clicking on it opens a small
window- which asks you to select the workspace into
which you want to publish your report. If any workspace is
there to which you have been provided access, you can
choose that depending on data security, or otherwise, by
default, you have the option of My Workspace (which is
the default space provided for you) and you can publish
your report there.
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65. How can PBI dashboards be shared?
Power BI reports/dashboards can be shared in multiple
ways. If you and your end-users have a Power BI Pro
license, then-
You can use the share option in reports and
dashboards. This option enables access to a report or
dashboard to individual users.
Using content packs – Publish your report/dashboard
along with the data set as a content pack and then
share it to either a group or individual or open it for
the entire organization.
Publish your dashboards and reports into App
Workspace and share the App link to a group or
individual or open it for the entire organization. When
publishing as App, we can select the reports and
datasets that we want to be included in the App.
The report can be embedded into Web or SharePoint,
for which we need the embed code. This embed code
is added to the website code or the SharePoint code.
Another way to share the reports is by printing or
exporting the report as PPT or PDF. This option allows the
sharing of the reports, but it will not be interactive.
66. What is MDX in Power BI?

MDX is an Analysis Services Tabular capability that is
used to help improve the user experience in Excel and
various other applications that use MDX query language
against the tabular form of the models and Power BI
datasets.
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67. How can one add Page Level Filters in Power BI?
The Power BI Page Level Filters are useful to filter the
charts (or visuals) present on the page. For example, if
your page contains four charts, then you can use this
page level filter to filter those four reports at a time.
To demonstrate the Page Level Filters in Power BI:

Go to the Filters section; you need to use the Page
Level Filters section to create a filter at the page level.
You can drag and drop any column. For example, we
have taken Category from the fields section to the
“Filter on this Page “area in the Filters Pane to create
Page Level Filters.
Expand the Category to view the filter types. By
default, the Basic Filters option is selected as the Filter
type. We can select any Column to Filter the data with.
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68. How can two columns be combined in Power BI?
To combine two columns in Power BI, you need to select a
new calculated column using the DAX expression.
For example, if you need to add the values of two

columns & make the third column, then you can do it by
the following DAX Expression:
Total=Sheet Name(Col1) + Sheet Name(Col2).
In the image below, two text columns City & State, are
added & concatenated to one new column. In the same
way, you can add Numeric columns using DAX.
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69. How can one change the date format in Power BI
Query Editor?
Select the date column in the table, go to the “Modelling”
tab. Under this tab, we have the “Date” formatting section,
select the date type as a date from the drop-down list.
70. How can one edit interactions in Power BI?

Power BI gives you the capability to make interactive
charts and reports in your visuals.
It’s a very easy and quick process to activate such

interactive visuals:
Click on the visual you want to use for the interactions to
be taken through --> Go to the format tab -->Click on
edit interactions
There are three edit interaction options in Power BI. They

are: Filter, Highlight, and None.
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Filter: It is used to completely filter a visual or a tile
based on the filter selection of another visual or tile.
Highlight: It is used when we want to highlight only the
related elements on the visual or tile, the non-related
items can be grayed out.
71. What is the main difference between LTRIM and RTRIM?

LTRIM function helps you to remove the white space from
the LEFT of the string. RTRIM helps you to remove it from
the right the last index.
72. Write a DAX for dynamic security.

We can implement dynamic security through the
following DAX:
USERNAME(), USERPRINCIPALNAME()
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73. What is Workspace in Power BI?
Workspace in Power BI is an environment that is designed
to upload content like reports, dashboards, apps,
datasets, etc., to share with a group of people,
colleagues, management. In one workspace, you can add
various reports, dashboards, datasets, etc. and add
people to view, edit or modify them through the given
access.
You can also add a report to your Workspace. You need

to first publish it to the Power BI Desktop using the publish
button in the home tab using credentials.
When you click on the workspaces and then on your

particular saved workspace, you will see your saved
reports, dashboards, etc., in it, which you can share with
others and export as well.
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74. How can one show Percentage in Power BI?
To show percentage in Power BI we can create a
calculated measure / calculated column using DAX
calculation and show it in the report visual depending on
the requirement of the dataset being analyzed.
75. How to filter Top N in Power BI?

Power BI provides us with a great option: to filter top N in
visual data. You can go to the Filter Pane, then go to the
filter on this visual & select option “Filter type” as top N &
show items as top 3, 5, 10. For example, the "by value" is
the amount you would prefer to filter by, let’s say sales
amount or profit amount. If we want to keep it dynamic,
then we can create a parameter table named Top N with
a measure as Top N Value that gives us the selected
value. For that scenario, we can use the what-if
parameter feature provided by Power BI. In the visual
shown below, you can see how the Top N can be created.
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76. Why is Top N not accessible by or for report level

filters and page level filters?
Top N is not accessible for page-level filter and report
level filter as they both are associated with different
visuals.
77. What is query collapsing?

The process of converting the steps in power query editor
to SQL and executing it by the source database is called
query collapsing.
78. What is the difference between MAX and MAXA?

If you want to calculate numeric values, then use MAX.
However, if it is for non-numeric values, then you should
use MAXA.
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79. What is CORR function? When do we use it?
CORR is a correlation function. It gives a correlation
between two variables with a range between -1 and +1:
+1 indicating positive correlation, and -1 indicating
negative correlation.
80. What are content packs in Power BI?

Content packs are another way of sharing Power BI
content with other users. This Power BI content will include
data set, reports, and dashboards. Through content
packs, we can easily control the access to reports: you
have the option to keep it available for the whole
organization or to a specific group of people.
One important thing to note here is that this is a Power BI

Pro feature which means that you need a Pro license to
create, share and consume content packs. They are
created in the Power BI service and can be consumed in
the same environment. We cannot use content packs on
the desktop. Another thing to note is that if we get access
to a content pack, it is read-only access, so we will not be
able to alter any original content. If we want to work on
the same data set, it gives us the option to create a copy
and build our own analysis.
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81. How can we use PBI in MS Excel?
To use Power BI in Excel, there is an Analyse in Excel
option for every report in the Power BI service. To use it,
you will need to enable editing and enable content for the
report for the first time.
This option gives us the underlying data set of our Power

BI report. It comes as a data connection in Excel get to
play with the data in excel. It is up to us how we analyze
the same data, either through pivot tables, charts, etc. By
default, when the data is extracted in excel for any report,
it gives a Pivot table.
82. How can we change the X-axis value in Power BI?

In Power BI, we can change the x-axis dynamically. There
are a few steps we need to follow:
Creating a separate table with the required dimension
names.
Add a slicer to the report with the field that has all the
dimension names.
Create a calculated measure that will give us the
selected dimension from the slicer. We use the
SELECTEDVALUE() function to get the value.
Create another calculated column, which based on
the value from the above measure, will select the
particular column from the data.
When creating the visual - the column created from
step 4, should be dragged for the x axis and the y axis
remains the same.
Now as you will select the different field names, the x-
axis will change accordingly.
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83. Which two cross filter directions are available in Power
BI table relationships?
When a relationship is created between two different
tables in Power BI, PBI asks us for the cross-filter direction.
There are two options available for cross filtering.
Single – When cross filter direction is single, then the
filtering between tables happens from left table to
right table. It is the default setting. First table can be
used to filter the data in the second table.
Both – When cross filter direction is both, then the
filtering between the tables will work both ways. Either
table can be used to filter the other table.
84. What is Bidirectional Cross-filtering in Power BI?

Bidirectional cross-filtering in Power BI Desktop allows
data modelers to determine how they want filters to flow
for data using relationships between tables. With
bidirectional cross-filtering, the filter context is
propagated to a second related table on the other side
of a table relationship. This can help data modelers solve
the many-to-many problem without writing complicated
DAX formulas. Thus, bidirectional cross-filtering simplifies
the job for data modelers.
85. What is OData feed in Power BI?

OData stands for open data protocol. It helps to extract
data from a URL without getting into the details of URL-
specific parameters like request, response, HTTP methods,
etc. It takes care of these things in the back end, leaving
us to focus on pulling the data, performing
transformations and conducting useful analysis.
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86. What is forecast in PBI?
Forecast in Power BI helps its users to
forecast data for the next period. To
use the forecasting feature, we need
to use the Analytics Pane. The
Analytics Pane allows us to add the
dynamic reference lines to the visuals
we create, and provide a focus to the
important trends in the data or the
key insights.
You can find Forecast in the

Visualizations Pane of Power BI
Desktop. For Forecasting, we need to
go to the Analytics Pane where we
can see a Forecast option.
Just click on Add, and then set the forecast length to N

months, N years, or any time period you want to forecast
for, set a Confidence Interval, and then click on Apply.
87. What is Power BI Data Gateway? How can we use it?

Power BI Data Gateway is a software which is used to
access the data which is connected to on-Premise
network from cloud.
If you have to get connected to On-Premise data from a

cloud / web-based app then it is requested through the
Gateway. The access is granted through user
authentication.
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It does not transfer the data from the source to the client
platform, it just connects the platform to on-premise
data source for the direct access.
To use Data Gateway, you need to first install it in your

system, proceed to add the users who will be accessing
the data from on-premise sources to this, then give
authentication & request to pull the data.
88. How can we refresh a PBI report once it is published

on cloud?
The Power BI Reports can be refreshed through Data
Gateway once they are published on cloud. If the reports
are on the Power BI Site/Web, then we can use Power BI
personal Gateway, whereas if the reports are published
on Share-point or other cloud-based platforms etc., we
can use Data Management Gateway.
89. What are the different data refresh options in PBI?

The data of the published reports can be refreshed using
different ways in Power BI.
Package Refresh: It refreshes the report by updating
the data from One Drive or SharePoint. Here, the data
is not refreshed through the source. Rather, it
refreshes the data from the cloud location.
Tile Refresh: In this type of Refresh, the cache data is
refreshed for all the tiles in a Dashboard. Tile Refresh
happens automatically after every 15 Minutes.
Visual Container Refresh: In this type of Refresh, the
cache of the entire visual container of a Report is
refreshed.
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90. What is Power Map? What are the primary
requirements for a table to be used in Power BI?
Power Map is an Excel add-in that provides you with a
powerful set of tools to help you visualize and gain insight
into large sets of data that have a geo-coded
component.
It can help you produce 3D visualizations by plotting upto

a million data points in the form of column, heat, and
bubble maps on top of a Bing map. If the data is time
stamped, it can also produce interactive views that
display how the data changes over space and time.
The primary requirement for the table is that it contains

unique rows. Further, for data to be consumed in power
map, there should be location data like:
Latitude/ Longitude pair

Street, City, Country/ Region, Zip Code/ Postal Code,
and State/ Province, which can be geolocated by Bing
91. What are some of the differences in report authoring

capabilities between a live or direct query connection to
an Analysis service model, relative to working with a data
model local to a Power BI Desktop file?
With a data model local to the PBIX file (or Power Pivot
workbook), the author has full control over the queries,
the modelling/ relationships, the metadata and the
metrics.
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With a live connection to an Analysis Services database,
the user cannot create new metrics, import new data,
change the formatting of the metrics, etc – the user can
only use the visualization, analytics, and formatting
available on the report canvas.
With a direct query model in Power BI to SQL Server, for

example, the author has access to the same features
(and limitations) available to SSAS Direct Query mode.
Only one data source (one database on one server) may
be used, certain DAX functions are not optimized, and the
user cannot use Query Editor functions that cannot be
translated into SQL statements.
92. Explain the term, ‘incremental refresh’.

Incremental refresh is newly added data that is refreshed
so that there is no need to truncate or load the entire
dataset.
93. You've imported a spreadsheet, but Power BI Desktop

hasn't detected that the first row should be used as
column titles. What tool should you click on?
Use the first row as headers.
94. What do you call a single page, also known as a

canvas, that uses visualizations to tell a story?
A Power BI Service Dashboard.
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95. As part of a large HR project, you are working with a
dataset of company employees, both past and present.
The data includes columns for EthnicGroup, PayTypeID,
HireDate (the date they started work), TermDate (the
date they left) and several other columns.
Goal: You want to create a new Calculated Column that

determines if the person was a bad hire based on a set
of rules. If they were a bad hire then the result is 1,
otherwise the Calculated Column displays a zero.
The bad hire rule is:

BadHire = If the person stayed at the company less than
61 days.
Example: If a person joined the company on 27th June

2013 and left on 21st August 2013, then they would be a
bad hire.
Which DAX expression would you use for this Calculated

Column?
IF(OR((([HireDate]-[TermDate])) >=
61,ISBLANK([TermDate])),0,1)
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96. Goal: You want to create a DAX formula that
automatically calculates the previous month number. For
example, if the month was June then the formula would
return 5.
You have already created the DAX formula below:
Today Month = MONTH (Sales[Todays Date])
Which DAX formula would be the next right choice to

achieve the goal?
Previous Month = IF (Sales[Today Month] =1,

12,Sales[Today Month]-1)
97. You have created a table with a column 'population'

with numbers 53222122, 5322122, 33333. You want to
display the 'population' column with comma signs at the
thousand separators. How can you do this?
Go to the underlying table in DATA view, select the

POPULATION column, and on the MODELING tab of the
ribbon, tick the THOUSANDS SEPARATOR icon.
98. What are Data alarms?

Alerts that notify when data refreshed in dashboards is
going beyond the set limits.
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99. Which type of visualisation would you choose if you
wanted to show relationships between 3 numerical
values, and turn the horizontal axis into a logarithmic
scale?
The worksheet data would include grouped sets of values

and your goal is to show patterns in large sets of data
(for example, by showing linear or non-linear trends,
clusters, and outliers).
Bubble Chart.
100. You are viewing a Power BI dashboard in a browser

window. What happens when you click the ‘In-focus’
mode of a tile?
The tile you selected expands and takes the full space.
101. How would you include different terms into Q&A?

In Power BI Desktop, go into the Relationships, select the
table, and select Modelling and Synonyms.
102. Goal: To extract the balance for the last period for
which a figure has been entered from a balances table.
What function will you use?

LASTNONBLANK
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103. What are some of the unique data invigorations used
for generating distributed reports within Power BI?
There are four main types of invigorating steps when it
comes to Power BI.
Visual Compartment
This type of invigorating is a visual compartment refresh
stored in a report type \ once the data starts to change.
In order to find out if the data invigoration worked, you
can check on the accompanying connections.
Tile Invigorate
Tile invigorate refreshes the data for the tile visuals on the
dashboard once the data begins to change. This
happens at regular intervals.
Bundle Invigorate
Bundle invigorate can model or revive your data. This
would then synchronize the Power BI Desktop or Excel
document between the Power BI and OneDrive, or
SharePoint Online. This does not pull the data from the
first data source though. When the data comes to Power
BI, it can refresh it once it is inside the OneDrive record.
Display/data revive
This refers to the type of revising to the dataset inside the
Power BI with data from the initial data source. This would
either be finished by utilizing booked revive or invigorate
now. That usually requires an entry point for the on-
premises data sources, in the form of access tokens or
login credentials.
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104. When you share with people outside your
organization, they get an email with a link to the shared
dashboard. They need a Power BI Pro license, and they
have to sign in to Power BI to see the dashboard. After
they sign in, they see the shared dashboard in its own
browser window without the left navigation pane, not in
their usual Power BI portal. They have to bookmark the link
to access this dashboard in the future.
What should be kept in mind while sharing the

visualization outside the organization?
They can't edit any content in this dashboard or report.

They can’t change any filters/slicers available on the
reports connected to the dashboard and save their
changes.
People outside your organization can't see any data if
role- or row-level security is implemented for on-
premises Analysis Services tabular models.
105. A CurrentSales dataset contains a large number of

product codes for items that the company have sold in
the last 12 months. Due to the nature of the business and
the wide variety of suppliers, the product codes come in
a variety of formats, including mixed case characters.
Write a DAX expression that checks if the product code

contains the letters “ex”.
SEARCH( “ex”, [ProductCode] )
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104. When you share with people outside your
organization, they get an email with a link to the shared
dashboard. They need a Power BI Pro license, and they
have to sign in to Power BI to see the dashboard. After
they sign in, they see the shared dashboard in its own
browser window without the left navigation pane, not in
their usual Power BI portal. They have to bookmark the link
to access this dashboard in the future.
What should be kept in mind while sharing the

visualization outside the organization?
They can't edit any content in this dashboard or report.

They can’t change any filters/slicers available on the
reports connected to the dashboard and save their
changes.
People outside your organization can't see any data if
role- or row-level security is implemented for on-
premises Analysis Services tabular models.
105. A CurrentSales dataset contains a large number of

product codes for items that the company have sold in
the last 12 months. Due to the nature of the business and
the wide variety of suppliers, the product codes come in
a variety of formats, including mixed case characters.
Write a DAX expression that checks if the product code

contains the letters “ex”.
SEARCH( “ex”, [ProductCode] )
ZEP ANALYTICS
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106. What type of chart should be used to compare data
side by side?
Waterfall
107. What type of chart should you choose to show

correlation between 2 variables?
Scatterplot.
108. What is Row-level security in Power BI?

Row-level security restricts the access of certain data to
the given users. Filters are used to restrict the data
access at the Row level.
In Power BI Desktop, once you are done with the Report

creation, you can define the roles & rules of your reports.
These defined roles are also published to Power BI
service, once the Reports are published to service. You
can use the below steps to create the security roles.
Import the data into your Power BI Desktop, if it isn’t

already a Direct query
Configure a connection.
Go to the Modelling tab, Select Manage Roles & Select
Create.
Give a name to your Role.
Now select a table (below example is of the Sales
Territory Column in the Table Dim Sales Territory) in
which you want to create rules by using the DAX.
Once the DAX is complete, click on the check box &
there you go.
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In the reference example below, you have the sales data
of different countries and you want that a particular
country should see the data related to that country only.
Once you create the roles, you can view it by going to
‘View Roles’ & then you will have the data only about the
Role created as Country USA.
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109. What is natural language search choice?

The natural language search choice is language-based
learning for communicating with information as a part of
Power BI suite for Office 365 advertising.
110. State the differences between Power BI and SSRS.

Power BI:
Power BI gives strong data manipulation features in its
backend but provides access only to simple
visualizations.
In the free version, Power BI limits the use 1 GB data.
Power BI allows several data sources supported by
Tableau. With the integration of Office 365 suite, it
allows connection with Share Point. Power BI also
allows online support to the user for direct
visualization through Search Engines but is limited to
Bing search.
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There is a free version available in Power BI which
allows the user to 1GB data set limit. Pro Software is
paid but is cheaper in the market compared to other
BI tools.
Implementation process in Power BI is quite simple. It
uses cloud storage.
SQL Server Reporting Services:

SQL server Reporting Services is generally used to
make pixel perfect reports and provides limited
dashboard options.
SSRS does not have any limit. Also, it allows users to
connect larger data sets, which is not possible in
Power BI.
SSRS also allows various data sources for connections
to make business intelligence reports.
Upon request, the cost details are exposed to the user.
This software license is available on request and is
available on cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS and
some other major platforms.
Compared to Power BI, SSRS contains complex
implementation processes.
111. What are the drawbacks of using Power BI?

Dashboards and reports can only be shared with
users having identical email domains.
Power Bl does not mix imported data, which is
accessed from real-time connections.
Power BI can't accept file sizes larger than 1 GB.
Dashboard does not accept or pass user, account, or
other entity parameters.
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112. What are the differences between Power BI and
Tableau?
ZEP ANALYTICS
This brings our list of 110+ Power BI
interview questions to an end.
We believe these series of guides will help

you “expect the unexpected” and enter
your first data analytics interview with
confidence.
We, at Zep Analytics provide 45 mins

personalized career advice based on your
academic background, working
experience, strengths and weaknesses.
Do not hesitate to schedule a career

consultation with us, to accelerate your
achievements on the path towards your
professional data science goals!
ZEP ANALYTICS
Ready to take the next steps?
Zep Analytics offers a complete data science
training taught by expert instructors with a fun,
interactive, and beginner-friendly approach.
The courses start with the fundamentals, cover

in-demand programming languages like
Python, and SQL, visualization tools like Power
BI and Tableau, and finish off with advanced
specialized courses, including state-of-the-
art Machine and Deep Learning.
ZEP ANALYTICS

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COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE

From job-specific technical questions to tricky

These guides are the result of our data analytics

Become a global tech talent and unleash your next,

Data Science interview questions cover a wide

That being said, being familiar with the type of

Below you’ll find examples of real-life questions

Become a part of the team

2. What is self-service BI?

3. What is Power BI? Why is Power BI so powerful?

It provides the right tools to create interactive dashboards

4. What are the various components of Power BI?

6. What are dashboards in Power BI?

7. What is a DAX function?

9. What are two types of connectivity?

11. What are the various components in the

Power BI Report Server

Power BI Report Server enables you to create dashboards

Become a part of the team

The PBIX file is the primary file type created by

14. What are the various views in Power BI Desktop?

16. What is Lock Aspect in Power BI?

18. Where is data stored in PBI?

19. What is the business need for PBI?

21. What is PBI cloud?

22. How can one connect to an Oracle DB in PBI?

Once you do so, you will be asked to give the Server

23. How can we represent different levels of

24. How can one connect a SQL server in PBI?

The great thing about Power BI Embedded is that your

Power BI gives you the capability to create an embedded

The Power BI Pro account acts as the master account of

Service principal embeds Power BI Dashboards / Reports

In Power BI, we can have many relationships in between

27. Explain the difference between merge and

28. What are visualizations in PBI?

30. What is PBI service?

33. Explain the custom visuals in Power BI:

There are mainly four types of users as per their purpose

Analysts: Analysts use Power BI to develop reports,

36. Why use the selection pane in PBI?

39. Name different filters used in Power BI and

41. How are slicers used?

42. What are KPIs in PBI?

Q & A recognizes the words you type & figures out

You can use this feature once your Data Modelling

We can have a simple example of a date where we

So, if we consider the date example, it will be

45. What are combination charts in PBI?

47. Describe all types of visuals

Distribution segment – Histogram, KDE Plots

Maps – ArcGis graph, Chloropleth map.

Comparison – Bar graph, Funnel charts etc

49. Can SQL be used in Power Query Editor?

50. Consider functions like SUM,SUMX and

Calculated measures are DAX expressions which are

52. State the difference between the COUNT and COUNTD

54. What is a Bookmark? How do you create it?

To create it: while on a Report Page --> Click on

55. Give an example of a visual from Power BI which