“AdventureWorks” and “Contoso” are the data professional rites of passage. Almost every data portfolio you will see online will have some version of this project that was developed at Microsoft.

Here’s the setup: A mid-size bicycle and bicycle accessories retail company is transitioning its operations to the Microsoft Azure cloud and its data into formats ready for analysis. By the end of the project, a person completing these tasks would have foundational knowledge and applied real-world experience in cloud applications, database tools like SQL and Microsoft Excel, and analyzing data in Microsoft Power BI to deliver business insights.

I will only be focusing on the data analysis portion, which had five parts:

1. Extract and explore the data, transform the data to prepare for analysis (.csv files, calculated columns, correct errors, etc.), and load the cleaned data into Microsoft Power BI to identify the relationships between the fact tables and dimension tables.

2. Use data analysis expressions or DAX measures, develop an executive dashboard meant for c-suite leaders with big picture overviews of KPI’s, top products, and monthly revenue and profit.

3. Use DAX measures and AI insights to develop a drill through page for store managers to ensure they meet monthly profit targets and can keep track of discounts.

4. Use DAX measures and AI insights to develop a drill through page for the sales team to identify top customers and products.

5. Finally, develop a map with region specific statistics and explore security tools to ensure stores could only see sales and transaction data in their own regions (run level encoding, tenant permissions, etc.).

Once complete, you will have a four-page Power BI project ready to be reviewed by the team with all the bells and whistles you expect from a data analyst.

If you’re interested in exploring this dashboard, you can download a static view of the report here. If you would like access to the interactive version, please send me an email at quibuyen.michael@gmail.com so that I can add you to the subscribers list, note, you must have access to a Power BI account.