NCCS Course

Microsoft Power BI Essentials with PL-300 Pathway Course Outline

Weekly Delivery Plan

Week 1

Session	Class Topic	Detailed Content
Class 1	Introduction to Business Intelligence	Data vs information vs insights; why BI matters; business reporting use cases; dashboards in decision- making.
Class 2	Introduction to Microsoft Power BI	Power BI ecosystem; Desktop, Query, Model, Visuals, Service; end-to-end reporting workflow.
Class 3	Power BI Desktop Navigation	Report view, data view, model view, fields pane, filters pane, and PBIX workflow.
Class 4	Data Sources and First Import	Excel, CSV, and folder imports; selecting correct tables; load vs transform.
Class 5	Lab: First Mini Report	Import sample data and create first visuals with simple filtering and formatting.

Week 2

Session	Class Topic	Detailed Content
Class 6	Introduction to Power Query	Role of Power Query; query editor interface; applied steps; refresh and transformation logic.
Class 7	Basic Data Cleaning	Renaming columns; changing types; removing blanks, duplicates, and common source issues.
Class 8	Column Transformations	Split, merge, extract, custom columns, and conditional columns.
Class 9	Row and Table Transformations	Filter, sort, remove errors, top/bottom rows, and Group By basics.
Class 10	Lab: Clean a Raw Dataset	Hands-on exercise to convert messy operational data into a usable analysis table.

Week 3

Session	Class Topic	Detailed Content
Class 11	Append and Merge Queries	When to append vs merge; joining lookup data; expanding merged results.
Class 12	Pivot and Unpivot	Reshaping wide and narrow data for analysis; monthly and departmental reporting use cases.
Class 13	Preparing Tables for BI	Fact-style and dimension-style thinking; master vs transaction data.
Class 14	Power Query Best Practices	Naming queries, disabling unnecessary loads, keeping logic readable, and refresh awareness.
Class 15	Lab + Quiz Review	Practical shaping exercise plus short concept assessment and corrections.

Week 4

Session	Class Topic	Detailed Content
Class 16	Introduction to Data Modelling	Why modelling matters; star schema basics; fact and dimension tables; filter flow.
Class 17	Building Relationships	One-to-many relationships; active vs inactive; cross- filter direction; troubleshooting.
Class 18	Date Table Foundations	Creating a date table; marking as date table; year, quarter, month fields.
Class 19	Introduction to DAX	Calculated columns vs measures; DAX syntax; basic aggregations and measure thinking.
Class 20	Lab: KPI Measure Pack	Create sales, cost, quantity, profit, and margin measures; use KPI cards.

Week 5

Session	Class Topic	Detailed Content
Class 21	Filter Context and CALCULATE	How slicers and visuals change results; filtered measures; CALCULATE basics in business scenarios.
Class 22	Visualization Fundamentals	Selecting visuals; readability; titles, labels, sorting, and clean formatting.
Class 23	Dashboard Design and Storytelling	KPI strips, layout hierarchy, business storytelling, and reporting for decision-makers.
Class 24	Interactive Reporting	Filters vs slicers; drill-down; drill-through; visual interactions; tooltip overview.
Class 25	Lab: One-Page Business Dashboard	Build an integrated report page with KPIs, trends, categories, and slicer-based analysis.

Week 6

Session	Class Topic	Detailed Content
Class 26	Time Intelligence Basics	YTD, MTD, QTD, previous period comparisons, variance, and growth percentage.
Class 27	Introduction to Power BI Service	Publishing from Desktop; reports vs datasets; workspaces; basic sharing concepts.
Class 28	Security, Refresh, and Governance	Scheduled refresh concept, gateway overview, Row- Level Security awareness, and responsible reporting practices.
Class 29	PL-300 Pathway and Project Workshop	Certification overview, exam domains, recommended next steps, and project guidance.
Class 30	Final Project Presentation	Student presentations, feedback, portfolio relevance, and course wrap-up.

One Month Guided Project with Trainer’s Support (02 days per week):

Trainer will check the progress of assigned individual Project and guide about further work.