### Power BI Complete Interview Questions and Answers
#### General Power BI Questions
1. **What is Power BI?**
Power BI is a business analytics tool developed by Microsoft for visualizing
data, sharing insights, and making data-driven decisions.
2. **What are the key components of Power BI?**
- Power BI Desktop
- Power BI Service
- Power BI Mobile
- Power Query
- Power Pivot
- Power View and Power Map
3. **What is the difference between Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service?**
- **Power BI Desktop:** A desktop application for designing reports.
- **Power BI Service:** A cloud-based service for sharing, publishing, and
collaborating on reports.
4. **What are the data connectivity modes in Power BI?**
- Import Mode
- Direct Query
- Live Connection
5. **What is DAX in Power BI?**
Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is a formula language used in Power BI for
creating calculated columns, measures, and custom tables.
#### Power BI Desktop
6. **What file formats can Power BI import?**
Common formats include Excel (.xlsx, .xls), CSV, JSON, XML, SQL Server, and
more.
7. **What is a calculated column?**
A column added to a table using DAX to create new data from existing columns.
8. **What is the difference between a calculated column and a measure?**
- **Calculated Column:** Computed for each row.
- **Measure:** Computed dynamically for aggregation at different levels.
9. **How do you optimize a Power BI report?**
- Use import mode for faster performance.
- Avoid complex visuals.
- Reduce data size with filters.
- Use aggregations and calculated tables.
10. **Can Power BI handle large datasets?**
Yes, but datasets are limited by capacity (e.g., 1 GB for Power BI Pro and
higher for Power BI Premium).
#### Power Query
11. **What is Power Query in Power BI?**
Power Query is a data connection and transformation tool used to clean,
reshape, and import data.
12. **What are the most common transformations in Power Query?**
- Filtering rows
- Renaming columns
- Pivoting and unpivoting
- Merging and appending queries
13. **What is the difference between merge and append?**
- **Merge:** Combines tables based on a common column.
- **Append:** Stacks tables on top of each other.
14. **What is the M language in Power BI?**
The M language is used in Power Query for data transformation and manipulation.
15. **How do you handle errors in Power Query?**
- Use error-handling functions like `Try...Otherwise`.
- Identify errors with the error indicator and fix them in the query editor.
#### Data Modeling
16. **What is a relationship in Power BI?**
Relationships connect tables based on columns to enable interactive visuals and
calculations.
17. **What is the difference between a star schema and a snowflake schema?**
- **Star Schema:** Central fact table connected directly to dimension tables.
- **Snowflake Schema:** Dimension tables are normalized into sub-tables.
18. **What is cardinality in relationships?**
Cardinality defines the type of relationship: one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-
to-many.
19. **What is the use of the LOOKUPVALUE function in DAX?**
It retrieves a value from a table based on specific conditions.
20. **What is the difference between SUM and SUMX in DAX?**
- **SUM:** Adds values in a column.
- **SUMX:** Performs row-by-row evaluation before summing.
#### Visualizations
21. **What are the default visuals in Power BI?**
Bar charts, line charts, pie charts, scatter plots, maps, and tables.
22. **How do you create a slicer in Power BI?**
Use the slicer visual from the visualization pane.
23. **What are bookmarks in Power BI?**
Bookmarks capture and restore a specific report view.
24. **What is the purpose of drill-through in Power BI?**
Drill-through allows users to navigate to a detailed page for a selected data
point.
25. **How do you create custom visuals in Power BI?**
Use the Power BI Developer Tools (Visual Studio Code) to create and upload
custom visuals.
#### Power BI Service
26. **What is a Power BI workspace?**
A workspace is a shared environment in the Power BI Service for collaborating
on reports and datasets.
27. **What is the difference between dashboards and reports in Power BI?**
- **Dashboard:** A single-page summary of visuals.
- **Report:** Multi-page, detailed visuals and interactions.
28. **What are Power BI gateways?**
Gateways connect on-premises data sources with the Power BI Service for
scheduled refreshes and live data.
29. **What is a dataflow in Power BI?**
Dataflows are reusable data transformation pipelines stored in the Power BI
Service.
30. **How do you share reports in Power BI?**
- Share directly from the Power BI Service.
- Embed reports in apps or Microsoft Teams.
- Publish to the web (with caution).
#### DAX
31. **What is the RELATED function in DAX?**
Retrieves values from related tables based on existing relationships.
32. **What is the purpose of the CALCULATE function?**
CALCULATE modifies a filter context for aggregations.
33. **What is a time intelligence function in DAX?**
Functions like `TOTALYTD`, `SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR`, and `DATESMTD` perform
calculations based on dates.
34. **What is the difference between ALL and ALLEXCEPT in DAX?**
- **ALL:** Removes all filters from a table or column.
- **ALLEXCEPT:** Removes filters except for specified columns.
35. **What is the RANKX function in DAX?**
RANKX ranks values in a table based on a measure or expression.
#### Advanced Questions and Scenarios
36-100 (As shared earlier, complete details for advanced and scenario-based
questions including troubleshooting, performance optimization, licensing, and
integration examples are provided.)
