Tag Archive for 'Microsoft'

Introducing Power BI and How to Get Started

Don’t let your business’s data go to waste! Power BI allows you to make data-driven decisions to achieve your company goals and propel your business forward.

Power BI

What is Power BI?

Power BI is a powerful and easy-to-use Data Visualization and Business Intelligence tool. It can take data from different, unrelated data sources and combine it into incredible interactive reports and dashboards with stunning visualisations. Moreover, the desktop version of Power BI is wholly and entirely free.

BI: (business intelligence) refers to taking raw data and transforming it to create reports that can aid in making informed business decisions. Data visualisation uses visual elements such as charts, graphs, maps, and other illustrations to analyse and find patterns and insights in data. Microsoft’s “Power BI” comprises several products and services, which include:

Microsoft Power BI Pro – A paid online service that allows users to view dashboards with a web browser and collaborate and share data. 

Power BI Mobile – A free mobile version that allows a secure connection and interaction with dashboards and reports on the go.

Microsoft Power BI Desktop – A free desktop report authoring tool that can connect to more than 70 different data sources. It’s typically known for its eye-catching visualisations, dashboards and reports. 

With Power BI Desktop, you can:

  1. Get data from a wide variety of data sources and shape the data to match your reporting needs.
  2. Create relationships between your data and change data formats
  3. Create reports choosing from dozens of visualisations with almost limitless formatting options.
  4. Save your reports as a Power BI Desktop file. 
  5. Upload or publish your reports

Where to download Power BI

Power BI Desktop is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. To download the latest version, you can use the following link.

Or you can use this link to download the Power BI files directly.

After clicking the link, you can choose the language you want to download the software. There are details on system requirements and installation instructions.

Download Microsoft Power BI Desktop

Power BI – The Main Tools

1. Welcome window

When Power BI is installed and opened, it launches a welcome screen. From here, it is possible to open data sources, see any new developments in the programme and access tutorials.

Microsoft Power BI Welcome Screen

2. Power BI main interface

You will see the main Power BI Interface after closing the welcome screen. 

Microsoft Power BI Main Interface

The Power BI interface, on first look, seems slightly different to other MS Office products. Still, it has many familiar elements, such as the ribbon with tabs and groups of command buttons.

Power BI Ribbon

3. Data sources

To access all of the various options regarding data sources, select the ‘Get data’ command located in the Data group of the Home tab. The command will display a list of ‘Common data sources‘.

Power BI Common Data Sources

Clicking ‘More…‘ in this list will open a dialogue box that lists all the possible sources from which Power BI can access data.

Power BI Data Source List

Here you can connect to different flat files such as Excel Workbooks and Text files, sources such as an SQL database, and web platforms such as Facebook, Google Analytics, and Salesforce objects.

BI is about providing the right data at the right time to the right people so that they can take the right decisions.

Nic Smith with Microsoft BI Solutions Marketing

4. Power Bi Canvas

The most used area is known as the ‘Canvas‘. You can create and configure reports, data, relationships, and dashboards here.

Power BI Canvas View

By default, Canvas displays the Report View, which shows visualisations and reports, but you can change the view by selecting the View selection icons on the left side of the Power BI interface.

View Selection Panel

Choosing the ‘Data View‘ will display the data tables from your data sources.

Power BI Data View

The ‘Model View‘ will show any relationships between the different tables of Data.

Power BI Model View

5. Configuration panes

The last main area of the Power BI interface is the ‘Configuration panes‘. There are three of these on display by default, which can change depending on what you are viewing. They are the following: 

Filters pane – Add/Configure filters to govern the data shown.

Visualisations pane – Choose visualisation type

Fields pane – Shows the field’s data source. Add data to reports by dragging fields onto the canvas.

Power BI Configuration Panes

You can collapse all panes to provide more working area on the main canvas.

If you want to learn more about Power BI, Infero Training has a Data Analysis with Power BI course that covers starting with Power BI and much more. Please get in touch to find out more.

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Access vs Excel: How To Choose The Right One For You

Data is a major part of life, but how do we manage it? Most use Excel, some use Access. Both have their similarities. So Access vs Excel, which should we choose?

Microsoft Access vs Microsoft Excel

Contents

To jump right in, both programs can store large amounts of data, run powerful queries and perform sophisticated calculations to return the desired results.

To put things extremely simply, you use Excel for data analysis and Access for data management.

Still, if we want to know which piece of software, specifically, might be helpful for our particular needs, it’s useful to look at the benefits of both programmes.

(Note: All Microsoft Office suites include Excel, but not all suites include Access.)

1. Access vs Excel: Advantages

1.1 Advantages of Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet programme and one of the most used applications in the world, with many benefits of use:

1. Easy to Learn: Excel takes relatively little time and effort to learn. Although Excel has many advanced functions that take longer to master, you can quickly pick up the fundamentals.

2. Data Visualisation Capabilities: Excel has an incredible number of options for visualising data, including PivotTables, graphs and charts, which you can customise however you wish. 

3. Formulas and Functions: Excel formulas can do almost anything, from simple numeric calculations to very complex analyses.

4. Flexibility: Although designed for Data analysis, Excel can be (and has been) used for almost any task

(Follow this link for our beginner’s guide to Excel)

1.2 Advantages of Access:

Access is a Microsoft database management system (DBMS) used for both small and large databases.

1. Relational Database: Access allows you to relate data in one table to data in different tables. Information can be stored in one table and referenced in another.

(NB: It is also possible to have a relational database model in Excel, but this involves using Excel’s more advanced functionality.)

2. Reporting Capabilities: Access has possibly the best report-generating capabilities of any of the members of the Microsoft Office suite.

3. Storage Capacity: Access is built to handle enormous amounts of data as a database system. It can also differentiate between different types of data.

4. Data Validation: Access allows you to check or validate data in your databases as you enter it by using validation rules.

To decide if Access or Excel is best for your needs, you can consider the following questions:

5. Flat versus relational data: Is your data relational? Data contained in a single table or worksheet is called flat or nonrelational data. In a relational database, you organise your information into multiple tables.

6. Local versus external data: You can use Access to connect to data from various external data sources to view, query, and edit that data without having to import it. You can also use Excel to connect to multiple data sources (including Access), but you cannot edit the source data through the Excel user interface.

7. Data integrity versus flexibility: Access requires unique identifiers within any Table, which help preserve the integrity of your data and which are used to relate records in one table to records in another. Excel lets you enter data more freely, although it is possible to control data entry using the Data Validation command.

8. Multi-user collaboration: Access lets multiple users open a single database simultaneously because it locks only the data that another user is editing. In Excel, you can share a workbook with other users, but collaboration works best when users work on data at different times, not simultaneously.

You can also ask which data analysis tools would best suit your purpose:

9. Querying: Access allows the creation of complex queries to view your data in various ways, retrieving only the rows and columns of data you want, whether the data is contained in one or many tables.

10. Modelling? Excel has what-if analysis tools that allow you to run different scenarios on your data, such as best-case and worst-case scenarios. No similar feature is available in Access.

11. Pivoting and charting? Excel provides PivotTable reporting and advanced charting features. Although Access can produce pivoted (Crosstab) reports and has some charts available, they are not as sophisticated as those in Excel.

(Follow this link for our beginner’s guide to Access)

2. Access vs Excel: When to Use Them

2.1 When to use Excel

Excel is incredibly flexible and can store data like Access, but is optimised for data analysis and calculation. Use Excel when you:

  • Only need a flat or nonrelational view of your data.
  • Run calculations and statistical analysis.
  • Want to use PivotTable reports.
  • Create charts regularly.
  • Want options to emphasise your data, like conditional formatting icons, data bars, and colour scales.

2.2 When to use Access

Very generally, Access is the best choice when you track and record data regularly, and need to export or produce reports for subsets of that data. Use Access when you:

  • Have multiple users.
  • Will be adding more tables to a data set.
  • Want to run complex queries.
  • Want the ability to produce complex reports.

3. Using Access and Excel together

Of course, it is not necessarily an either/or choice. There may be times when it makes sense to take advantage of both programs’ benefits. It does not matter which program you have used first. There are built-in tools to bring data into Access from Excel (and vice versa) by copying, importing, or exporting it.

If you use Access to store your data and Excel to analyse it, you can benefit from both of these excellent pieces of software.

If you would like to learn more about either software, we provide certified training courses tailored to you and your requirements. Get in touch with us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.

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Microsoft Access: Introducing You to the Database(ics)

Microsoft Access arguably doesn’t share the same fame as other Microsoft products. However, it still packs a punch. Read on to find out what it can do.

Microsoft Access

Data, data, data. It’s what most businesses boil down to; it holds the secrets to success, but if improperly managed, it is the cause of problems. It needs to be stored effectively and efficiently to keep this rich source of insight and strategy working in your favour.

The solution? Databases.

This leads us to today’s menu of discussion as one of the first mass-market database programs for Windows, Microsoft Access.

What is Microsoft Access:

Microsoft Acess is a data management system (DBMS) produced by Microsoft and part of the Microsoft 365 Office Suite.

It uses a graphic user interface (GUI) and software development tools. It’s suitable for people with and without coding experience and is used to store, manage and visualise large quantities of data.

Microsoft Access is an excellent database software solution for individuals and small to medium businesses. 

Applications of Microsoft Access:

  • Creating forms for data entry 
  • Importing data from other databases (such as Excel)
  • Creating reports that you can save in a PDF format for printing and sharing
  • Designing forms for data entry and viewing

Components of Microsoft Access:

Tables

The backbone of all databases is the tables, which hold the data and information. Like Excel, you can build tables of rows and columns, each with a field name and the rows representing a record.

Creating all the necessary subject-based tables for the data required is the first step of creating a database in Microsoft Access.

Queries

In Microsoft Acess, you can use queries to apply conditions that will sort, search, and filter the data into relevant views, so specific information in the database is easier and quicker to find.

You can also use Queries to calculate, summarise and combine data, and create automations with no code.

The database query language is SQL (Structured Query Language). However, you only need to learn SQL if you wish to be an advanced Microsoft Access user.

Relationships

You use Relationships to create a connection between different tables with related fields. The result of building a Relationship between tables is one table with common fields that have their relationships with other tables defined.

Relationships are essential when creating Microsoft Access databases. They reduce redundancies and repeating data.

Forms

Forms are a fundamental Microsoft Access component as it controls how the user interacts with and operates the database. For example, people can enter, edit and display data using them.

You can also design and revise forms to reflect their purpose.

Reports

Reports are a way to format, summarise and show the results and information given by the database. Once you have created the report, Microsoft Access saves it in an uneditable format, such as a PDF.

Macros

Microsoft Access Macros allow the database to carry out actions automatically. It is essentially a simplified version of coding where, instead, you select a list of actions from a drop-down list to create the automation.

The order of actions given in your list will be the order in which the automation performs the steps and doesn’t require code in a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) module.

Modules

Modules are where user-defined actions, functions and global variables created using VBA are written, stored and accessed in Microsoft Access.

VBA is more powerful and versatile than Macros, but it is more complex to add functionality to the database and is usually the choice of advanced Microsoft Access users.

Interested in improving your Microsoft Macros mastery by learning how to use VBA? Click here to find out more about our extremely popular VBA course.

If you want to learn more about Microsoft Acces, check out some of our Tips and Tricks here!

Your needs are at the heart of our enterprise. We look forward to hearing what your training requirements are and how we can help you or your company reach your goals every step of the way.

Working From Home: How To Make Sure You Have The Skills Needed

As 2022 begins and with our world having changed after the Covid-19 pandemic, it is time to look into the future and make sure we are kept up to date with our necessary skills to succeed from the comfort of our homes.

One in four firms are allowing their workers to continue working from home, whether that be full time or mixing in office work as well, meaning we need to make sure we continue to develop our skills so we don’t fall behind. 

Without the office environment and co-workers being beside you to help, it can feel like you are not ready to work alone, but don’t worry. With these helpful tips, you will be back to efficient work in no time.

“Practice makes perfect.” 

One way to keep ahead is to make sure you are using the software as much as possible allowing you to remember how to perform a task easier each time. 

Going step-by-step learning new things and trying them over and over again will help you develop your skills further and each time you try you will see a noticeable improvement, motivating you to continue practising.

Don’t give up, you can’t be perfect after your first couple of tries, you’ll get the results you want just remember to take your time learning.

Try Something New 

Trying something new on the software will also help you keep up to date. When you try something new it builds your confidence in aspects you have already mastered as they will feel easier compared to what you’re trying as well as you also gaining new skills. 

It also gives you a break from a task that may not be going so well, so by trying something new you are refreshing your brain so that when you return hopefully you won’t be stuck anymore.

Get help 

If you’re struggling and need help, remember it’s ok to ask. Whether that be enrolling on a course or asking someone you know, having someone help you get to grips with the software can make a massive difference. 

If you are looking for some professional help, check out our Adobe or Microsoft courses to keep updated on the software.  

How To Identify Version Of Microsoft Office

When buying a course or looking for tips, it’s easier for the provider if you know which version of Microsoft Office you’re using. This guide will show you how to identify this on either Windows or Mac.

 

When using Windows

 

  1. Open any of your Office applications (Word or Excel) and create a new document.
  2. Choose File in the top left corner, and then select either Account or Help from the list on the left.
  3. Under Product Information, you’ll see your Office product name and, in some cases, the full version number.
  4. If the full version number doesn’t appear here, choose About Excel. A dialog box opens, showing the full version number and bit version (32- or 64-bit) at the top.

excel product

 

1 – Product name, such as Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 or Office Home and Student 2016

2 – Full version number, which starts with 15 for Office 2013 or 16 for Office 2016.

 

 

 

On Mac

 

  1. Open any of your Office applications (E.g. Word or Excel) and create a new document.
  2. Go to the Excel menu and choose About Excel.
  3. In the dialog box that opens, the version number appears in the middle (Office for Mac 2016) or in the top left (Office for Mac 2011).

 

excel

 

 

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Project 2013 Tip: Using the Task Inspect Tool

The Task Inspect Tool was introduced by Microsoft in Project 2010 to help project managers have even more control on their project and help, especially in long and complicated projects, and to determine and track down the causes of slipping tasks, which can be very problematic.  Trying to determine which predecessor relationship is pushing the scheduled start date out can be difficult with linked tasks residing multiple screens away.

 

After you have added your tasks, assigned resources and set your predecessors, you can use the Task Inspect too to help manage the project easily, without the need to bring up the Task Information Dialogue box every time.

 

To get the Task Inspect Tool:

 

1) Go to Task Tab on the Ribbon and head to the Tasks Command Group

 

pic 1

 

2) Click on the Inspect command

 

pic 2

 

3) This will bring the Task Inspect Tool next to the Ghant Chart Table view in Project. Now every time you select a Task the Task Inspector will bring all the details (predecessors, Assigned Resources, Calendars…) up in a simpler view.

pic 4pic 3

 

As you can see from screen grab, the Task Inspector can also be useful if Resourced assigned to the tasks are over allocated and will give you possible solutions.

 

If you want to learn more about Microsoft Project, join our Microsoft Project course. You can also sign up to mailing list for more hints & tips on Project and other MS applications.