Power BI – Data Modeling (2026)

Power BI is a powerful tool for analyzing and reporting data. In Power BI Data Modeling, Microsoft Trainer Kathy Snizaski demonstrates how to use Power BI for building and transforming working data models. You’ll learn how to connect to various data sources, transform data, and build relationships between tables.

Kathy will show you how to identify which data sources are available for connection and how to determine Data Load settings before importing data. You’ll see how to connect to Excel files, CSV files, and SharePoint list data and how to manually enter data to load as a data source.

You’ll learn how to clean data by first determining the data integrity and then changing the data types and working with applied steps. You’ll also learn how to transform the data using multiple tools as well as how to manage relationships between tables and determine cardinality. By the end of this course, you will have the information you need to effectively use Power BI to build your data models.

Topics covered include:

• Identify which data sources are available for connection
• Explain the difference between a direct query and importing data
• Determine Data Load settings before importing data
• Connect to Excel and CSV files and to data stored in a SharePoint list
• Enter data to load as a data source
• Determine the integrity of the data by previewing the column quality, distribution, and profile
• Change data types and work with applied steps
• Merge tables
• Split columns by a delimiter
• Unpivot fields within a query
• Manage relationships between tables
• Determine cardinality