About the Books
Data analysis expressions (DAX) is the data modelling language of Power BI and Excel Power Pivot . DAX language and DAX functions are the same in both Power BI and Excel and hence the knowledge is transferable between the two. The only difference is getting familiarised with the corresponding interfaces.
Simply reading a regular book is normally not enough to help users to learn DAX skills – you need to complete the exercises and get plenty of practice to make the transition. These books are written to give you exactly that – hands-on practice. Inside you will find explanation of the concepts, sample exercises and then practice questions and answers to maximise learning retention and experience.
Once you have read my books and complete the exercises there will be no stopping you on your path to DAX, Power BI and Power Pivot super stardom. And, you will become a data modeller to get the most of self-service BI.
Power BI Desktop and Excel Power Pivot
Power BI is the self-service BI tool from Microsoft. PowerBI became generally available in July 2015 and is following a rapid monthly development cycle – the pace of change is quite astonishing. There is no doubt that Excel users will increasingly want to leverage the sharing and modern visualisation capabilities of PowerBI, and learning to write DAX is the foundation of that journey.
The DAX skills that you learn are fully transferable between Power BI Desktop and Excel Power Pivot .
About the Author (me, Matt Allington)
I have taken my 30+ years experience using Excel and also my experience in teaching live Power Pivot classes and distilled this knowledge into the books that will help any Excel user get started with DAX, Power BI and Power Pivot. The challenge with Power Pivot is that it is completely different to the rest of Excel. As a result, you can’t just ‘incrementally learn’ this stuff off the base of your existing Excel skills – you really need to do some formal learning to get started. These books are exactly what you need to get that start.
Supercharge Power BI (includes free digital copy)
Supercharge Power BI is the third edition of my book written using Power BI.
Supercharge Excel (includes free digital copy)
Supercharge Excel is the second edition of my book Learn to Write DAX that was written using Excel 2013. Supercharge Excel is written using Excel 2016. Supercharge Excel is the sister book of Supercharge Power BI.