So you know Power BI, what’s next? Let’s understand some of the other data technologies & Skills Beyond Power BI that you should master if you want to diversify your data skills and be eligible for that next job opportunity. Companies like McDonald’s and Apple use a technique called value chain analysis to improve their value. You might think, How is this related to Power BI? I’m coming to that.
What value chain analysis refers to is studying the entire value chain and identifying opportunities to improve value. For example, consider the case of McDonald’s, which manufactures potato chips. So what McDonald’s does is they go and buy the potato farms and grow their own potatoes. That way, the upstream activity of creating a potato chip, that is, growing potatoes, is now owned by McDonald’s, so they can get more value out of the transaction. Likewise, the downstream activity after they create the chip they sell it to you. This is where again McDonald’s goes and owns the property or the real estate of their store, so they can get more value out of that transaction.
We can apply the same idea to improve our value as a Power BI person. We can get to what the upstream systems, technologies, and concepts are that can improve our value. Likewise, what are the downstream things that can improve our value?
Let’s take a closer look at this. For example, imagine Power BI is at the center of your work. Now we could think about what are the upstream activities are, what are the downstream activities are, and then use that to diversify our data skills.
Upstream Activities for Power BI
Data Sources and Pipelines
For Power BI, the upstream activities are how things come into Power BI. This is where you will have your data sources, pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and maybe even some code.
Of course, there’s going to be overlap between these things, but these are, in general, some of the things that flow into Power BI. So when you are talking about diversifying the data skills, these are the things that I would address.
- For example, I will learn how to use SQL, which will help me connect to various data sources and manage my work better.
- Likewise, I will understand how some of the data engineering concepts work, because all of that would feed into more Power BI reports and workbooks.
Coding Skills
Many times, companies also use code to generate what is required for Power BI or any other business intelligence systems, so learning how to code could be a valuable upstream skill that helps you do more and deliver more value at the Power BI level.
- Here, for example, learning something like Python could be an extremely valuable skill to have.
Cloud Skills
Likewise, in the cloud space, there are many providers, but Power BI being a Microsoft platform, I would start off with Azure and then maybe learn how AWS or Amazon Cloud works and even GCP, as well as some of the other providers like Snowflake.
Business Domain Knowledge
This is one level of upstream work. There are also other things that happen that impact the work you do inside Power BI. For example, understanding the business domain (I’m just going to call this BD) is a great way to enhance your skills as well as add value to your profile.
Understand what your business is, what is important for your users, what is the important thing to measure, what kind of KPIs work in your business, because all of that will impact your work and how you’re delivering things inside Power BI.
User Interactions
Another thing that also helps you add value to your Power BI skills is user interactions, because many times what we are building in Power BI is dependent on what our users are asking for and what they need.
- Building that interaction skill with your user, asking the right questions, doing requirement and design analysis, is a really valuable skill to have.
- This is something that happens upstream. Once this is done, then only you get to do stuff inside Power BI.
- Again, focusing on users and learning how they operate, what kind of business drivers or business domain information is guiding their decisions, is a valuable thing to have.
Data Modeling
Much closer to Power BI, another upstream thing that happens is the data modeling or semantic modeling aspect. While we can argue that this data modeling and a large extent of data source work happens inside Power BI, many times in a large organization, when you are building lots of Power BI reports, this step itself is isolated and done separately, and then fed into Power BI.
So, focusing more on this, understanding how various relationships work, creating measures, working with complicated tables and relationships, all of that is a helpful skill to build and go deep on.
If I am learning Power BI and if I have already saturated my knowledge here, these are the things that I would double-click into. For example, I would learn a little bit more about my data sources and learn a little bit more about data modeling and DAX concepts, because those will directly impact how much value and how much work I can deliver inside Power BI.
User Interface Design
Another aspect that is directly related to how you are doing your Power BI work, but happens upstream, is the user interface design. This is user interfacing in the sense of talking to the users, whereas this is user experience or the actual report design and mockup. These are the kinds of things that happen before you actually do anything inside Power BI.
- Learning these things, as well as expanding your knowledge into that, will directly improve your value as well as how you are able to do stuff inside Power BI.
- Here are some of the things that you can focus on: how to build mockups and how to use design tools like Adobe Express, Canva, or Figma.
Downstream Activities for Power BI
Service Layer
Now what about the downstream things? Once you build your Power BI report, where is it going, and what are the things that happen there?
That is where you can capture a lot of value and build your skills. The key downstream thing that happens immediately after you finish your work in Power BI is in the service layer.
- This is where you’re talking about how to distribute the Power BI report, who gets to see what you produced, and sharing it, as well as collaboration and all of that.
- All of this happens through the PowerBI website, but we loosely call this the service.
- Learning how this service works and going deep into that is a valuable skill to have.
AI Layer
Another aspect, and this is something that is gaining more and more popularity now, is the AI aspect. While we can argue that AI is all over the space, not just downstream, many times AI acts as an extra layer on top of your Power BI analysis or data models, or data sources, and helps you get more out of it.
- Learn how to use various AI components that are both embedded in Power BI as well as outside.
- For example, I would focus more on how to use the Copilot technology that is now deeply integrated into Power BI for my measure creation, my data sources, my pipelines, and everything, as well as my insights from the report.
- We could use options like Smart Narratives, AI visuals, and many other options that are now part of Power BI to get more value out of it.
This is how not only your reports are becoming valuable, but you are also able to get more value for yourself.
Insights and Communication
One more thing that happens after you finish work in Power BI is insights and communication. This is where you will usually have a Power BI report, and then you talk to the end users, explain what the report is saying, and drive the business action.
- So this is where having skills like forecasting, modeling, even a little bit of AI, all of these are valuable skills to have, as well as presentation skills and persuasion skills.
- This is because in many business settings, it’s not enough if you can build a cool-looking report, but you should be able to convince people of what the report is saying and drive the business action.
Mobile Consumption
Another downstream activity that happens is mobile consumption. These days, a lot of business users are referring to the data and insights on their smartphones and devices, so figuring out how to communicate for a smaller screen like a mobile is a very helpful skill to have, and that can also add more value to you.
Role-Level Security
One final component of the downstream puzzle is the role-level security. Although this happens downstream, it is actually much more deeply integrated into upstream activities as well. But understanding how to implement role-level security as well as privacy and locking of your data, so that only the people who need to see the data are seeing it, is critical. Building these skills will also automatically add more value to your Power BI.
Side-Stream Skills
Now, apart from upstream and downstream skills, you can also have what I call side-stream skills. These are skills in a similar space to Power BI, but also used in many organizations.
- A classic example is Excel. Excel is one of the most popular technologies for analyzing data and doing lots of work, so learn how to use Excel better because this automatically puts you in a better light than just knowing Power BI.
- Also, contemporaries to Power BI like Tableau, SAS, or Qlik, or anything else that is used in your organization, are basically side-level skills that you should learn.
Many times, these also use the upstream and downstream skills, so learning them means you are automatically becoming a much more widely known person, and more people will reach out to you for work, suggestions, and advice. Learning these skills is automatically going to improve your value.
Conclusion by Buzzindie
Skills beyond Power BI are essential to grow in data-related fields. Upstream skills like data sources, code, and pipelines form the foundation. Downstream skills include presentation, storytelling, and decision-making. Side-stream skills cover domain expertise, business knowledge, and communication.