Power BI Interview Question Asked in

Deloitte

1. Self-Introduction
Answer:Introduce yourself clearly and confidently.Tip: Highlight skills (Power BI, DAX, Power
Query) and showcase interest in learning.

2. Which visuals have you used in your project?

Answer:Common visuals in Power BI include:

• Bar/Column Charts: To compare data across categories (e.g., sales by product).

• Pie/Donut Charts: For percentage distribution (e.g., market share).
• Line Charts: For trends over time (e.g., monthly revenue).
• Cards: To show KPIs (e.g., total sales).
• Maps: To visualize geographic data (e.g., regional performance).

Bar/Column Compare
Charts Data

Pie/Donut Percentage
Charts Distribution

Identify Data Choose Trends Over

Line Charts
Type Visual Type Time

Cards Show KPIs

Geographic
Maps
Data

Use Case:In a sales dashboard, I used a bar chart to show product-wise sales, a line chart for
monthly revenue trends, and a map to display regional sales performance.

3. Describe your client project

Answer:Structure your explanation:

1. Project Objective: What was the goal?

2. Role: What was your contribution?
3. Outcome: How did it benefit the client?
Example:I worked on a project for an e-commerce client to create a sales dashboard. My role
was to gather data from SQL Server, clean it using Power Query, and create visuals to show
top-selling products, customer demographics, and monthly revenue. This helped the client
identify profitable products and focus on high-performing regions.
 4. What were your roles in the project?
Answer:Roles can include:

• Data extraction and transformation using Power Query.

• Creating data models with relationships.
• Writing DAX formulas for KPIs (e.g., total revenue, profit margin).
• Designing interactive dashboards with visuals and slicers.
• Sharing reports securely using Power BI Service.

Power BI Project Workflow

Data Extraction Sharing

and Creating Data Designing Reports
Writing DAX
Transformation Models Dashboards Securely
Formulas
Initiating data processing Establishing relationships Crafting interactive Distributing reports via
using Power Query between data entities Calculating KPIs with DAX visualizations Power BI Service

5. Key components of Power BI Service

Answer:
1. Workspaces: To organize and manage reports.
2. Datasets: The data source used in reports.
3. Reports: Multi-page interactive visuals.
4. Dashboards: A single-page summary of visuals.
5. Apps: Packaged dashboards and reports shared with users.
Example:I published a report on customer analysis to Power BI Service, shared it with
stakeholders, and embedded it into a workspace for team collaboration.

6. Difference between DATESBETWEEN and DATESINPERIOD

Answer:
• DATESBETWEEN: Returns dates between two specific dates.Example: Show sales from
Jan 1, 2023, to Dec 31, 2023.DATESBETWEEN(DateTable[Date], "01/01/2023",
"12/31/2023")
• DATESINPERIOD: Returns a range of dates from a start date (e.g., last 3 months).
Example: Show sales for the last 90 days.DATESINPERIOD(DateTable[Date], TODAY(),
-90, DAY)

7. How do you use row-level security (RLS)?

Answer:RLS restricts data visibility for users based on roles.Example:In a sales report, RLS
ensured that each regional manager could see only their region's data. I created a 'Region'
filter in Power BI Service and assigned users to respective roles.

8. Do you have access to a premium Power BI account?

Answer:
• Pro Account: Used for basic sharing and collaboration.
• Premium Account: Supports large datasets, paginated reports, and advanced features
like AI insights.
Example:In my organization, we used a Pro account for report sharing, but Premium was used
for handling datasets over 1GB.

9. Explain bookmarks with examples

Answer:Bookmarks save a report's view (e.g., filtered data, page state).Example:I used
bookmarks in a sales dashboard to switch between 'Top Products' and 'Top Regions' views.
Users clicked buttons to navigate.

10. What is cardinality and its types?

Answer:Cardinality defines the relationship between tables:

1. One-to-One: One record matches one record (e.g., User ID ↔ Profile ID).
2. One-to-Many: One record matches multiple records (e.g., Customer ↔ Orders).
3. Many-to-Many: Many records in one table match many records in another.
Use Case:In an e-commerce report, one customer (dimension) was linked to many orders
(fact table) through a one-to-many relationship.

11. What are dimension and fact tables?

Answer:
• Dimension Table: Contains descriptive attributes (e.g., Product, Region).
• Fact Table: Stores measurable data (e.g., Sales Amount, Quantity).
Example:In a sales dashboard, the fact table had 'Order ID' and 'Revenue,' while dimension
tables included 'Product' and 'Customer.'

12. Data sources and size in your project

Answer:List data sources like SQL Server, ExcelExample:I used a SQL Server database with 2
million sales records and Excel files for product details in a sales analysis report.

13. If PBIX file is slow, how to improve performance?

Answer:
1. Remove unused columns.
2. Use aggregations to summarize data.
3. Optimize DAX calculations.
4. Enable incremental refresh.
 Optimizing Power BI Performance

Remove
Unused
Use
Columns
Aggregations Optimize DAX
Enable
Calculations
Incremental
Streamline data
Refresh
by eliminating Summarize
unnecessary data to Improve
fields enhance calculation Update data in
processing efficiency for segments to
speed faster reports maintain
performance

Example:A sales dashboard was slow due to a large dataset. I filtered unnecessary rows,
reduced the file size, and improved performance by 30%.

14. What is incremental refresh?

Answer: Updates only new or changed data instead of refreshing the entire dataset.Example:
For daily sales data, only the latest day's sales were refreshed, saving time and resources.

15. What is a gateway and its types?

Answer:
1. Personal Gateway: For individual use.
2. On-Premises Data Gateway: For team access to on-premises data.
Example:A gateway connected our on-premises SQL database to Power BI Service, allowing
live report updates.

16. Types of joins in Power BI

Answer:
• Inner Join: Matching rows in both tables.
• Left Join: All rows from the left + matches.
• Right Join: All rows from the right + matches.
• Full Outer Join: All rows from both tables.
• Left Anti & Right Anti

Example:To analyze sales and customer data, I used a left join to ensure all customers were
included, even if they hadn’t made purchases.

17. How do you handle data modeling in Power BI?

Answer:
1. Define relationships (e.g., one-to-many).
2. Use star schema for better performance.
3. Optimize tables with calculated columns and measures.

18. Types of filters in Power BI

 Answer:
1. Page-Level: Applies to one page.
2. Visual-Level: Affects one visual.
3. Report-Level: Applies to the entire report.

Power BI Filter Types

Report-Level
Page-Level Filters
Filters
Filters that apply Filters that apply
to the entire to a single page in
report. a report.

Visual-Level
Filters
Filters that affect
only one visual on
a report.

Example:I used page-level filters to display sales data by product category on each page.

I’ll provide answers for the remaining questions if needed! Let me know.

19. What is the difference between calculated columns and measures?

Answer:
1. Calculated Column:
• Added directly to a table.
• Calculated row by row.
• Used in visuals as a field.
• Stored in the model, increasing file size.Example:Add a "Profit" column:Profit =
Sales[Revenue] - Sales[Cost]

2. Measure:
 • Calculated dynamically during visualization.
• Optimized for performance.
• Not stored in the model.Example:Calculate "Total Sales":Total Sales =
SUM(Sales[Revenue])

Use Case:For a sales dashboard, I used a calculated column for product categories and a
measure to calculate total revenue.

20. How do you handle many-to-many relationships in Power BI?

Answer:To resolve many-to-many relationships:

1. Create a bridge table with unique keys.

2. Enable a many-to-many relationship in the data model.
Example:In a project tracking dashboard, both employees and projects had many-to-many
relationships. I created a bridge table mapping employee IDs to project IDs.

21. What are slicers in Power BI?

Answer:Slicers are interactive filters used in reports.

• Types: Dropdown, checkbox, and hierarchical slicers.

• Use: Filter data dynamically (e.g., by date, product, or region).
Example:In a sales dashboard, I used a date slicer to filter sales data by month.

22. Explain the difference between Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service

Answer:
1. Power BI Desktop:
• For creating and developing reports.
• Works offline.
• Advanced data modeling.
2. Power BI Service:
• For sharing and collaborating on reports.
• Cloud-based.
• Offers dashboards, apps, and scheduled refreshes.

Use Case:I created a report in Power BI Desktop and published it to Power BI Service for team
access.

23. What is the star schema? Why is it important?

Answer:The star schema is a database structure with:

1. Fact Table: Contains numerical data (e.g., sales, revenue).

2. Dimension Tables: Contain descriptive attributes (e.g., product, date).
Advantages:
• Simplifies queries.
• Improves performance.
• Easy to understand.
Example:In a retail dashboard, the fact table stored sales data, and dimension tables included
product details, time, and customers.
24. What is Power Query? How is it used?
Answer:Power Query is a data transformation tool in Power BI.

• Use: Clean, transform, and load data.

• Common Operations: Removing duplicates, filtering rows, merging tables.
Example:I used Power Query to clean raw sales data by removing null values and merging
customer and sales tables.

25. How do you schedule data refresh in Power BI?

Answer:
1. Publish the report to Power BI Service.
2. Configure a data gateway for on-premises sources.
3. Set up a scheduled refresh (daily, hourly, etc.).
Example:I scheduled a daily refresh for a sales report to ensure the data is updated every
morning for stakeholders.

26. What is the difference between import and direct query modes?
Answer:
1. Import Mode:
• Data is loaded into Power BI.
• Faster performance.
• File size increases.
2. Direct Query:
• Fetches data directly from the source.
• Live updates but slower performance.
Use Case:For a sales report, I used Direct Query to connect to an SQL database for real-time
updates.

27. What is the role of DAX in Power BI?

Answer:DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a formula language for creating calculations.

• Used for measures, calculated columns, and KPIs.

• Common Functions: SUM, AVERAGE, CALCULATE, FILTER.
Example:I used DAX to calculate profit margins using:Profit Margin =
DIVIDE(SUM(Sales[Profit]), SUM(Sales[Revenue])).

28. What are KPIs in Power BI?

Answer:KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) measure progress toward business goals.Example:
In a marketing dashboard, I created a KPI to track monthly website traffic against the target.

29. What are the limitations of Power BI?

Answer:
• Limited file size (1GB for PBIX).
• Performance issues with large datasets.
• Complex DAX expressions can be hard for beginners.
• Lack of version control

Example:I faced performance challenges with a large dataset but resolved them using
aggregations and incremental refresh.
30. What is the use of drill-through in Power BI?
Answer:Drill-through enables detailed analysis by navigating from a summary to a detailed
page.Example:In a sales report, clicking on a region in the summary page navigated to a
detailed page showing product-wise sales for that region.

31. What are the advantages of using Power BI over Excel?

Answer:
1. Interactive Visuals: Power BI offers dashboards, slicers, and dynamic visuals.
2. Data Modeling: Easier relationships and DAX for advanced calculations.
3. Collaboration: Share reports via Power BI Service.
Example:In a sales analysis, Power BI’s slicers made it easier to filter data dynamically, unlike
Excel.

32. What are drill-down and drill-up?

Answer:
• Drill-Down: View more detailed data (e.g., Year → Month → Day).
• Drill-Up: Navigate back to higher-level data.
Example:In a sales dashboard, I drilled down from yearly sales to monthly sales using a
hierarchy.

33. How do you handle null or missing values in Power BI?

Answer:
1. Replace nulls with meaningful values (e.g., 0).
2. Remove rows with missing values.
3. Use Power Query to handle data cleaning.
Example:I replaced null sales figures with 0 using Power Query to ensure accurate totals.