Introduction to Power Query

David Dye
Introduction to Power Query
Introduction
Introduction to Power Query
Working With Power Query


Introduction
David Dye





derekman1@msn.com
HTTP://WWW.SQLSAFETY.COM

Introduction to Power Query
What is Power Query?
Excel add in
Available in Excel 2013 and 2010 Professional Plus
Provides a means natively in Excel to:
Discovering
Combining
Refining data
Merge and shape data across multiple sources
Create custom views over data
Perform data cleansing operations
Allows access to a wide variety of data sources
The ETL tool for Excel

What is the Difference Between Power
Query and PowerPivot
Power Query can
Pull data from sources not readily available in PowerPivot
Facebook
Hadoop
MySQL
Inline Transformations
Provides a Steps view to recap transformations
Append and Merge can take tables from different sources
and present them as one
Supports JSON when working with Web APIs
Working with Power Query
Insuring Power Query is Enabled
If Power Query is not available in the menu bar make sure
that is enabled





Files>Options> Add-Ins Manage COM Add-Ins
Power Query can be downloaded from
http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/download/details.aspx?id=39379

Demonstration 1
Enable Power Query
Working with Power Query
Once installed the Power Query menu is
available



Provides the tools to create the data models
or sheets based on the data sources

Demonstration 2
Opening Power Query
Power Query Data Sources
Web page
Excel or CSV file
XML file
Text file
Folder
SQL Server database
Windows Azure SQL Database
Access database
Oracle database
IBM DB2 database
MySQL database
SharePoint List
OData feed
Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS
Windows Azure Marketplace
Active Directory
Facebook

Data Sources From Web
Online Search
Searches different sources on the internet, extranet, and intranet
Integrates with Office 365 as part of Power BI
From Web
Enter Url of data source location
From Other Sources
SharePoint list
OData Feed
Windows Azure Marketplace
Facebook
Demonstration 3
Online search
Web source
Facebook source
Importing Data
From the Power Query Menu
Select the data source

Importing Data Cont.
Depending on the source additional
configuration will be necessary


Query Editor
Filtering Data
A filter can be applied to query results limiting
the rows
This will filter the rows that will be saved in Excel
or within a data model


Filtering Data Cont.
Columns can be removed from the result set
of the query to help shape your data


Query Properties
There are several properties that can be
configured from the Query Editor > View tab
The Query Settings button will show or hide the Query
settings tab
The Advanced Editor opens a modal window that will
show the Power Query formula for the query
The Formula bar check box will display the formula
bar when checked


Working With Query Results
There are a number of built in functions in the Query Editor
window that allows you to transform your data
Remove TOP N Rows
Removes the top number of rows specified
Remove Columns
Removes the column(s) selected
Sort
Replace values
Remove duplicates will remove duplicate rows from the query
result set

Group By
Allows you to apply a grouping and
aggregation on query results
Retains the original query results

Group By Cont.
Split
Provides the ability to split a single column into two or more columns
Several configuration options that allow for simple to complex parsing
Retains the original query results

Split Cont.
Merge
Allows you to combine different query results
Acts like a SQL JOIN
Define the column(s) to match
Select whether to show non matching results

Append
Allows you to merge result sets from separate queries
together
Unlike a Merge all results are returned and you do not need
to specify a column on which to match

Demonstration 4
SQL Source and filtering
Group By
Split
Append
Merge


Power Query Formula
Power Query has its own formulas
Informally known as M
More powerful than Excel
Only available from within Power Query
Full documentation and syntax can be found here
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/learn-
about-power-query-formulas-HA104003958.aspx


Demonstration 5
Create a calculated column
Table Compare


Whats This All For???
Power Query acts as the ETL tool providing the
ability to work with data across numerous
formats and locations
All results are opened in Excel as a pivot table
Refreshing the data will refresh the results


Save As A Data Model
Results are always opened in Excel as a pivot
table, but can also be saved as a data model
An Excel Data Model is a relational data source
composed from multiple tables inside an Excel
workbook
Within Excel, a Data Model is used transparently,
providing tabular data used in PivotTables,
PivotCharts, and Power View reports.
Whats Next??
Extracting or conglomerating the data in Excel
is the first step
Working with the data natively in Excel is one
option
PowerPivot allows you to create complex
tabular data models and extends the
capabilities of Excel

Demonstration 6
PowerPivot