Data Modeling and Architecture from Coursera

Data Modeling and Architecture is designed to provide you with the foundational skills required to create and manage data models in Microsoft Power BI. Throughout this course, you'll explore the intricacies of data relationships, schemas, and the use of Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to enhance your data models. You'll also explore essential topics like data privacy and security, ensuring that your data models are both effective and compliant with ethical standards. This course is hands-on, offering practical experience in configuring data structures and applying advanced techniques to optimize data models. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to design robust data models that support insightful and ethical data analysis.

This program is for anyone interested in data analytics and visualization; there are no prerequisites. To get the most out of the learning experience, it is recommended to follow the courses in sequence, as each one builds on the skills and knowledge gained in the previous ones.

At this point, you should have a strong understanding of different types of visualizations and their appropriate use, along with the ability to create cohesive and compelling reports in Power BI. You should also be capable of identifying and addressing common design problems in reports, producing audience-focused reports by understanding business needs.

Additionally, you should also be comfortable configuring multiple data sources, cleaning and transforming data using Power Query, and ensuring data integrity and quality. These skills will serve as the foundation for more advanced tasks, such as building and maintaining relationships in data models, writing DAX calculations, and managing data privacy and ethics concerns in Power BI.

What's inside

Syllabus

Data modeling basics

In this module, you will learn the fundamentals of data modeling in Microsoft Power BI, focusing on different types of cardinality and how to create star and snowflake schemas. You’ll explore the key concepts of data relationships, such as one-to-one, many-to-one, and many-to-many, and understand how to effectively set up and manage these relationships within Power BI. This module sets the stage for building complex and efficient data models.

Data Analysis Expressions

This module introduces you to the power of Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) in Power BI. You’ll learn how to create DAX formulas using tools like Copilot, explore the concept of row and filter context, and understand how to apply DAX measures to enhance your data analysis. Additionally, you’ll gain insights into configuring role-playing dimensions and cross-filter contexts, which are essential for creating dynamic and responsive data models.

Data privacy and security

In this module, you will explore the critical aspects of data privacy and security within data modeling. You'll explore ethical considerations, privacy laws, and the principles of data governance. This module emphasizes the importance of maintaining data integrity and compliance, ensuring that your data models adhere to best practices for ethical data use. You'll also learn about the key components of a data governance framework, vital for any organization handling sensitive data.

Final project and assessment: Data Modeling and Architecture

In the final course project, you will consolidate your learning by applying the skills acquired throughout the course to a real-world scenario. You’ll design a comprehensive data model in Power BI, configure schemas, apply DAX measures, and address data privacy concerns. This project challenges you to synthesize all the concepts from the course, demonstrating your ability to create robust, ethical, and efficient data models in a professional setting.

Good to know

Know what's good

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Explores data privacy and security, which are increasingly important for compliance and ethical data handling in professional settings

Uses Microsoft Power BI, a leading tool for data modeling and business intelligence, which is widely used in the industry

Teaches Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), which is essential for creating advanced calculations and measures in Power BI data models

Requires learners to have prior experience with Power BI, including data transformation and report creation, which may exclude beginners

Covers star and snowflake schemas, which are fundamental concepts in data warehousing and data modeling, and are useful for database design

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Data Modeling and Architecture with these activities:

Review Relational Database Concepts

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Reinforce your understanding of relational database concepts, which are foundational to data modeling in Power BI. Understanding relationships, keys, and normalization will help you design better data models.

Browse courses on Relational Databases

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Review database terminology such as tables, keys, and relationships.
Practice creating simple database schemas on paper.
Complete online quizzes on database normalization principles.

Read 'The Data Warehouse Toolkit'

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Deepen your understanding of dimensional modeling techniques, which are essential for creating efficient and effective data models in Power BI. This book provides practical guidance and real-world examples.

View The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive... on Amazon

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Read the chapters on star and snowflake schemas.
Study the examples of dimensional modeling for different business scenarios.
Take notes on key concepts and techniques.

DAX Formula Exercises

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Sharpen your DAX skills by working through a series of practice exercises. This will help you become more comfortable with writing DAX formulas and using them to enhance your data models.

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Find a set of DAX practice problems online.
Attempt each problem independently, referring to documentation as needed.
Compare your solutions with the provided answers and explanations.
Focus on practicing CALCULATE, FILTER, and ALL functions.

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Read 'Microsoft Power BI Cookbook'

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Explore advanced techniques and best practices for data modeling in Power BI. This cookbook offers practical solutions to common challenges and helps you optimize your data models.

View Microsoft Power BI Cookbook: Convert raw data... on Amazon

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Browse the table of contents and identify topics relevant to your interests.
Read the recipes related to data modeling and DAX.
Try implementing the solutions in Power BI using your own data.

Build a Data Model for a Sample Dataset

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Apply your knowledge by building a complete data model in Power BI using a sample dataset. This hands-on project will solidify your understanding of data relationships, schemas, and DAX.

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Choose a publicly available dataset (e.g., from Kaggle or a government website).
Import the data into Power BI and clean it using Power Query.
Design a star or snowflake schema for the data model.
Create relationships between the tables in the model.
Write DAX measures to calculate key metrics and insights.

Document Your Data Modeling Project

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Improve your understanding and communication skills by documenting your data modeling project. This will help you organize your thoughts and explain your design decisions to others.

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Write a report describing the data model you created.
Explain the rationale behind your schema design.
Document the DAX measures you created and their purpose.
Include diagrams and visualizations to illustrate your data model.

Help Others on Power BI Forums

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Reinforce your understanding by helping others with their data modeling questions on Power BI forums. Explaining concepts to others is a great way to solidify your own knowledge.

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Find a Power BI forum or online community.
Browse the questions and identify those related to data modeling.
Provide helpful and accurate answers to the questions.
Explain your reasoning and provide examples where possible.

Career center

Learners who complete Data Modeling and Architecture will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Data Modeler

The role of a Data Modeler is to design and implement data models, and this course provides a strong foundation in these skills. Data Modelers need to understand how to structure data, create relationships, and apply expressions to enhance their models. This course teaches all of these. Additionally, this course emphasizes data privacy and security, topics that are vital for a Data Modeler who needs to ensure data models adhere to ethical standards and compliance. This course is directly aligned with a Data Modeler's professional responsibilities.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Modeler

Data Architect

A Data Architect designs the structure of data systems for an organization, and this course helps a Data Architect establish the fundamental concepts needed for the job. This course introduces the fundamentals of data modeling, data relationships, and schema design, which are all important elements, and it also works with the practical application of DAX. This course helps enable a Data Architect to understand the full life cycle of data and its analysis. Additionally, the course covers data privacy and security, which are important for anyone working with data systems. This course is particularly relevant for aspiring Data Architects.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Architect

Business Intelligence Developer

A Business Intelligence Developer designs and builds systems for data analysis and reporting. This course helps a Business Intelligence Developer by teaching the essential components of data modeling, including how to design schemas and establish relationships between data entities. The course also teaches DAX, which is another common language used by business intelligence professionals. A Business Intelligence Developer works with data privacy and security, which this course also covers, ensuring data models adhere to best practices for ethical data usage. Therefore, this course can help a Business Intelligence Developer build effective and secure data models.

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Data Analyst

A Data Analyst uses their skills to interpret data and uncover insights using tools like Microsoft Power BI. This course helps a Data Analyst build a foundation in data modeling, which is crucial for organizing and preparing data for analysis. The course specifically teaches how to configure data relationships and schemas, how to write Data Analysis Expressions, and how to use ethical measures to ensure data privacy and compliance. By taking this course, a Data Analyst can learn ways to effectively structure their data for successful analysis.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Analyst

Reporting Analyst

A Reporting Analyst creates reports and dashboards to visualize data and inform decision-making. This course helps a Reporting Analyst build the skills to create and manage the data models that underlie these reports. The course teaches how to configure data relationships, create effective schemas, and use DAX to enhance data analysis. By also covering data privacy and security, this course provides a Reporting Analyst with the knowledge to ensure data handling is both effective and ethical. This course can help a Reporting Analyst build the background they need for the work they do.

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Data Visualization Specialist

A Data Visualization Specialist focuses on presenting data in a clear, understandable manner, and this course helps by providing foundational knowledge in data modeling. This course teaches how to set up and manage relationships in a model, as well as how to write DAX formulas to enhance analysis. A Data Visualization Specialist needs to work with well-organized data, so the data modeling that is taught in this course is essential to their work. A Data Visualization Specialist also needs to handle sensitive data with care, and this course provides background into data privacy and security.

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Information Architect

An Information Architect structures information to make it accessible and useful, and this course is helpful by providing information about data structures. This includes data modeling, schema design, and the establishment of relationships, which are topics covered in this course. This course may also help an Information Architect understand how to make use of formulas to enhance data analysis. Furthermore, this course covers data privacy and security, which is essential for managing information systems well. This course may be useful for an Information Architect.

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Business Systems Analyst

A Business Systems Analyst bridges the gap between business needs and IT solutions. While their role is broader than just data, this course helps ground a Business Systems Analyst in data modeling, which is key to understanding the data structures underlying business systems. This course will help a Business Systems Analyst understand how to create relationships and schemas to structure data. They will also gain insight into data privacy and security, which is essential in a business context. This course may be useful to a Business Systems Analyst in their work.

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Database Administrator

A Database Administrator manages and maintains databases, ensuring data availability and integrity. Although this role involves more hands-on maintenance on a database level, this course is valuable because it teaches the essentials of data modeling, which is an indispensable part of database design. Understanding how to create schemas, data relationships, and apply DAX, which the course teaches, is helpful in the design and maintenance of data infrastructures. This also covers data privacy and security, which is vital to a Database Administrator in ensuring that data is handled securely and ethically.

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Data Engineer

A Data Engineer builds and maintains the infrastructure for data analysis. This course helps a Data Engineer by introducing the rudiments of data modeling, which is vital for setting up effective data pipelines. The course also touches on how to construct schemas and create relationships within a data model, and it also shows how to use DAX to improve the ability to process and use data. The course introduces data privacy and security, which may also be part of a data engineer's concern. This course may be helpful to a Data Engineer in their role.

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Solutions Architect

A Solutions Architect designs and implements technical solutions to business problems. This course is helpful to a Solutions Architect as it provides instruction in data modeling. This knowledge of how to structure and manage data is fundamental to creating systems that work well within an organization. This course teaches how to create relationships and schemas, and it also explores data privacy and security, which are all important for a Solutions Architect. The course may be useful to a Solutions Architect in their work.

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Analytics Consultant

An Analytics Consultant works with clients to identify business problems and offer data-driven solutions. This course is useful to an Analytics Consultant as it teaches fundamental skills in data modeling, which enables one to structure and manage data effectively. The course shows how to create data relationships, schemas, and how to use DAX to improve the ability to gain insights from data. The course also touches on data privacy and security, important considerations in any consulting project. This course may be useful to an Analytics Consultant in their work.

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Financial Analyst

A Financial Analyst analyzes financial data to help inform business decisions. This course is helpful to Financial Analysts as it helps build a foundation in data modeling using Microsoft Power BI. Financial analysts often work with large datasets, so this knowledge of how to configure data relationships, schemas, and DAX formulas can lead to more organized and effective analysis. This also touches on data privacy and security, important considerations when working with sensitive financial data. This course may be useful for a Financial Analyst.

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Statistician

A Statistician uses statistical methods to analyze data and draw conclusions. While this role focuses more on the statistical interpretation of data, this course may be beneficial by providing a foundation in data modeling. This course teaches how to structure data, create relationships, and apply formulas to enhance data analysis. The course also touches on data privacy and security, which are relevant when managing data statistically. The concepts covered in this course may be useful for a Statistician.

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Research Scientist

A Research Scientist conducts research and gathers data to help further knowledge and solve problems. While their work is more concerned with the gathering and interpretation of data, the skills taught in this course may be useful to them. Specifically, the course touches on data modeling, which is used to organize data for analysis. The course also teaches how to create relationships between different sets of data and how to enhance analysis with DAX. Additionally, the course touches on data privacy and security, which is important for research data. This course may be useful to a Research Scientist.

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Data Modeling and Architecture

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