Learning Semantic Model
I am currently studying the Microsoft Power Platform, and one of the features of the Power Platform is Power BI. There are a few reasons that interest me, I can directly apply my Power BI learning and it benefits my work. As someone who prefers visualizations over numbers, it is more fun to create reports and dashboards. But part of learning Power BI is learning data and how data works. This includes the semantic model. At first, I had no idea what that meant so I had to take a deep dive into it.
The semantic model
Before the Power Platform, I had no idea what it was. When I first started using Power BI, I would see the semantic model and I would think, “Oh, it's probably a way to look and organize the data.” But I had to do some research, or else I would have no idea what it was about. Then based on my initial research, my thoughts were, “Oh, so I was sort of right.”
So, here is my basic understanding of the semantic model. The textbook definition is an object in the database and its relationship to an application environment. So how I understood it, is that in a database, you have a bunch of data stored and the semantic model will help define those data so that it matches and has a relationship to something in the real world.
In Power BI’s world, the semantic model represents data that is ready for visualization or reporting. Examples would be connecting to an existing database that isn’t hosted in Power BI using connectors, or an imported Excel file containing different data and information.
This definition is completely different from my initial guess, and having it apply to Power BI helps clarify its use.
How am I using this
The reason I first heard of this is because I am learning the Power Platform. So I am hoping as I learn and grow, the Power Platform will be something I can use in my work. The goal of learning the Power Platform is to help the organization I am in with automation and reporting. Although I am new to this and unknowledgeable, I am hoping there will be cases that will benefit me.
First things first, I want to get certified in the Power Platform and continuously grow my skills. I also want to learn more about data and automating data import and refresh and using the data to create reports as well. Especially since creating dashboards is something I am interested in.