About this course
Power BI does a lot well, but its built-in analytics stop short of statistical modelling and machine learning. R fills that gap — and Power BI lets you call R scripts directly inside data transformations and visualisations. This course teaches the integration end-to-end, so you can do real data science inside Power BI without exporting data to a separate tool.
Ryan Wade walks through installing R alongside Power BI, the R primer (vectors, lists, data frames), the data-reading packages (readr, readxl, RODBC, data.table), the Dplyr verbs for filtering and joining, StringR for text cleaning, GGPLOT2 for custom visualisations, and a final module on data science itself — CRISP-DM, logistic regression, native scoring in SQL Server, and cognitive services. Demo-heavy throughout.
What you’ll learn
- Install R and configure Power BI to use it
- Work with R’s core objects: vectors, lists, data frames
- Bring data into Power BI using readr, readxl, RODBC, data.table, and magrittr
- Use Dplyr to filter, join, summarise, and mutate data frames
- Clean text data with StringR
- Build custom visualisations with GGPLOT2, including facet charts
- Follow CRISP-DM and build a logistic regression model
- Use SQL Server native scoring and cognitive services for production data science
Who this course is for
Power BI users ready to add statistical modelling to their toolkit. Data analysts who want a structured introduction to R in a familiar Microsoft environment.
About the instructor
Ryan Wade is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP focused on R, SQL Server, and analytics integration. He has spoken at the PASS Summit and authored content on R-in-Power-BI workflows.
What’s in this course
Installing R
- Installing R – CRAN and MRAN
- Installing MRO – DEMO
- Setting Up The IDE
- Installing RTVS – DEMO
- RTVS Settings – DEMO
- Solutions and Projects in RTVS: DEMO
- Configuring Power BI To Work With R
R Primer
- Important R Objects
- Atomic Vectors
- Augmented Vectors
- Lists
- Data Frames
Reading Data
- Methods To Read Data Into Power BI Using R
- Readr and Readxl Packages To Bring Data Into PowerBI – DEMO
- PREVIEW: String Manipulations In R – DEMO
- RODBC Package To Bring data Into PowerBI DEMO
- Data.Table and Purr Packages To Combine Data Files DEMO
- Combining Multiple Files Using Magrittr Package DEMO
- Combining Excel Worksheets with ReadXL Package DEMO
Dplyr
- Dplyr Introduction
- Inner And Left Joins
- Joining Data With Different Column Names DEMO
- Filtering Data in R DEMO
- Selecting Columns From A Data Frame in R DEMO
- Summarizing Data in R DEMO
- Mutate Verb to Create New Columns in R DEMO
Making your data tidy for PowerBI
- TIDY Data Introduction
- TIDY Data DEMO
Cleansing Data with StringR
- StringR Introduction
- Count Words Within A Text String DEMO
- Identify Valid Email Addresses DEMO
- Remove Numbers From A String DEMO
- Conditional Replacements DEMO
Using Functions for Advanced Calculations
- Overview Of Functions In R
- ReScaling Data DEMO
- Calculate Distance Using A Custom Function
- Calculate Distance Using Geosphere Package DEMO
Data Visualizations
- Create Custom Visualizations with GGPLOT2
- Simple Chart Using GGPLOT2
- Additional Components
- Chart Scales and Labels in R – DEMO
- Available Graphing Options
- Why Facet Charts are Beneficial
- Create Facet Charts in R – DEMO
- Pretty Up Your Facet Charts In R – DEMO
Data Science
- CRISP-DM
- Popular Algorithms
- Text Analytics
- Introduction To Demos
- Logistic Regression Model in R – DEMO
- Testing Your Model In PowerBI – DEMO
- Big Data with R and SQL Server – DEMO
- Scoring Data with SQL Server – DEMO
- Using Tools in SQL Server for Larger Data Sets
- Stored Procedure Using Native Scoring – DEMO
- Native Scoring – DEMO
- Cognitive Services DEMO