On Sunday, May 21, 2023, a few Mathematics Students of Diponegoro University have participated in a series of online events in the form of data analysis training using Microsoft Power BI. Resourced by Neza Zhevira Septiani, Nirmalito Fatehah Nitinegari and Maulidah Khoiriyah who are Mathematics Students, Diponegoro University. This training is carried out as one of the implementations of community service, namely as one of the requirements for the conversion of Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) in the Independent Campus Independent Study Program in the Mathematics study program, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Diponegoro University. This Microsoft Power BI training was enthusiastically welcomed by students, because more than 30 students participated in this training.
The Certified Independent Study Program is part of the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka program which provides opportunities for students to expand learning outside the campus environment through Independent Study partners. The program covers several fields, including technology, health and services, state-owned enterprises, services, and other fields. In this program, many corporate partners such as PT MariBelajar Indonesia Cerdas and Metrodata Academy which is focus on technology.
PT MariBelajar Indonesia Cerdas with a Data Analyst and AI track that focuses on data mining, database maintenance, data modeling, and data quality assurance related to artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in a business context. The Independent Study activity ends with a capstone project, where students are asked to complete a business case and present solutions based on the data used. During the Independent Study program with PT MariBelajar Indonesia Cerdas partners, there are two learning processes, namely synchronous and asynchronous. The synchronous process is done through Microsoft Teams meetings, while the asynchronous process involves assignments given through the Assignment feature in Microsoft Teams as well as the utilization of self-study resources in Microsoft Learn and MariBelajar Learn. While at Metrodata Academy with Data Analytics with Business Intelligence Tools track, this program helps its participants learn data analysis and visualization using business intelligence tools or media, for example is by using Microsoft Power BI. This program is carried out for approximately 5 months with a period of February 16 – July 1, 2023.
As a form of implementation after completing the Independent Study program, students carry out community service activities by holding training on the use of Microsoft Power BI.
Microsoft Power BI is a collection of services, apps, and software connectors that work together to transform unrelated data sources into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. Microsoft Power BI is also one of the tools or software business intelligence and data visualization from the Microsoft company that can make it easier for users to analyze and visualize data.
The material presented includes an introduction to data, the role of a data analyst, features in Microsoft Power BI, and data analysis techniques using Power BI. Next, there was practice for linking data from various sources such as websites, Excel documents, and JSON to Microsoft Power BI. After the data is connected, it is continued with training on data analysis and visualization of analysis results in the form of reports. Finally, the participants are also trained in creating dashboards using Power BI. The training went successfully delivered to the participants as the program’s work plan before.
In addition to being given material on introduction to data analysis, data visualization, and introduction to the Microsoft Power BI application, participants also did hands-on practice with Microsoft Power BI Desktop. The practices learned are in the form of how to obtain data in Power BI, how to use DAX (Data Analysis Expression) in Power BI, and how to model data, analyze data, and visualize data in Power BI.
The purpose of this data analysis training using Microsoft Power BI is to introduce data analyst tasks, what and how to analyze and visualize data, and learn how to use the Microsoft Power BI application as a data processing application. The authors hope that this training activity provides benefits for participants and other parties involved. With this training, it is hoped that participants can conduct data analysis properly and correctly so that the results of the resulting analysis can be useful for all parties involved.
Documentation of the implementation of the work program is listed in the following figure:
