Build Reports That Reflect the Real Workplace

Most Power BI books start with product sales and end with dashboards no one ever uses. This book is different.

Power BI in the Workplace is a hands-on series built around practical, internal-facing reporting scenarios—the kind analysts and professionals are actually asked to deliver. Each volume focuses on a different business function, using realistic datasets drawn from HR, operations, finance, and beyond. Instead of working through generic exercises, you’ll build complete reporting solutions from start to finish, gaining confidence not just in the tools, but in the thought process behind effective workplace reporting.

Part 1a — HR › Absence and Attendance Reporting leaves the tired sales demos behind and focuses on what real organisations need: professional HR reporting that reflects genuine workforce data.

Whether you work in HR, support HR teams, or simply want to sharpen your Power BI skills with meaningful, real-world data, this book is for you.

You’ll learn how to:

Import data from Excel and SharePoint—even from hidden or messy sheets

Clean and structure HR datasets using Power Query

Model data to support accurate and scalable analysis

Build polished visuals including KPI cards, dropdown slicers, and drill-down hierarchies

Write DAX measures to calculate absence rates, working time lost, and cost of absence

Create a reusable report template with dynamic titles, refresh dates, and metadata

Publish and share your report using dashboards and apps in the Power BI Service

This is Power BI with purpose—designed to help you deliver reports that are not only insightful and accurate, but genuinely useful to colleagues, managers, and decision-makers.

Grant Gamble