Participation of higher education students of the Information Technologies in Business OPP in the webinar “How to create an analytical dashboard: opportunities, mistakes and how to avoid them”, improving skills in data analytics and self-education for decision-making

07.11.2024 | 08:31

On November 5, 2024, students of the “Information Technologies in Business” OPP (UFE-41c group) as part of studying the educational component “Decision-making systems” (teacher – Professor Iryna SHEVCHUK) listened to the webinar “How to create an analytical dashboard: opportunities, mistakes and how to avoid”.

The speaker of the online meeting is Vladyslav BESTUZHEV, BI Analyst (Middle) at JatApp. Ex-Middle BI Developer (QlikSense stack) at Plarium, expert in marketing and finance analytics).

Під час вебінару студенти мали змогу дізнатися:

✔️ how to build dashboards in Power BI on a specific example/query;

✔️ what are the prospects for this skill;

✔️ what are the pitfalls in creating dashboards and why it is sometimes not easy.

At one of the classes, the speaker’s practical advice was discussed with the teacher. Thus, Sofiya TYMCHYSHYN noted that the path of a data analyst begins with where and how to store data, which is exactly what databases (SQL) help with. Data visualization is a good tool to “walk the user through the data” in Power BI. During the webinar, Mr. Vladyslav created a dashboard in Power BI based on the MySQL database (from three tables: employees, salaries, titles) called Employees Dashboard. Thanks to the visualization on the dashboard, it was possible to estimate the number of employees (visualization of calculations), display a graph with grouping by profession, a sector diagram of the division of employees by gender, and others. Insights: you can first make a mockup of the dashboard (for example, in PowerPoint), and then overlay it in Power BI. The aesthetic appearance of the dashboard is very important, so it should be thought out and modeled first.

Iryna MYKHAYLCHYSHYN noted that the speaker constantly led to logical conclusions regarding SQL as a basic skill that allows working with various resources (MySQL, Power BI, etc.), and that in order to competently build a visualization, it is necessary to clearly understand what the final result should be. To work with the tool (dashboard), you first need to publish it: save it and give it a name, then go to the workspace located in the cloud. Only then can users be given access to it. The main problems in visualization include unclear terms of reference, ignoring user feedback, lack of testing, difficulty updating data, errors in data modeling, and oversaturation of the dashboard with visualizations.

Karina GVARADZE added that Power Query allows you to automate data transformation processes, and emphasized the function of visual storytelling in Power BI in English.

“At this webinar, you could learn about visualization of large databases using dashboards, how to create filters for the user and change visualization settings, as well as hear about some nuances of using functions and how to properly avoid pitfalls,” Mikaella LOGOYDA-KOPYK emphasized. As it turned out, the efforts to master SQL skills last semester were not in vain. In Power BI, with the help of artificial intelligence, you can make queries to the database, which significantly speeds up the work process. I especially liked the mentor’s approach to his profession and how he wants to share his experience and knowledge with others. He demonstrated everything in real time and explained step by step how and why he does it, what it will do for the user and how it will simplify the work of the business analyst.

“Database study as a widely used tool for business analysis. Power BI as a powerful analytical tool for advanced visualization”. These are the main moments of the meeting, which Veronika STADNYTSKA drew attention to. Nazarii TOMKIV added to her words that for data analysts SQL is the standard query language for most relational databases, which was demonstrated by the speaker during his speech.

Olena KOVALCHUK agreed with the opinion of her classmates regarding the interaction of SQL databases and Power BI, which is really very important, because SQL allows you to structure and filter large volumes of data, and Power BI – to visualize them for easier analysis. By combining them, you can, for example, prepare SQL Server queries in advance to obtain optimized data sets that Power BI will use to create real-time dashboards and reports.

Solomiya ZVARYCH liked the webinar no less, which, in her opinion, was really quite informative and practical. It was very useful to look at a specific example query and see the process of creating a dashboard step by step. It was especially important to hear about common mistakes made when creating dashboards. Vladyslav emphasized the nuances that are usually not talked about. The webinar fully met expectations, and the student was grateful for such a unique opportunity.

Maryna YAREMCHUK supported the conversation by the fact that Mr. Vladyslav’s speech really illuminated this topic in an interesting and informative way, emphasized important things and showed everything with examples. How SQL and Power BI interact is quite complex to understand. His words about the combination of creativity and data accuracy were very impressive. It was also great to hear about the prospects of having Power BI skills. Finally, I can’t help but note that specialists once again emphasize the study of the English language at the same level as the basics of the IT field.

Sofia MUSIJ concluded the discussion by saying that it is important to understand how the fullness of dashboards and their correct selection depends on conducting a specific analysis and providing information to users. Because of this, there is a risk of making wrong decisions and drawing incorrect conclusions based on the content of the data. Thanks to visualizations, users should be able to understand at a glance whether there are any errors in the analysis process.

The participation of higher education students of the ЕPP “Information technologies in business” specialty 051 “Economics” in webinars of this plan is a good experience for consolidating the skills acquired in the process of performing laboratory work on the ЕK “Decision-making systems” and improving skills in data analysis and self-education for decision making.