Prerequisites

This chapter outlines what you need before working through the rest of this book. The goal is to ensure that all readers start from a shared baseline, regardless of prior experience.

Nothing here is advanced. If you can open Power BI Desktop and follow simple instructions, you are ready.

0.14 Software Requirements

0.14.1 Power BI Desktop

You must have Power BI Desktop installed.

Platform: Windows 10 or 11
Version: Latest stable release (updated monthly)
Download: powerbi.microsoft.com/desktop

All examples, screenshots, and exercises in this book use Power BI Desktop.

Note on Licensing: Power BI Desktop is free. A paid Power BI Pro license is not required to follow the exercises in this book.

0.14.2 A Note for Mac Users

Power BI Desktop does not run natively on macOS. If you are using a Mac, you have two options:

Install Windows on your Mac using a virtual machine (e.g., Parallels or VMWare).
Use a Windows 365 Cloud PC.

0.15 Hardware Recommendations

Power BI is an in-memory tool. For the best experience: - * RAM: 8 GB minimum (16 GB recommended). - * Screen: A second monitor is highly recommended (one screen for this book, one screen for Power BI).

0.16 Data Used in This Book

All practical exercises use a synthetic, patient-level integrated health dataset created specifically for learning.

The dataset represents routine service delivery across:

Antenatal Care (ANC)
HIV and ART
Malaria
Tuberculosis (TB)
Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

Privacy Note: No real patient data is used. All names and IDs are randomly generated.

The dataset is intentionally not clean. It includes missing values, inconsistent formats, and common data quality issues that reflect real health information systems. You will clean, model, and analyze this data step by step in later chapters.

0.17 Files You Will Work With

You should have access to the project folder containing the following CSV files:

fact_patient_visits.csv (The transactional line list)
dim_patient.csv (Demographics)
dim_facility.csv (Locations and ownership)
dim_date.csv (Reporting periods)

These files form a simple star-schema structure that will be used throughout the book.

Important: Do not edit these files manually in Excel. All cleaning and transformation will be done inside Power BI.

0.18 Knowledge Assumptions

This book assumes: - Basic familiarity with tables (rows and columns). - Comfort opening files and using software menus. - No prior Power BI experience. - No prior DAX experience. - No database background.

If you have used Excel for reporting (even just for simple sums and filters), you are more than prepared.

0.19 How This Book Is Organized

Each chapter builds on the previous one.

Concept & Structure: Understanding the “Why” and the ecosystem.
Preparation (ETL): Getting messy data ready for analysis.
Modeling: Building the relationships (Star Schema).
Analytics: Using DAX for indicators.
Storytelling: Visualizing data for decision support.

Practical exercises are included in most chapters. You are encouraged to follow along in Power BI rather than reading passively.

0.20 Before You Continue

Before moving to the next chapter, confirm that:

Power BI Desktop opens successfully without errors.
You can locate the sample CSV files on your computer.
You have created a folder (e.g., My Power BI Project) to save your work.

Once these are in place, you are ready to begin.

The next chapter explains why Power BI matters for Monitoring and Evaluation, and how it fits into real program workflows.

License

1 Why Power BI Matters for Data Use