📊 Power Query Master class Recap: Automating Data, Merging Duplicates & Modeling for Metrics

In our latest Team Academy workshop, we rolled up our sleeves and tackled Power Query head-on — transforming scattered Excel files into structured insights and building the foundation for high-impact data modeling. This session was all about automation, reconciliation, and mastering the merge — the unsung hero of any data analyst’s toolkit.

Here’s your full breakdown:

⚙️ Automate Your Workflow: From Inbox to Dashboard

We kicked off with a live demo on automating Excel data extraction from:

• 📧 Outlook email attachments

• ☁️ One Drive folders

• 🗂 SharePoint libraries

  

Using Power Query, participants learned how to:

• Filter emails by subject or sender

• Extract attachments in real-time

• Consolidate weekly reports from multiple sources into a unified dataset

🧠 Why it matters: If you're managing weekly ops, HR, or sales reports, this automation saves hours of manual effort and reduces errors — making reporting nearly hands-free.

Ready to take control of your data  Join our Power BI demo Class and learn the art of data automation!

🔄 Consolidation & De-duplication Strategies

Handling duplicate data is one of the most common — and costly — data issues.

We explored:

• How to remove duplicates based on file name, timestamp, or content

• Best practices for cleaning column mismatches across Excel sheets

• When to apply merge queries vs. append queries

👨‍🏫 Pro Tip: Always define the key columns (e.g., Employee ID + Date) to prevent accidental data loss when cleaning duplicates.

📊 Want to transform the way you handle data? Sign up for our Power BI training

🔗 Mastering Joins in Power Query

We unpacked the six core join types in Power Query and when to use each:

• ✅ Left Outer Join – used in 95% of use cases

• 🔍 Inner Join – keeps only matching records

• 🚫 Left Anti Join – powerful for finding what’s missing (e.g., non-responders to marketing emails)

🔁 Use Case: Qatar Expo data for 2024 vs 2025 — perfect for exploring event participation analytics.

🔍 Real-World Reconciliation Techniques

We went beyond theory with hands-on reconciliation:

• Merging employee attendance with sales performance

• Calculating total hours worked and project contribution metrics

• Cleaning up incomplete or mismatched rows

💡 Whether you're in finance, HR, or PMO, these techniques can help build bulletproof reports and KPIs.

📐 Merge, Model & Measure: Next-Level Applications

From basic joins to custom calculations:

• 🧾 Created custom columns to apply pricing formulas (e.g., tariff = price × 1.25)

• 🔍 Used multiple conditions for joins (e.g., Employee ID + Shift Type)

• 🔢 Applied aggregate functions like SUM, AVERAGE, and COUNT to generate metrics

⚙️ These formulas are the bedrock of dashboards — whether you’re presenting sales trends or inventory metrics.

Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your data skills! Enroll now and take your reporting to the next level.

🛠️ Coming Up Next

📅 Upcoming Sessions:

• Data Modeling: Learn to structure your datasets for maximum performance

• Visualization Techniques: Turn raw metrics into executive dashboards

• Custom KPIs: Build performance indicators with DAX

🎥 Bonus: Recorded lectures and formulas will be uploaded to the LMS portal

📌 Holiday Reminder: No class during Eid break — but LMS materials will be available for self-paced progress.

🚀 Final Takeaway

Power Query isn’t just an Excel plugin — it’s your personal data engineer. With the right techniques, you can automate reporting, validate data integrity, and model complex scenarios without writing a single line of code.

👉 Ready to go from spread sheet wrangler to dashboard strategist? Practice the merge, explore joins, and prep for the next Power BI data modeling session.

📬 Have questions or need help?
Reach out to info@teamacademy.net Or jump back into the LMS at teamacademy.net