PowerBI and Machine Learning Capacity Building

Empowering Teams to Visualise Biodiversity Data Independently

The International Barcode of Life wanted to reduce reliance on external consultants by building internal capacity for data visualization, analysis, and machine learning. Staff needed to confidently create and maintain PowerBI dashboards for internal process tracking and external reporting, and to engage meaningfully with ML projects.

I delivered two hands-on training programmes using iBOL’s own data and real analytical questions. The PowerBI training covered data modeling, DAX measures, Power Query transformations, visualisation design, and dashboard deployment. The machine learning training focused on practical fundamentals: exploratory data analysis, feature selection, train-test splitting, evaluation metrics, and the end-to-end workflow from problem definition to deployment.

As a result, participants quickly progressed from novices to independent analysts: staff who had never written a DAX measure were creating complex calculations, team members unfamiliar with PowerBI were designing their own dashboards, and the team began applying machine learning to extract new insights from their biodiversity data. The organization now has a self-sufficient analytics capability, enabling faster, more informed decisions and ongoing innovation in biodiversity research.