What is the function of Power Query in Power BI?

Power Query plays a crucial role in Power BI by allowing users to connect to various data sources, transform the data as needed, and prepare it for analysis. This process includes cleaning the data, filtering out unwanted rows, merging datasets, and reshaping data to fit analytical needs. Power Query’s intuitive interface and powerful data transformation capabilities enable users to manipulate data before it enters the model, ensuring that the analytics and visualizations built in Power BI are based on clean and well-structured data.

The other choices reflect functions that Power BI performs but do not accurately describe Power Query's primary focus. For instance, while analysis and visualization are key features of Power BI, they are not the function of Power Query itself. Similarly, creating dashboard reports is the responsibility of Power BI’s reporting features rather than Power Query. Lastly, while Power BI can store large datasets, this is not a direct function of Power Query, which is more concerned with data preparation rather than data storage.