In this blog, we will explore what Power BI is and the importance of its dashboards. Additionally, we will look into the step-by-step process of creating a Power BI dashboard, uncovering its advantages for effective dashboard design.
Table of Contents:
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What is Power BI?
Power BI is a business analytics tool developed by Microsoft that is mainly designed to present and distribute data insights in an intuitive and engaging fashion. This versatile tool assists users to seamlessly link to diverse data origins, including databases, Excel spreadsheets, and cloud services. Moreover, it provides data refinement and structuring, ultimately enabling the development of informative reports and interactive dashboards.
The strengths of Power BI include its capacity to connect to various data sources, convert and clean data, and produce visuals like charts, graphs, and tables. Following the arrangement of these visuals, users can add interactive elements and drill-down capabilities to create thorough dashboards. In addition, Power BI provides sharing and collaboration tools via its cloud service, allowing teams to cooperate and reach data-driven decisions based on current knowledge.
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What is a Power BI Dashboard?
A Power BI dashboard is like a digital control center for important information. It is a visual approach to view and understand data, making it simple to follow developments in a business or any other setting.
Consider it a collection of eye-catching graphs, charts, and data that illustrate a narrative. It can be used to keep tabs on things like sales, outlays, and website visitors. You can click on elements with interactive features to get more information and gain new perspectives.
It’s like having a super-smart personal assistant who organizes data and displays it in a way that’s simple to understand, assisting users in making better decisions based on the facts.
In a nutshell, a Power BI dashboard is a tool that transforms boring data into exciting visuals that help you see the big picture.
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Why Do We Need Power BI Dashboard?
Basically, Power BI dashboards are essential for generating data-driven decisions, increasing corporate efficiency, and making sure that everyone in an organization can access and understand important information to accomplish their objectives. Power BI dashboards are crucial because they let us do the following:
Visualize Data: They transform difficult-to-understand data into clear graphs and charts that everyone can understand.
Track Performance: Dashboards assist in the real-time monitoring of important indicators, such as sales or website traffic, enabling quick responses to changes.
Spot Trends: They draw attention to patterns and trends so you can establish your decisions based on the past.
Data Centralization: Power BI dashboards combine data from numerous sources that save time and effort.
Interact and Analyze: Users can interact with the data, drill down for more information, and ask questions to have a better understanding of it.
Information Sharing: Dashboards make it simple to share information with coworkers, encouraging teamwork.
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Steps to Create a Dashboard in Power BI
Here are the steps to create a dashboard in Power BI:
Step 1: Importing data
Importing data from source files is the first step in the process of generating a dashboard in Power BI. Choose a data source by clicking the Get Data button. After choosing a data source, click Connect. The Power Query Editor allows you to refine the imported data.
After importing data, one can also format it according to their requirements. Now let’s create a card visual in Power BI and a dashboard on the file named content requirement sheet where we can find how many blogs are written in an organization, who has written that particular blog, on what date it was written by the content writer, and many more.
Through this file, we create the dashboard by answering the below five questions that would be all put together to create an interactive dashboard for users:
Steps to Create a Card Visual in Power BI:
Let’s consider our first question to be: How many number of blogs are published?
Step 1: Begin in Power BI
The very first step is to import the data. Make sure that your relevant data source is appropriately loaded.
Step 2: Insert the Card Visual
Navigate to the “Visualizations” pane and select the card icon to add a blank card visual to your report canvas.
Step 3: Populate the Card
From the “Fields” pane, please drag and drop the “Count of Published” field into the “Values” section of the visual. This action will reflect the desired count on the card.
Steps to Create Stacked Column Chart Visual in Power BI
The question is: How many CW statuses are done?
Step 1: Navigate to the “Visualizations” pane on the right side.
Step 2: Select the “Stacked Column Chart ” icon to insert a blank bar chart into the report canvas.
Populate the Stacked Column Chart.
Step 3: From the “Fields” pane, drag and drop the “Category (by SEO)” field into the X-Axis section of the visual.
Step 4: Similarly, drag and drop the “Count of CW Status” field into the Y-Axis section of the visual.
Applying Filters:
Step 5: In the “Filters” pane, you can see specific filters applied. For instance, “Category (by SEO)” is filtered to show data related to “Data Science, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and IB” and “Count of CW Status” is set to display “All” data.
Step 6: Apply these filters as required by dragging the relevant field to the “Filters” section and making appropriate selections
Steps to Create Donut Chart Visual in Power BI:
The Problem statement is: Visualize the count of LQA final status.
Step 1: On the Visualizations pane, click on the “Donut Chart” icon which resembles a doughnut.
Step 2: Setting the Fields:
Values: Drag and drop the “Count of LQA Final Status” field to the “Values” area.
Legend: Drag and drop the “Category (by SEO)” field to the “Legend” area. This will define the segments of your donut chart.
Step 3: Applying Filters:
In the “Filters” pane, you can see specific filters applied. For example, “Category (by SEO)” is filtered to show data related to “Data Science, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and IB” and “Count of CW Status” is set to display “All” data.
Apply these filters as required by dragging the relevant field to the “Filters” section and making appropriate selections.
Count of LQA Final Status: The condition applied here is “(All),” which means all data points under this column are considered.
LQA Final Status: The condition applied is “LQA done”, so only rows with this status are considered in the visualization.
To apply these filters, drag and drop the respective fields into the “Filters on this visual” area and set the appropriate conditions.
Steps to Create Decomposition Tree Visual in Power BI:
Question: Which content writer has the highest count of published content status?
Step 1: In the “Visualizations” pane on the right, click on the decomposition tree icon, which looks like a branching diagram
Step 2: Set Data Fields
Drag the respective “CW Name”,” Published” and “Category (by SEO)” fields to the “Explain by” area. This will help to set the levels at which you can drill down. Now, Drag the “Count of CW Status” field to the “Analyze” area. This will be the metric you’re analyzing.
Step 3: Interacting with the Tree
Once the visualization is created, you can interactively explore it by clicking on nodes (plus icons) to expand them. The tree will automatically show you the most significant factors influencing the metric (in this case, “Count of CW Status”).
Steps to Create Line and Clustered Column Chart in Power BI
Question: Which SEO category has the highest count of document links, and how does its sum of a number of words compare to other categories?
Step 1: Select Visualization Type:
Go to the “Visualizations” pane on the right.
Click on the Line and Clustered Column Chart.
Step 2: Set the Data Fields:
Once the visualization placeholder is created, you’ll need to drag and drop your data fields into the appropriate areas.
- Drag the Category (by SEO) column into the X-axis.
- Drag the Doc link [(by CW)] column into Y-axis
- Drag the Number of Words [( CW)] column into Line Y-axis
- Drag and Drop the SEO Check Comments [(SEO)] column into Column Legend.
Step 3: Applying Filters
In the “Filters” pane on the right, you can set specific conditions.
For example: “Category (by SEO)” is set to Cloud, Cyber Security, Data Science, and IB which means all categories are currently displayed.
In a similar wayfashion, “Count of CW Status” and “CW Name” are set to “All”.
Saving the dashboard
Step 1: Click on Publish
Step 2: Click on the save button.
Hence, your Power BI dashboard is complete.
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Advantages of Creating a Dashboard in Power BI
Using Power BI to create a dashboard offers an effective tool for data-driven decision-making, promoting efficiency, teamwork, and increased corporate performance. Power BI dashboard creation has the following benefits:
Data Visualization: Power BI gives you the option to present data in visually appealing formats like charts, graphs, and maps, which makes it simpler to comprehend and analyze.
Real-Time Insights: You can stay informed and make decisions on time by using dashboards that can show data in real-time.
Data Consolidation: Power BI can connect to many data sources, combining data from various locations into a single dashboard for an all-encompassing perspective.
Interactivity: Users can dive down into specifics, filter data, and interact with dashboards to enable deeper analysis and research.
Customization: Dashboards can be made to fit a variety of company requirements, with the option to include unique graphics and design components.
Accessibility: Power BI dashboards are easily accessible from any location with an internet connection, encouraging remote work.
Sharing and Collaboration: Dashboards make it simple to collaborate and share information with stakeholders and coworkers.
Cost-Efficiency: Power BI offers a free version, making it cost-effective for businesses of all sizes.
Scalability: It is capable of managing both small and large datasets, expanding with your business.
Predictive Analysis: Power BI’s ability to include machine learning models enables predictive analytics, which can be used to predict patterns and events in the future.
Wrap-Up
Creating a Power BI dashboard offers a powerful means to analyze and visualize data and make decisions. Its user-friendly interface and diverse features empower users to transform raw data into dynamic, interactive visuals. This tool enables comprehensive dashboards, addressing various business needs and linking effortlessly with diverse data sources. With these steps in mind, one can craft a powerful and informative Power BI dashboard that helps in informed decision-making and data-driven insights.