KPI Visuals in Power BI

KPI, also called Key Performance Indicators, are important visuals in Power BI that allow businesses to track their performance against certain goals. KPIs help track a business’s progress, evaluate its performance, and highlight areas where improvements can be made to enhance overall productivity. In this blog, let us understand KPI and their visualization with advantages.

Table of Contents:

• What are KPIs in Power BI?
• Advantages of Visualizing KPIs in Power BI
• Data represented  by KPI
• KPI Visuals
• Card Visual
• Gauge Visual
• Performance Considerations
• Best Practices
• Conclusion

What are KPIs in Power BI?

KPIs are indicators that are used to evaluate the success or failure of an organization, team, or individual. These are very important visuals that are offered by Power BI, which are used to track profit margins, sales growth, or customer analysis. KPI presents clear information and provides exact details that help in easily fetching information.

Power BI offers different visuals to represent KPIs, like

• KPI visuals
• Gauge visuals
• Card Visual

Advantages of Visualizing KPIs in Power BI

• Power BI allows businesses to monitor KPI trends live without refreshing reports, as it connects to real-time data sources.
• Power BI offers different KPI visuals that allow users to select different KPIs according to their needs.
• KPI helps stakeholders make decisions by referring to performance measures represented by KPI.
• KPI helps businesses to identify strong and weak spots.
• DAX with KPI brings more features and makes customizable and highly interactive reports, which help uncover deeper insights.

Data Represented by KPIs

Example Dataset:

Let us use a dataset to create KPIs.

Step 1: Load the Dataset into Power BI

Click Home>Get Data>Text/CSV

After following the steps, your data will be loaded into Power BI.

This is what your dataset will look like.

Step 2: Create KPI Measure with DAX

Go to the Modeling Tab> New Measure and write the following formula.

1. Profit Margin:

Profit Margin = DIVIDE(SUM(SalesData[Profit]), SUM(SalesData[Sales]))

2. Profit Margin Target:

Profit Margin Target = 0.15

3. KPI Profit Margin vs Target (for Card visual)

KPI Profit Margin vs Target =

VAR Diff = [Profit Margin] - [Profit Margin Target]

VAR Sign = IF(Diff > 0, "+", "")

RETURN

"Goal: " & FORMAT([Profit Margin Target], "#0%") & " (" & Sign & FORMAT(Diff, "#0.0%") & ")"

3. KPI Color

KPI Color =

VAR Diff = [Profit Margin] - [Profit Margin Target]

RETURN

SWITCH(

TRUE(),

Diff > 0, "Green",

Diff < 0, "Red",

"Black"

)

KPI Visuals

A KPI visual is a special graph used to display performance metrics by comparing actual values against predefined targets.

Steps to create KPI:

Go to Report view and select  KPI visual from the visualization pane

Drag:

• Indicator: Profit Margin
• Trend axis: Date
• Target goal: Profit Margin Target

Output:

Explanation: Here, this graph represents the KPI Visuals, which show:

• Actual Profit Margin: 0.19
• Target (Goal): 0.15
• Performance: +25.93 % above the goal, marked with a green tick.

Card Visual

Card Visual in Power BI is a simple visual used to display a single, important data point

Steps to create Card Visual:

Select the Card visual from the visualization pane and drag the KPI Profit Margin vs Target.

Output:

Explanation: Here, this graph shows a card visual, which is used to show:

• Goal: 15%
• Current Status: +2.9% (showing a small improvement over the goal).

Gauge Visual

Gauge Visual in Power BI is a circular visual used to show progress toward a target by comparing a single value against a defined goal.

Steps to create Gauge Visual:

Select Gauge Visual from the visualization pane and

Drag:

• Value: Profit Margin
• Target Value: Profit Margin Target

Output:

Explanation: The Gauge is used to compare the actual performance (01.8) against the target value (0.15).

Performance Considerations

Limitations of KPI Visuals in Power BI

Best Practices

• Try to keep your visuals simple and only show important information.
• Try to use colours like green and red for denoting rise and fall, which helps in better understanding.
• The KPIs should reflect strategic business objectives and make sure that insights are actionable.
• If you are comparing performance, try to use leading and lagging data, which helps you to compare performance.
• Update your KPIs regularly, as they are built on live data. If live data changes, the KPI also changes.

Conclusion

KPIs in Power BI help organizations to track performance, identify trends, and take action based on patterns. By visualizing business metrics in real time, businesses can easily track their progress toward goals, spot areas that are performing well, and address areas that need improvement. KPIs are used to improve efficiency, improve customer experience, or increase profitability. KPIs in Power BI help stakeholders or clients understand their business’s growth.

To learn more about Power BI and its functions, check out this Power BI Course and also explore Power BI Interview Questions prepared by industry experts.

KPI Visuals in Power BI – FAQs

Profit Margin = SUM(Profit) / SUM(Sales)

Profit Margin Target = 0.15