From the information gathered at the point to sale, especially with online shopping, interactions over social media, and overall trends in industry trends, organizations have more access to data than ever before. It is also clear that organizations that understand their data and use it to address customer’s needs through innovative products and customer service will be the most competitive and profitable. So organizations are faced with two dilemmas: 1) How do you connect your data from various sources to get a 360° view of what is happening in your company? 2) How do you communicate the data to the team so that all decision-makers can quickly process the information and start making real-world decisions?
Microsoft’s Power BI gives organizations an edge in several ways:
- The Power BI Desktop provides analysts with out-of-the-box ways to connect various data sources to make a comprehensive data model.
- he Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service give data analysts and end-users the ability to create and share dynamic visuals telling a story and showing trends much more effectively than a spreadsheet of numbers.
- Power BI Dashboards are designed to track multiple key metrics track the health of an organization or department in real-time.
Use the seven (7) steps below to map out how you will get up and running with Power BI by Microsoft.
- Download the Power BI Desktop application. – The Power BI Desktop application was designed for data analysts to connect to data sources, create data models, and design reports with impressive visuals. Before you begin, make sure Power BI Desktop is downloaded on your computer.
- Define the information you would like to obtain. – Companies have a lot of data at their disposal, but that data does not always translate into information that can be used to understand trends and make decisions. As you are preparing to create Power BI reporting and dashboards, it is helpful to begin with an idea of the intelligence you want. Remember, this is only a starting point, and the knowledge you gain can change and expand.
- Identify the data sources and connectors. – A company’s data is usually stored in multiple systems such as point of sale databases, social media accounts, website analytics, marketing form data, etc. Information from multiple sources may need to be joined to get a complete understanding of all business aspects. The appropriate data sources should be identified, and the way the data is connected to Power BI should be considered. You may need to import data, direct query, or create a live connection depending on where the data is stored, how up-to-date the reporting should be, company policy, and any applicable laws and regulations.
- Create a data model. – Using the Power Query tools and Model view in Power BI, you can clean, shape, transform, and connect data. You can also create Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to calculate, summarize, or parse your data.
- Build visuals for reports. – Power BI comes with 29+ visuals that can be used to tell stories and show trends through your data. Additional visuals can be downloaded from the Microsoft AppSource if your company’s security policy allows. It helps to think about the type of data you and what you hope to show. Click here for guidance regarding which visual may be best to use.
Once you have selected a visual, use the Visualizations pane to create the desired graphic. The required and optional fields available depend on the visual. Drag and drop the appropriate fields from the Fields pane to the Fields tab on the Visualizations pane. Use the expansion button for each field to adjust settings. Navigate to the Format tab to change colors, fonts, titles, etc.
You can add multiple visuals to a page canvas, and numerous pages can be created within a report. The best practice is to have related visuals grouped on one page. For example, you may want to group data related to overall revenue on one page and customer demographics on another. You should also display the most critical information in the upper left. Other essential data should be displayed along the top of the canvas. Less critical data can be further down and to the right of the canvas.
- Publish the report to the Power BI Service. – Once you have completed the report, you can publish the report to the Power BI Service, which is the Power BI website you can access with your username and password.
Power BI gives colleagues the ability to share data models, reports, and dashboards with colleagues. If all users have a Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium license, workspaces and apps can be created to share within your organization. Create a dashboard. – Dashboards are one page and are distinct from reports because they can combine visuals from several different reports and data sets into one view. Thus, dashboards are ideal for monitoring the most critical metrics in one place.