What is Power BI?
Power BI is an interactive data visualization tool developed by Microsoft with a primary focus on business intelligence. Its collection of software services, apps, and connectors work together to turn unrelated sources of data into visually immersive and interactive insights. Power BI consists of a Microsoft Windows desktop application called Power BI Desktop, an online SaaS (Software as a Service) service called the Power BI service, and mobile Power BI apps that are available on any device, with native mobile BI apps for Windows, iOS, and Android.
Power BI Workflow
A common flow of work in Power BI begins in Power BI Desktop, where a report is created. That report is then published to the Power BI service and finally shared so that users of Power BI Mobile apps can consume the information. It doesn’t always happen that way, and that’s okay. But we’ll use that flow to help you learn the different parts of Power BI and how they complement each other. Okay, now that we have an overview of this module, what Power BI is, and its three main elements, let’s take a look at what it’s like to use Power BI.
Building Blocks of Power BI
Everything you do in Microsoft Power BI can be broken down into a few basic building blocks. After understanding these building blocks, you can expand on each of them and begin creating elaborate and complex reports. Here are the basic building blocks in Power BI:
– Visualizations
A visualization (sometimes referred to as a visual) is a visual representation of data, like a chart, a color-coded map, or other interesting things you can create to visually represent your data. Power BI has all sorts of visualization types, and more are coming all the time. The following image shows a collection of different visualizations created in Power BI.
Visualizations can be simple, like a single number representing something significant, or they can be visually complex, like a gradient-colored map showing voter sentiment about a certain social issue or concern. The goal of a visual is to present data in a way that provides context and insights, both of which would probably be difficult to discern from a raw table of numbers or text.
– Datasets
A dataset is a collection of data that Power BI uses to create its visualizations.
You can have a simple dataset based on a single table from a Microsoft Excel workbook, similar to what’s shown in the following image.
Datasets can also be a combination of many different sources, which you can filter and combine to provide a unique collection of data (a dataset) for use in Power BI.
For example, you can create a dataset from three database fields, one website table, an Excel table, and online results of an email marketing campaign. That unique combination is still considered a single dataset, even though it was pulled together from many different sources.
Filtering data before bringing it into Power BI lets you focus on the data that matters to you. For example, you can filter your contact database so that only customers who received emails from the marketing campaign are included in the dataset. You can then create visuals based on that subset (the filtered collection) of customers included in the campaign. Filtering helps you focus your data—and your efforts.
An important and enabling part of Power BI is the multitude of data connectors that are included. Whether the data you want is in Excel or a Microsoft SQL Server database, in Azure or Oracle, or in a service like Facebook, Salesforce, or MailChimp, Power BI has built-in data connectors that let you easily connect to that data, filter it if necessary, and bring it into your dataset.
After you have a dataset, you can begin creating visualizations that show different portions of it differently and gain insights based on what you see. That’s where reports come in.
– Reports
In Power BI, a report is a collection of visualizations that appear together on one or more pages. Just like any other report you might create for a sales presentation or write for a school assignment, a report in Power BI is a collection of items that are related to each other. The following image shows a report in Power BI Desktop—in this case, it’s the second page in a five-page report. You can also create reports in the Power BI service.
Reports let you create many visualizations on multiple pages if necessary and let you arrange those visualizations in whatever way best tells your story.
You might have a report about quarterly sales, product growth in a particular segment, or migration patterns of polar bears. Whatever your subject, reports let you gather and organize your visualizations onto one page (or more).
– Dashboards
When you’re ready to share a report or a collection of visualizations, you create a dashboard. Much like the dashboard in a car, a Power BI dashboard is a collection of visuals that you can share with others. Often, a selected group of visuals provides quick insight into the data or story you’re trying to present.
A dashboard must fit on a single page, often called a canvas (the canvas is the blank backdrop in Power BI Desktop or the service where you put visualizations). Think of it like the canvas that an artist or painter uses—a workspace where you create, combine, and rework interesting and compelling visuals. You can share dashboards with other users or groups, who can then interact with your dashboards when they’re in the Power BI service or on their mobile devices.
– Tiles
In Power BI, a tile is a single visualization on a dashboard. It’s the rectangular box that holds an individual visual. In the following image, you see one tile, which is also surrounded by other tiles.
When creating a dashboard in Power BI, you can move or arrange tiles however you want. You can make them bigger, change their height or width, and snuggle them to other tiles. When you’re viewing or consuming a dashboard or report—which means you’re not the creator or owner, but the report or dashboard has been shared with you—you can interact with it, but you can’t change the size of the tiles or their arrangement.
