Microsoft Power BI has become the primary business intelligence tool for more than 250,000 organizations. Its capabilities allow it to manage up to 100 million rows of data, making it indispensable for companies in various sectors in transforming raw data into usable information. Any company, by now, cannot avoid having to deal with data analysis in order to make informed strategic decisions. Fortunately, we can count on advanced tools such as Microsoft Power BI to improve efficiency in processing business data.
By now, Power BI is the Microsoft tool most used by organizations for business intelligence activities. Among its strengths, the Microsoft tool certainly has a very intuitive interface for analyzing data and visualizing it through reports.
Let's see below what you can do with Power BI and how to learn to master it.
Microsoft Power BI offers robust and intuitive tracking and charting tools that don't require programming skills. It covers a variety of visual options, from classic bar and line charts to specialized business charts and indicators.
Learning to visualize data in Power BI allows you to create customizable, visually appealing charts that improve the impact of your analyses.
Dax is a scripting language used in Power BI and is very similar to the formulas and functions used in Excel. In fact, if you master the Microsoft Excel formulas, you are already halfway through the work with DAX, which allows you to process large sets of data and numbers.
Every analyst knows that raw data rarely comes in the desired format. Fortunately, Microsoft Power BI offers powerful tools for preparing and transforming data. Using Power BI's M language and advanced editor, it is possible to perform extensive data transformations, converting raw data into a format ready for analysis.
A Microsoft Power BI dashboard is a single screen that shows key metrics and information through impactful visualizations. Creating these dashboards effectively is critical, as they are the primary tool for informed decisions based on data.
Microsoft Power BI dashboards reveal crucial insights and trends that could easily be overlooked in spreadsheets, allowing organizations to make faster, better, and evidence-based choices. The best part is that you don't need to have advanced IT skills to build a dashboard in Power BI.
The real value of data analysis lies in the decisions it informs. To maximize this value, it's essential to share your results with colleagues or a wider audience. Power BI offers various tools to facilitate this sharing, making your dashboards accessible to others. However, before diving into sharing, it's crucial to focus on designing dashboards and reports that take into account user needs and preferences.
Microsoft Power BI stands out as a first-rate business intelligence platform, combining an easy-to-use interface with cutting-edge analytics.
Its main objective is to consolidate data for rapid analysis and reveal deep insights through integrated artificial intelligence capabilities, all while taking advantage of the high-level security and performance of the Power Platform and Azure.
Dev4Side Software specializes in creating customized reports through Microsoft Power BI, transforming complex data into intuitive dashboards and reports to support informed business decisions.
Operating vertically across the entire Microsoft Power Platform ecosystem, we have developed excellent expertise in Power BI, allowing us to offer business intelligence solutions that highlight critical insights and promote operational efficiency.
Find out how we can help you make the most of your data. Contact us to transform business information into concrete actions.
Surely you have wondered what are the tools and parts that make up Microsoft's tool, Power BI. Let's see them together one by one starting from the three different versions of Power BI (Free, Pro and Premium), and then moving on to Power BI Embedded and Power BI Report Server.
As its name indicates, Power BI Free, also known as Power BI Desktop, is the free version of the software available for direct download from the Microsoft Store. This variant allows individuals and businesses to access the powerful features of Power BI at no cost. Users can easily download the program and start designing visualizations and dashboards using data from their organization.
In addition to the Desktop version downloadable on the PC, it is possible to view everything on the Power BI Service.
Power BI Free provides nearly all of the functionality available in the Power BI Service. With this version, it is possible to connect data from different sources, carry out transformations and generate dashboards and reports complete with tables, graphs and diagrams.
Power BI Free is an individual license that allows users to use the software with specific limitations, including a quota of 10 GB of storage for each user.
Power BI Free offers a wide range of filters and visualization tools, the ability to connect and import data both from the cloud and from local sources, and the creation of reports and dashboards. Users have the option to upload their reports online and view content shared by those who have a Power BI Pro or Premium license, as long as those contents are located in the workspace of the user with a Premium license.
With Power BI Pro, users have the ability to share data, reports, and dashboards with other Pro license holders. In addition, it is possible to create Workspace Apps. Both Power BI Free and Power BI Pro offer 10 GB of storage per user, with a 1 GB limitation for each individual file.
In addition, Power BI Pro allows you to connect to different local datasets and supports the automatic updating of this data. If your data is kept on-premises instead of in the cloud, you can access and analyze it without difficulty, as in the case of a self-managed SQL database. With Power BI Pro, you can schedule data updates effectively, ensuring that your team can always access the most up-to-date version of the information.
Users with a Power BI Pro license can share data, reports and dashboards, publish apps and content packs protected by RLS Security. However, sharing is only possible with other users who also have a Power BI Pro license.
Power BI Premium offers two modes: by capacity and per user. While sharing many features, the main difference is that the Premium Capacity mode allows you to share Power BI content with external individuals who do not have licenses per user.
Both the Premium per User and Premium Capacity options offer all the features available in the Power BI Free and Pro licenses, in addition to guaranteeing the ability to share content. In addition, Power BI Premium includes a number of extra features.
For organizations that want to adopt Power BI Premium, it is essential that some users have Power BI Pro licenses, since development, collaboration, and administration activities take place primarily on Pro. A key benefit of Power BI Premium is that it is designed to expand and enhance the capabilities offered by Power BI Pro.
A significant benefit of Power BI Premium is the inclusion of Power BI Report Server, the long-awaited on-premises solution. In addition, Power BI Premium allows you to share reports and dashboards not only with internal users, but also with people outside the organization.
Premium subscribers can take advantage of advanced tools for AI modeling. These powerful features allow text analysis, image recognition, and machine learning automation, all seamlessly integrated into the Power BI software.
Power BI Embedded, an Azure service, allows you to incorporate Power BI analysis into business applications. This allows businesses to generate reports and analyze data sets directly within their apps, portals or web pages.
Power BI Embedded uses external APIs and, unlike Power BI Pro or Premium, it doesn't offer an environment for viewing business reports. Using Power BI Embedded, developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) can seamlessly incorporate the reporting capabilities and capabilities of Power BI into their applications.
So, if you need to integrate dashboards and business intelligence capabilities into custom applications or development environments, Power BI Embedded is an excellent option. However, it has limitations when it comes to accessing and managing all company reports or dashboards, monitoring business performance, and implementing data governance.
Power BI Report Server is an on-premises solution for hosting Power BI reports. Users can view these reports through a web portal. In addition, the server supports the hosting of paginated reports, mobile reports, and KPIs, taking advantage of the SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) architecture.
It works well with the Microsoft Power BI service and can be easily integrated with existing reporting services. In addition, many organizations choose the on-premises report server for its excellent security features.
After this extensive overview of Microsoft Power BI, the time has come to move on to some application examples on how to use and make the most of this tool.
Start analyzing sales data in Microsoft Power BI by first creating a data model. This involves importing and connecting sales data from different sources, such as Excel, SQL Server or CRM systems. After importing data, take advantage of Power BI's advanced tools to effectively clean, structure, and explore information.
Once your data model is set up, you can create different visualizations such as charts, tables, and maps to make the data more accessible and understandable. Power BI offers a wide range of visualization types, such as bar charts, line charts, scatter charts, and heat maps. In addition, you can use the predefined calculations and measures in Microsoft Power BI to generate customized metrics and perform advanced analysis.
In the final step, use the Power BI service to share your visualizations and insights with team members and other stakeholders, making it easier to collaborate and distribute data. You can make dashboards and reports accessible on the web, direct specific users or groups for sharing, and schedule automatic updates to ensure that your views always reflect the most recent data.
Using Microsoft Power BI for financial planning and forecasting provides an effective approach for evaluating and anticipating an organization's financial results. This involves creating a financial strategy that integrates past data with future projections. Power BI facilitates this process by simplifying and optimizing it, resulting in increased efficiency.
Start by importing financial data into Power BI from various sources, such as Excel, SQL Server, or accounting systems, and make sure it's clean and prepared. Once imported, use the Microsoft tool's data modeling and transformation tools to refine and structure the information. This prepares the data for creating detailed budgets and forecasts.
With Power BI's built-in calculations and measures, you can create custom metrics and perform advanced analysis.
Once you have set your budget and forecasts, Microsoft Power BI allows you to develop a comparison report that compares actual financial results with your budget and forecasts. This analysis helps detect deviations and patterns, which can be critical for refining and improving future financial performance.
Operational dashboards in the manufacturing sector, using Microsoft Power BI, offer a dynamic approach to oversee and evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs). By developing these dashboards, manufacturers can continuously monitor production metrics, identify emerging trends and potential bottlenecks, and leverage data-driven insights to increase efficiency and productivity.
The data may include details such as production rates, equipment downtime, and maintenance schedules. After importing data, you can use Power BI's data modeling and transformation tools to effectively refine and organize information.
Once the data has been processed, you can create various visualizations such as charts, tables, and maps to present the information clearly. Power BI offers a wide range of visualization tools, from line and bar charts to scatter charts and heat maps. In addition, you can use Power BI's advanced calculations and measures to create customized metrics and conduct in-depth analysis.
You can then assemble operational dashboards by incorporating visualizations to monitor key KPIs such as production rates, downtime, and maintenance schedules. These dashboards serve as tools for detecting trends and identifying bottlenecks in the production process, as well as supervising the performance of various production systems and equipment.
After its launch, Microsoft Power BI has become a popular choice for organizations around the world looking for a cloud-based solution for self-service business intelligence. This platform allows users to analyze, visualize, and disseminate data with ease.
Let's now look at some successful cases in the use of Microsoft Power BI.
With a global fan base of 450 million, Real Madrid is positioned as one of the world's leading sports franchises. Considering that most of its supporters live outside of Spain and cannot attend the matches in person, the club needed a technological solution to improve its digital services and to collect and analyze data on its international fans.
Working with Microsoft Services, Real Madrid has created a platform-as-a-service solution based on Microsoft Cloud and Office 365. This solution includes a fan engagement platform, an expanded video platform, and a consumer app, all of which use Power BI to provide detailed telemetry data.
MediaCom, a global advertising agency, was looking for a solution to quickly evaluate the effectiveness of its advertising campaigns in order to improve performance and manage expenses. The goal was to aggregate the results into a composite score within a few hours. The agency faced difficulties due to disjointed systems, a variety of third-party data sources, and expensive and complex BI software.
Using Microsoft Power BI, MediaCom has established an efficient “health check” system that quickly evaluates multiple dimensions of its advertising campaigns on multiple platforms. This solution improved productivity by 10% and led to an increase in revenues, from thousands to millions of dollars for each campaign.
Monitoring the movements and behavior of elephants was complicated in the past. However, in 2013, the zoo adopted RFID 'wristbands' for elephants. These devices allowed precise position tracking, with an accuracy of up to one meter, and provided detailed data on the distance traveled and the speed of each elephant.
While the new data was valuable, managing it remained a challenge. Most of them were stored in spreadsheets, and the zoo's software could only process data for up to 15 days at a time.
In 2015, the zoo partnered with US Medical IT, a Microsoft solution provider, to improve the RFID system. A data warehouse based on Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and hosted on Microsoft Azure has been introduced. This system consolidates everyday RFID data with information from five other sources and integrates it with Microsoft Power BI for analysis and reporting. As a result, the zoo is now able to manage and analyze data over multiple years.
Microsoft offers three main licenses for Power BI. Two of these are designed for individual use, while the third is based on the level of storage capacity that an organization has chosen. The main licenses are: Power BI Free (or Desktop), Power BI Pro, and Power BI Premium.
In addition to the free version of Power BI Free, the other two licenses require an in-depth analysis of costs, requirements, and functionality. In particular, Power BI Pro, at a cost of 9.40€ per month per user, offers advanced features for sharing content and collaborating through workspaces.
On the contrary, Power BI Premium offers additional functionality such as advanced analysis through AI and paginated reports. The monthly cost varies depending on the type of license chosen: Power BI Premium per user (PPU) or Power BI Premium per capacity.
The Power BI Premium license per user (PPU) is available at a cost of €18.70 per month for each user. In contrast, the Premium capacity license is offered at 4675.60€ per month per single capacity. The latter, compared to the PPU, offers superior advantages such as an increased model capacity of up to 400 GB, the possibility of distributing content without limitations within capacity, and support for Multi-Geo, which guarantees compliance with regulations on data localization.
Microsoft Power BI has established itself as a crucial asset for companies that aim to exploit the full potential of their data. Its intuitive interface, powerful data processing capabilities, and extensive visualization tools cater to users of all skill levels. The different success stories we've talked about highlight the versatility and significant impact of Power BI in various industries.
Power BI is more than just a tool; it's a strategic asset for contemporary businesses. Its continuous development and integration with other Microsoft services ensure that it remains a leading solution in the field of business intelligence.
Whether it's managing sales metrics, predicting financial results, or monitoring production performance, Microsoft Power BI provides the flexibility and power needed to excel in a world centered on data. The examples discussed in this article illustrate how adopting Power BI can lead to significant improvements in efficiency, productivity, and overall business success.
Power BI is a business intelligence tool from Microsoft that allows you to analyze data, create visual reports and share insights.
You can create visualizations without code, process data with DAX, transform raw data, build dashboards, and share reports.
Power BI includes Power BI Free (Desktop), Power BI Pro, Power BI Premium, Power BI Embedded, and Power BI Report Server.
Examples include sales data analysis, financial forecasts, and production dashboards.
Prices vary from a free desktop version to paid licenses such as Power BI Pro (€9.40/user/month) and Power BI Premium (€18.70/user/month or €4675.60/capacity/month).
The Modern Apps team specializes in development and integration across the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem. We design native applications for Microsoft and Azure platforms, and implement business processes that integrate with and maximize the investment in Microsoft 365.
