Analyzing raw data in its native form is not easy. Data visualization can help with this by making complex data easier to access and comprehend. Microsoft Power BI produces interactive and educational dashboards, making it one of the most essential data visualization tools in recent times.
Let’s find out how to use Power BI to build intriguing dashboards to extract insights from your data.
How to Get Started With Power BI?
It’s necessary to have Power BI installed on your computer before you start building dashboards. You can download it directly from the applications store on your computer.
Power BI, in its very nature, is free and accessible but has paid versions (Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium) available for extended use and functions.
Here is what you can expect from each license type:
| License Type | Functions | Limitations | Pricing |
| Power BI (Free) | Can Create dashboards for your own use | Cannot share or collaborate with others or publish content to other people’s workspaces. | $0 |
| Power BI (Pro) | Create dashboards, publish content to other workspaces, share reports, and connect to data sources. | No self-service data preparation for big data. | $10 per user/mo. |
| Power BI (Premium) | Inclusive of all Power BI (Pro) features in addition to Advanced AI and Self-service data preparation for big data. | Highest Pricing range for Power BI. | $20 per user/month or $4,9995 per capacity/month |
Preparing Data for Dashboards on Power BI
As one of the most widely used data visualization tools, data needs to be prepared for Power BI dashboards using the following steps:
The first step in using Power BI to create a dashboard is to prepare your data.
You may connect to various data sources with Power BI, including databases, cloud services, Excel spreadsheets, and more.
Based on your requirements, you can connect to your data live or directly import it into Power BI.
You can then use the Power Query Editor to clean and transform your data once it has been loaded into Power BI.
Enable operations such as filtering, grouping, and combining tables in the process.
The success of these steps marks the accuracy and readiness of your data for further visualization using Power BI, one of the most reputed data visualization tools.
How to Use Power BI as a Data Visualization Tool
Once your data has been prepared, you can build visualizations based on them. Power BI, one of the most trusted data visualization tools, offers a wide range of visualization types, including bar charts, line charts, pie charts, maps, and more. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating visualizations:
Select a Visualization Type
Select the visualization type you want to create from the visualization pane. For instance, if you want to create a bar chart, click on the Bar chart icon.
Drag and Drop Fields
Go to the Fields pane and drag and drop the fields you want to use for your visualization. For a bar chart, you might drag a dimension (e.g., product category) to the “Axis” area and a measure (e.g., sales revenue) to the “Values” area.
Customize Your Visualization
Your visualization can be altered or customized by adding titles, altering colors, tweaking the axis, and other options. Power BI offers an intuitive user interface for making these changes.
Add Filters
You can add filters to your visualization to make it interactive by letting viewers delve deeper into the data. By adding a filter for “year”, for instance, users can choose a certain year to view data for that timeframe.
Format and Style
Power BI has many formatting options, so you can customize your visualizations to reflect your brand or personal preferences. You can alter fonts, backgrounds, and other stylistic elements to make your dashboard more visually appealing.
Create Multiple Visualizations
Dashboards on Power BI, a renowned data visualization tool, often comprise multiple visualizations. To successfully communicate the key points of your data, you can create as many visualizations as needed to convey your message effectively.
Once your visualizations are prepared, you can then move on to building dashboards.
How to Build Dashboards on Power BI
A dashboard is a collection of reports and visualizations that offer a summary of your data. To construct a dashboard in Power BI, follow these steps:
Add New Page
In the desktop version of Power BI, you can add a new page for your dashboard, Each page holds different visualizations, allowing you to organize your content.
Drag Visualizations onto the Page
Drag and drop the previously created visualizations onto the new page. You can arrange them as desired – rearranging and resizing them to create a visually appealing layout for your dashboard. This easy-to-opt feature makes Power BI one of the most renowned data visualization tools.
Add Interactive Elements
Connecting your dashboards’ visualizations and reports will increase interactivity. For example, slicers can be used to filter data from various visualizations when a user makes a choice.
Set Up Navigation
You can design buttons or links that let users jump between different pages or reports inside your Power BI file to make your dashboard more user-friendly.
Add Titles and Boxes
To provide context and explanations for your visualizations, you can add titles, text boxes, and images to your dashboard.
Create Appealing Dashboards for Visualization on Power BI
Anyone who works with data will benefit from knowing how to create dashboards with Power BI. Power BI gives you the ability to transform unstructured data into actionable insights, regardless of your background as a data analyst, business intelligence specialist, or end user.
You can use data visualization to help you make smart decisions and grow your business. Data visualization is likely to remain a top data analytics trend. So, start learning about Power BI now to realize the full potential of your data.
Inferenz offers important solutions related to data design, analytics, architecture, and predictive analysis. For more such insights into big data and how to properly utilize data collection tools, get in touch with us today!
