10 questions about Power BI dashboards and more!

In an era of digitisation and rapidly changing business needs, tools such as Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Power Apps are becoming crucial to the daily operations of businesses. Their advanced analytical features and process automation capabilities make it possible for both large corporations and smaller companies to effectively manage data and business processes. In this article, we answer frequently-asked questions about these tools to help you better understand their potential and application.

Power BI dashboards - article lead graphic

Read on and you’ll find out:

  • What is Power BI entry threshold;
  • What the process of creating an interactive report in Power BI looks like;
  • How Power BI ensures data security;
  • How to further improve your work with Power BI.

Is Power BI intuitive to use, allowing simple updating of data and reports?

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful data visualisation tool, known for its user-friendly interface and ease of updating and amending reports and dashboards. Its intuitive drag-and-drop functionality allows users to quickly create visualisations without the need for extensive technical expertise.

Additionally, Power BI’s seamless integration with various data sources enables easy data updates, ensuring that reports reflect the most current information. Users can easily make amendments to reports and dashboards by simply dragging and dropping elements, modifying visualisations or updating data connections.

This flexibility and simplicity make Power BI an accessible tool for users of all skill levels to create, update and customise analytics solutions to meet their evolving needs.

Can be Power BI dashboards aligned with a brand’s visual identity?

Power BI and Power Apps offer great flexibility when it comes to designing reports. An organisation can use custom branding components, customise colours and themes and add brand logos or other graphics. Thus, data visualisation can be done with brand standards in mind.

What is the usual process and timeline for creating an interactive dashboard in Power BI?

When working with Altkom Software, our team works as follows:

  • We start by gathering requirements, understanding the purpose of the report, learning about data sources, key metrics and other preferences of our client;
  • We then prepare the data, which may require the creation of a separate data infrastructure, such as a data warehouse or data lake, or we connect directly to Power BI;
  • Whatever the scenario, we clean the data, transform it and prepare it accordingly;
  • At this stage, we already started designing the report. We create a prototype and a mock-up that reflects the report layout;
  • Finally, we develop a finished dashboard.

It is up to the client whether he wants us to implement the report in his infrastructure, or whether he prefers to do it himself. Implementation time always varies a bit and depends on the project, but on average it is about 1 month.

If you are interested in such cooperation, take a look at our Data & Analytics offer.

How does the Power BI service ensure data security and access control?

Power BI service, as well as the Power Apps service, continuously implement various security measures to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data while ensuring that only authorised users have access to certain data and functions.

Key security features include:

  • Role-Based Security (RBS) – the ability to define roles and permissions for users and groups; control access to dashboards, reports and data sets based on roles in the organisation;
  • Row-Level Security (RLS) – the ability to restrict access to row-level data based on user roles or criteria. This way, users can only see data relevant to their duties;
  • App Workspaces and Permissions – administrators can manage permissions at the workspace level, controlling user access to view or edit content in the workspace;
  • Data Encryption – data protection from unauthorised access during transmission and storage;
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – an organisation can impose multifactor authentication on Power BI users by adding a security layer. This will mean verifying identity not only with a password but also with a second authentication method (such as an SMS code or authentication app);
  • Data Loss Prevention (DPL) – Power BI enables policies that allow administrators to define and enforce rules to prevent sensitive data from being shared with unauthorised users or outside the organisation. It helps minimise the risk of data leakage;
  • Auditing and Logging – Power BI records user actions relevant to data security (including accessing reports and data sets, sharing content and making changes to security settings).

Can Power BI be integrated with another company platform or system (such as ERP)?

Yes, Power BI has many built-in connectors to ERP systems, such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365.

If a direct connection is not possible, we can use a connection to the database of a given system, its replica or a copy of the data in an analytical environment, such as a data warehouse. If a connection through a database is impossible, we can integrate solutions using a defined API in the analytical ecosystem created.

Is Power BI suitable for a large enterprise with a complex structure?

Of course. Let’s assume that a company has several departments and management wants each department to update its own dashboard. Then all the data collected in this way is to go to the executive dashboard to summarise the data for management. How to create such a template for each department in the company?

We suggest two approaches:

  • Excel template – creating an Excel template with specific fields;
  • Power Apps – using an easy-to-use application to add data to the system. Power Apps can be implemented in parallel with Power BI.

Eventually, each template created will be visible in the department’s dashboard and executive dashboards. Both will be created in Power BI.

With this solution, each department will have reports based on up-to-date data and refreshed values of business indicators. All KPIs, important metrics, targets and results will be properly presented in the dashboard.

When adding additional metrics or other daily data to the dashboard, input fields can also be added. Power Apps integrated with Power BI can be used for this purpose. The data on the dashboard will be regularly refreshed with new information.

Is it possible to share the Power BI dashboard with external users?

Yes, Power BI allows you to share reports with both internal and external users. 

Does Power BI provide methods to keep all decision makers – shareholders, board members, CEOs, executives and other business users – up to date in order to make quick and effective decisions?

The best ways to stay on top of your data in Power BI include:

  • Implement a combination of real-time or near real-time data updates – quick updates on key performance indicators and business metrics, financial results, market trends and other relevant information;
  • Interactive dashboards – create well-designed, interactive dashboards with drill-down and drill-through functions for thorough data exploration;
  • Alerts – notify stakeholders of significant changes, anomalies or deviations from predefined thresholds;
  • Mobile access – mobile access to reports ensures that any stakeholder can see reports in real-time and make informed decisions, even on the go;
  • Metrics section – Power BI offers a separate metrics section that plays a key role in terms of making quick and decisive decisions by providing stakeholders with a concise overview of the organisation’s performance.

Is it possible to create an investment Power BI dashboard and embed it in an executive dashboard?

Power BI is the right solution to create an investment dashboard in it.

The investment Power BI dashboard can present a comprehensive overview of various investment metrics and performance indicators. At the top of the dashboard, there might be a summary section displaying key metrics such as total portfolio value, rate of return and portfolio composition. For example, you could have a card visual showing the total portfolio value in dollars, along with a gauge visual indicating the overall rate of return.

Below the summary section, the dashboard could include visualisations illustrating portfolio allocation across different asset classes. A pie chart or treemap might display the percentage distribution of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and other asset types. Additionally, there could be a stacked bar chart showing the historical changes in portfolio allocation over time.

Further down the dashboard, there might be sections dedicated to analysing the performance of individual assets within the portfolio. For instance, you could include line charts or area charts depicting the performance of specific stocks or mutual funds compared to benchmark indices. Additionally, you might incorporate a scatter plot or heatmap to visualise the risk-return profile of different assets.

When designing such investment portfolios for our clients, we determine and confirm the final design at the data collection stage.

I’m already working with Power BI dashboard, but I’m wondering how to make even better use of the platform’s capabilities?

The reporting and data analysis capabilities of Power BI can be improved with, among other things:

  • New business data sources – adding new data sources to the analytics ecosystem enables new data-driven analysis;
  • AI capabilities – for examples AI Visuals, Automated Machine Learning (AutoML), Anomaly Detection, Smart Data Preparation and the newly implemented Copilot;
  • Applications inside Power BI – Power BI allows multiple Power BI dashboards to be combined into a single business application;
  • Data Catalysts – a structured program or effort within an organisation to support a culture of data-driven decision-making and promote the effective use of Power BI as a key tool for data analysis and visualisation;
  • Establishing data governance – defining and enforcing policies, procedures and standards to ensure data integrity, security and compliance within the platform;
  • Microsoft Fabric – integrates analytics and AI tools, simplifying data management, report creation and visualisation in one consistent environment.

In addition, at Altkom Software, we can organise workshops or training for employees if a company decides to implement a dashboard with our help.