Create Dashboard in Power BI: Step-by-Step Guide for Stunning Results

Power BI is the business intelligence (BI) tool that helps businesses harness the complete potential of their dedicated customer data. It aids firms in creating well-detailed reports and dashboards that transition the raw data into key actionable insights, allowing better data-driven decisions. If you plan to create a dashboard in Power BI, there are a couple of steps that you should know about. There are important steps right from connecting to several data sources to engaging in customizing and sharing the end dashboard. 

In this post, we will cover the following:

• What is the Power BI Dashboard?
• Reasons to create and use Power BI Dashboard.
• Simple Steps for Creating Power BI Dashboard.

What is a Power BI Dashboard?

A Power BI dashboard is responsible for visualizing data, offering a well-consolidated view of the main trends, metrics, and insights into a single, interactive interface. It forms the central hub with the potential to monitor and analyze data from multiple sources. This innovative platform helps the users into comprehensive the overall performance of a business and the status or the core areas of interest.

You can create a dashboard in Power BI with the help of the Power BI service or Power BI desktop that comes as a part of the Power BI suite of Microsoft.  These are the dashboards that are created from different data sources, including cloud services, databases, spreadsheets, and online platforms.

Power BI offers potential data visualization and modeling features, transforming the raw data into relevant visual representations.

Benefits of Creating and Using Power BI Dashboards

• Visual representation: Power BI dashboards offer visually captivating and intuitive data presentation.
• Centralized view: The dashboards synthesize data from various sources into a single view, helping users monitor the key performance metrics indicators all in one place.
• Real-time monitoring: Power BI supports real-time data streaming, helping companies monitor real-time data and metrics.
• Interactive exploration: Users interact with Power BI dashboards with the application of drill-through actions, filters, and different intuitive features.
• Cross-platform accessibility: Power BI dashboards are accessible from different platforms and devices, including web browsers, desktop computers, and mobile devices.

Prerequisites

• A Power BI Desktop account.
• Functioning knowledge of Power BI.
• Working knowledge of data sources and databases

Types of Charts in Power BI

• Power BI Slicers
• Power BI Map Visualizations
• Power BI Tables & Matrices
• Power BI Scatter Chart, Waterfall Chart, and Funnel Charts
• Modifying Colours in Power BI

Power BI Slicers

• Power BI Slicers make the Power BI Dashboards more intuitive. It is the aspect of ensuring that the dashboards cover each topic in thorough detail, offering key details in a layered way across varied attributes to help you review them thoroughly.
• Open the Power BI Desktop to create a Power BI Slicer. Scroll to the Visualization section, then to Slicer, and select a field. Then, drag and drop it onto the dashboard.

Power BI Map Visualizations

• You can create a dashboard in Power BI to design the maps and visualize them to offer extensive depth into the data demographics for analysis.
• Power BI Visualizations come in two forms. A Shape Map that aims at the geographic areas and the color gradation. The other is the Bubble map displaying data comparison in the form of varied-sized bubbles.
• Open the Power BI desktop creating Power BI Shape Map. Then select Visualizations, then to the Filled Map, and select the Value. Add this value to the location bucket.
• You can create the Power BI Bubble Map by opening the Power BI Desktop and selecting Visualizations. Then click on Map and select a value. Add this value to the location bucket.

Power BI Tables & Matrices

• The Power BI tables showcase the data concisely and systematically. Matrices are yet another form of Power BI tables that consists of different category headers on the columns and rows.
• Then, create a Power BI Table by opening the Power BI desktop and selecting Visualizations. Then select the table and values to set the Value fields on the basis of the table you need.
• Open the Power BI Desktop and select Visualizations to choose Matrix for creating Power BI Matrix.  You can then change the colors of the columns, shift the rows, column totals, and a lot more.

Power BI Scatter Chart, Waterfall Chart, and Funnel Charts

• You can create a dashboard in Power BI that helps the users add a diverse range of charts to help them portray data in a simplified and accurate way. The Scatter Charts are used for comparing two varied parameters with one another.
• Open the Power BI Desktop to create the Scatter Chart and select Visualizations. Then, choose a Scatter chart and choose two fields that you aim to compare. The,n drag-and-drop them into the X and Y-Axis fields. You can filter the data in the way you like by adding a field to the Details bucket to mark.
• The Waterfall Charts gets used to reveal the changes in single most values such as the Sales made over time.
• To create the Waterfall Chart, open Power BI Desktop and select Visualizations. From here you have to select the Waterfall charts and then select a Time-based field like the year or month. Drag this to the Category panel and select values such as sales made over time. Then drag this to the Y-Axis.
• The Funnel Charts assist businesses in displaying the User Journeys. To create the Funnel Chart, open the Power BI Desktop and select Visualizations, then Funnel.

Modifying Colors in Power BI

• In every kind of dashboard, the colors play a critical part in highlighting the differences between the datasets or the attributes. In a couple of instances, you have to transition them, allowing your dashboards to attain every difference.
• To transition the colors of the Power BI Chart or Graph, open the Power BI Desktop and choose Visualizations as you click on the chart you need to change. Then select the Paintbrush icon and then the data colors. Choose the Color chooses to select the chart color you would like.

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5 Easy Steps for Creating Power BI Dashboards

Here are a couple of steps to help you create a dashboard in Power BI.

Step 1: Downloading Power BI Desktop

• The main step involved with creating the dashboard is to download the Power BI desktop. Check out the header and you will locate the download sign( ⤓ ) for the Power BI Desktop. The other option for downloading it is by visiting the official website of Microsoft's Power BI. 

Step 2: Installing the Power BI Desktop

• After downloading the Power BI Desktop, open the setup file and go to Next> to accept the License Agreement terms. Then select the destination folder to create a desktop shortcut to Install & Launch Microsoft Power BI Desktop. Then click on Finish.

Step 3: Importing Data to Power BI

• The other step is importing data from data sources and visualizing it in the Power BI. For this step, press on Home, then select Get Data. Then, you have to select the data source and connect.

Step 4: Formatting the Data in Power BI

• After the data import is done, Power BI starts to process it and organizes it on the basis of what it has discovered in the Navigator Window. Before data loads, you can format it.
• For this, choose "Transform Data," available at the bottom side of the page. In such a case, you need to load the data instead of formatting it. Then click on "Load".

Step 5: Creating Visualizations for your Power BI Dashboards

• After data import to Power BI finishes, you can create the elements of visualizations effortlessly.
• You can use various visualization elements identical to the ones we discussed earlier by clicking on the Bar, Pie, or Donut chart or any other kind of data visualization and the types you find under the Visualization tab, which is on the right side of the panel.

Conclusion

In our blog today we have shared the thorough stepwise guide to help create a dashboard in Power BI using Power BI Desktop. 

• We introduced you to Power BI, highlighting its importance for businesses.
• We explained the variety of Power BI charts available for the Power BI Dashboards that you can add as visualization components. 

In a nutshell, the Power BI Dashboards play an integral part in enhancing the efficiency of a business as it helps organizations to know about the customer and business requirements thoroughly, offering the key details of the attractive dashboards.

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