As per Microsoft, “A Power BI report is a multi-perspective view of a dataset, with visuals representing different findings and insights from that dataset. A report can have a single visual or pages full of visuals.” Reports and dashboards are the two vital components of the Power BI platform, which are used to analyze and visualize data. Creating reports and dashboards can be very daunting if you do not have the right approach. To achieve optimum results in creating engaging and interactive dashboards, you must follow certain best practices, tips and power BI tricks.
In this post, we will study Power BI tips and tricks, best practices to clean and maintain clean reports, tips to create compelling reports and dashboards and much more. Let's get started.
Top 10 Power BI Tips and Tricks for Better Reports
1. Maintain Clean Reports
Power BI report is a detailed summary of the large data set as per the criteria given by the user. They comprise tables, data sets, and data fields in detail, i.e., raw data. It is very important to maintain and ensure reports are well organized, easy to understand and visually appealing.
Let us look into the best practices and Power BI tooltips for maintaining clean reports:
- Use slicers and filters in your reports to make them interactive and easy to navigate.
- Data sources can change over time. Regularly update them to ensure that your reports are always using the latest data.
- As you clean and transform your data, it's important to document the steps that you take. This will help you to reproduce the data cleaning process in the future, and it will also make it easier for others to understand how the data has been manipulated.
- It is important to regularly check the quality of your data to ensure that it is free of errors and inconsistencies. You can use Power BI's built-in data quality tools to perform these checks.
- If you find yourself regularly performing the same data cleaning tasks, you can automate these tasks using Power BI's scripting capabilities. This will help you to save time and ensure that your data is always clean.
- It is important to keep your data sources organized so that you can easily find the data that you need. You can use Power BI's catalog to organize your data sources.
- Use Power BI's version history to track changes to your reports. This can be helpful if you need to revert to a previous version of a report or if you need to troubleshoot a problem.
A business analyst must be well-versed in the various functions of the Power BI tools. This can be achieved by gaining hands-on knowledge of the tools. Enrolling in certifications such as Microsoft BI business analyst certification will give you the necessary skills and expertise to use and apply the tools in the most optimum way.
2. Optimize Queries
Optimizing queries in Power BI is essential for improving the performance and responsiveness of your reports and dashboards. Query optimization involves making changes to your data source queries to retrieve and transform data more efficiently. Here are some Power BI tips and tricks for beginners to help you optimize queries in Power BI:
- Limit Data Retrieval: Only retrieve the columns and rows you need for analysis. Avoid pulling unnecessary data to reduce query times.
- Use DirectQuery Sparingly: DirectQuery mode connects to the data source in real time, which can impact performance. Use DirectQuery only when necessary.
- Use Query Folding: Query folding ensures that data transformations are pushed back to the data source. It improves performance by minimizing data transferred to Power BI for processing.
- Transform Data in Source: Whenever possible, perform data transformations in the source database or data warehouse before loading the data into Power BI.
- Reduce Steps in Power Query: Minimize the number of transformation steps in the Power Query editor to reduce processing time.
- Use Query Dependencies: Utilize query dependencies to make sure transformations are applied in the right sequence, optimizing performance.
- Remove Unnecessary Columns: Remove columns that you don't need for analysis to reduce memory usage and improve query performance.
- Aggregate Data: If you don't need granularity, consider aggregating data before loading it into Power BI to reduce the volume of data.
- Sort and Filter Early: Apply sorting and filtering in your queries as early as possible to reduce the amount of data transferred and processed.
- Manage Join Complexity: Avoid complex joins or join operations involving large tables. Consider using indexed columns for faster joins.
- Use Parameters Wisely: Parameters can help you filter data at the source level, improving performance by limiting the amount of data pulled.
- Partitioning: If your data source supports it, use partitioning to load only the necessary portions of data, especially for large datasets.
3. Cleanse Your Data
Your analysis, findings and insights are as good as the data you are using. Hence, maintaining data sanity by keeping it structured and error-free is a very crucial activity. When data is extracted from multiple sources, the chances of errors and duplication are very high. Following a standard operating procedure to cleanse and maintain the data is always best practice. Data cleaning involves removing all the unwanted data from the data set and keeping only the data that is relevant to your analysis. Let us look into some of Power BI tips for data cleansing:
- Use Microsoft BI’s built-in tools like Power Query, DAX, and built-in quality checks to ensure your data is accurate and consistent.
- Remove duplicate data to avoid misrepresentation of the analysis
- Eliminate irrelevant data columns or rows
- Fix structural errors like inconsistent data formats, data types, etc.
- Filter unwanted outliers that may distort your analysis results
- Handle missing data by using estimates
- Rectify errors, typos, and inconsistencies in data entry
- Ensure data types match the intended usage. For example, converting the data into a different format, such as from text to numeric
- Validate the cleansed data’s accuracy and reliability before the analysis
By cleansing your data and keeping it error-free, you save a lot of time and resources and ensure the right data is used for deriving key performing indicators and findings. Doing this requires extensive knowledge of using and applying the Power BI tool. Business intelligence certificate programs will help you learn the Power BI tips and tricks to cleanse data, manage reports, create visuals, etc.
4. Fine Tune Default View
Fine-tuning and optimizing the default view so that it is easily understandable by the end user is a vital practice as it sets the tone of their entire experience. As a power BI developer, you will have to optimize the layout, design, and functionality of reports, dashboards, visualizations, etc., to provide users with a clear and informative visual interaction. By previewing the default view, you will get a fair idea of the user's experience.
- Always keep in mind the end user while creating reports and dashboards. You can improve and optimize the default view by highlighting the most critical KPIs and trends to your end user.
- Adding specific filters or slicers in the default view gives the end user the option to view reports or interact with filtered data relevant to them.
- Avoid using unnecessary add-ons, which will make the entire dashboard look cluttered and noisy. Minimize the information for easy understanding of the elements in the dashboard. If your reports are loaded with multiple charts and graphs, the end user may not be able to get the right essence of the data. When creating a dashboard, two things must be kept in mind.
- An impressive dashboard has a layout that is not too complex and easily understandable. Arrange visuals in a logical sequence that tells a story. Guide users through the data to help them draw meaningful conclusions.
- The dashboards must be easy to comprehend for anyone wanting to look at them. They need to understand everything that is presented in a clear way. The dashboard elements must be actionable items where the end user learns about various patterns and derives certain insights and findings from the data.
- The visual header option is activated by default in Power BI. If you are not using it, it is best to disable it. If not used, it just adds noise to your report. By doing this, you can keep things simple and give the user a highly interactive experience.
As a business analytics professional, you must be well versed with the tools and functions of the Power BI. Gaining hands-on knowledge of the tools will help you perform the various activities efficiently. Enrolling in certifications such as KnowledgeHut Microsoft BI business analyst certification will give you the necessary skills and expertise to use and apply these tools in the most effective way.
5. Organize Your Dataset
In the current business environment, data has become an indispensable asset for companies and managing and organizing it is a very important activity in data analytics. You will need to organize your data in the most logical and sequential way possible to avoid any data mismanagement and to make it easily accessible for anyone who uses this data. Working with raw data is challenging, so it is best advised to keep data clean and organized. By following the Power BI quick tips and best practices, you can keep your datasets organized and easily accessible:
- Use a consistent naming convention. This will make it easier to identify and understand the different elements of your data set.
- Use descriptive names. Your table, column, and variable names should be clear and concise, and they should accurately reflect the data that they represent.
- Use folders to organize your data. This can help to keep your data sets organized and easy to find.
- Use comments to explain your data model. This can be helpful for others who may need to use your data model in the future.
- Use data dictionaries to document your data. This can be helpful for understanding the meaning of your data and how it is used.
- Use data validation to ensure the quality of your data. This can help to prevent errors and to ensure that your data is consistent and accurate.
- Use data encryption to protect your data. This can help to prevent unauthorized access to your data.
- Back up your data regularly. This will help to protect your data in case of a disaster.
6. Harness the Full Potential Tooltips
Using tooltips is highly recommended while creating dashboards. It is one of the most popular Power BI design tips used by report creators. The tooltip feature can quickly and easily improve the usability and aesthetics of your report. First, let us understand what a tooltip is. A tooltip is a small piece of textbox that appears on a graph or chart when you hover your mouse over it. The great thing about tooltips is that they are very simple to integrate into your dashboard. This feature enhances user experience without causing too much clutter in the dashboard. In Power BI, tooltips are used to give quick snippets on various data points, charts or visuals.
You must keep in mind not to use a scroll bar inside a tooltip to offer a user-friendly experience. Also, based on requirements, you can include clickable elements within the tooltip that lead to more detailed reports or related visuals. Avoid using technical jargon that might confuse users.
7. Leverage Report Page Tooltips
Tooltips are a sophisticated way of showcasing snippet information on data points. Report page tooltip is an extended version of the standard version of the tooltip, whereby it enhances the user’s experience when using reports. A page tooltip adds additional details and context to the visuals. Report page tooltips allow you to display more complex content, visuals and insights when hovering over a report range.
Let us see how we can optimize report page tooltips to make the best use of it:
- Create Mini-Reports: The Report Page Tooltip feature allows us to create a mini-report that is linked back to the tooltip pop-up. These mini-report links appear whenever we hover over a filtered element of a chart, table, or even card. These mini-reports are highly customizable and can include multiple visuals, text or context-specific information.
- Use Card Visuals: By using card visuals, report page tooltips can be used for adding guidelines for a report. This helps report users navigate for the first time in a new report. You can use guidelines to show them how to read a report, how to use an advanced visual, or to explain how a key performance indicator (KPI) is defined and calculated.
- Customize Report Page Size: One of the smart things about these report tooltips is that you can easily customize the tooltip report page size as per your specifications. A custom size tooltip comes handy when you want to include multiple visuals in your report tooltip, thus increasing the effectiveness of a visual or report.
- Drill-Through and Drill-Down: Report page tooltips can be designed to include drill-through and drill-down functionality. When users hover over a data point, they can click to drill into more detailed information related to that data point.
- Images and Icons: By using images or icons, you can visually enhance the report page tooltip. This will make the tooltip more engaging and easier to navigate and understand.
- Provide additional context for your visuals: Tooltips can be used to provide additional context for your visuals, such as the data source, the date range, or the calculation used to create the visual. This can help users to understand the data that is being presented and to make better decisions based on your reports.
8. Ensure Accessibility and Inclusivity
One of the challenges of data analytics and business intelligence platforms is that users using these reports and dashboards may not be able to access them the way they want because of complex visuals and navigation, certain disabilities and challenges. To ensure accessibility and inclusivity, you, as a BI developer, must follow certain best practices:
- Alt Text for Images: Add descriptive alt text to images and icons in your reports. This helps individuals with visual impairments understand the content even if they can't see the visuals.
- Use Descriptive Titles: Provide clear and descriptive titles for visuals and charts. This helps screen reader users and others quickly grasp the content's context.
- Contrast and Color Choices: Ensure sufficient contrast between text and background colors. Avoid relying solely on color to convey information, as colorblind users may struggle to interpret it.
- Use audio descriptions: For visuals that are not self-explanatory, provide audio descriptions so that people who are blind or visually impaired can understand the information that is being presented.
- Accessible Fonts and Sizes: Choose readable fonts and font sizes. Avoid using overly decorative or small fonts that may be challenging for some users to read.
- Keyboard Navigation: Ensure your report can be navigated using a keyboard alone. Users who rely on keyboard navigation or assistive technologies should be able to interact with all elements.
- Make your reports available in different formats: Make your reports available in different formats, such as PDF, HTML, and plain text, so that people who use assistive technologies can access them.
9. Choose Visuals Wisely
Having interactive and engaging visuals is the recipe for a great user experience for the users. But creating unnecessary interactions just for the sake of it will create too much noise and chaos. Keeping the main message of the dashboard in mind will help you stay focused and avoid unnecessary interactions that take away the core insights you're trying to convey. Always stick to one idea per slide to avoid cluttering them and use short phrases or sentences.
An impressive dashboard has a layout that is not too complex and easily understandable. Highlighting the key performance indicators (KPI) at the topmost left-hand side of the dashboard is a very good practice to create compelling visuals. Build the other charts contextually around it to make sense of the entire dashboard.
For example, in the dashboard below, we see the KPI Sales in comparison with the previous year. All other components, like the units sold by year, sales amount by brand name, etc., are built around this KPI.
sqlshackTips to Create Compelling Visuals:
- Keep it simple. Simple and uncluttered reports are the sign of a skilled data analyst.
- Keeping the color patterns and font styles consistent across all visuals helps maintain the sanity of the reports.
- Using too many features all at once in a dashboard will not only make the reports complicated but will also mislead and confuse the user.
- Always keep the end user in mind while creating visualizations. They may not necessarily have the skills to understand the add-on features installed in a report. Always take care to ensure these reports are easily understandable and navigable.
- Include white space around visuals to make it presentable and clutter-free. White space makes visuals easy to read and highlights important information.
10. Get Inspiration from Other Power BI Developers
As a Power BI developer, you must keep yourself abreast of the latest developments and trends in Power BI. Find inspiration from various sources to help you keep inspired and motivated.
- Follow Power BI experts on social media. There are many Power BI experts who share their work on social media. You can follow them to see their latest reports and visualizations.
- Read Power BI blogs and articles. There are many great blogs and articles that feature tips and tricks, Power BI, and tutorials. Reading these resources can help you to learn new things about Power BI and to get inspiration for your own work.
- Attending Power BI conferences and workshops. There are many conferences and workshops that focus on Power BI. These events are a great way to learn from experts and to see the latest Power BI trends.
- Join the Power BI community. There is a large and active Power BI community online. You can connect with other Power BI users, ask questions, and share tips.
Conclusion
In today's data-driven world, mastering the entire Power BI suite is paramount for any data professional aiming to effectively analyze vast data sets, tackle intricate challenges, and offer invaluable insights to stakeholders. Being proficient in all the tools of Power BI not only provides a competitive edge but also enables one to craft interactive and engaging reports and dashboards. Power BI tips are vital as adhering to specific best practices and techniques when using these tools can significantly streamline processes. This not only saves considerable time and effort but also diminishes redundancy, minimizes errors, and elevates the overall quality of visuals and reports. As businesses increasingly rely on data, having this expertise will position you at the forefront of data analytics.
