Apps for Power BI: From Data to Insights in a Few Clicks

What is a Power BI App? Why should you use Power BI Apps, and when should you use Power BI Apps? This guide dives deep into all these. It also delves deep into the key features and benefits of Power BI Apps, the various types of Power BI Apps, and the differences between Power Apps and Power BI.

This guide shows you how Power BI transforms data and how to update it. It also shows you how Power BI publishing to the web works and the various Power BI services, such as Power BI in Office 365, Power BI for Mac, and Power BI web. This guide addresses the difference between Power BI Pro and Premium.

Aside from all these, you’ll discover how to use the Power BI Application for reporting.

What is a Power BI App?

Definition: A Power BI App is a packaged collection of reports and dashboards that provides pre-built, interactive insights for users. It provides a platform for easy visualization, data sharing, and analytics across an organization. This ensures streamlined reporting and efficient decision-making.

Why Use Power BI Apps?

1. Simplified Data Sharing

Power BI Apps allow organizations to distribute and package reports and dashboards to specific user groups. Instead of a user sharing multiple reports individually, the app ensures all stakeholders have access to the most relevant data in a structured manner.

2. Role-Based Access Control

Organizations can assign different permission levels within an app, and that ensures sensitive data is visible only to authorized users. This will enhance security and compliance with data governance policies.

3. Improved Accessibility and Usability

Apps in Power BI offer a single access point for reports, and that makes it easy for users to find and interact with data. Users can gain access to insights on the web, mobile devices, or embedded within other applications.

4. Easy Updates and Maintenance

Power BI Apps supports seamless updates. When a report is updated, users automatically receive the latest version without the need for manual redistribution.

When Should You Use Power BI Apps?

1. Managing Large-Scale Reporting Needs

It provides centralized and up-to-date insights that prevent outdated (or conflicting) versions of reports.

2. Maintaining Report Consistency

It makes data easily accessible without overwhelming users. This is important for organizations that handle multiple reports across various teams.

3. Ensuring Role-Based Access Control

The data security is maintained since varying levels of access are needed by different users. This helps in maintaining a unified reporting structure.

4. Distributing Reports to Multiple Users

It helps users share consistent, pre-built reports with different departments (or teams) without sending multiple files.

Key Features and Benefits of Power BI Apps

These are the key features and benefits of Power BI Apps:

Key Features

• Pre-Packaged Dashboards & Reports: Users receive ready-to-use insights without having to build reports from scratch.
• Seamless Updates: Changes to the report automatically reflect for all users.
• Centralized Report Management: It provides a single access point for all reports, which reduces redundancy.
• Integration with Microsoft 365 & Other Tools: It connects with SharePoint, Excel, Teams, and other third-party apps.

Benefits

• Enhanced Collaboration: Teams have access to real-time data insights.
• Time-Saving: It eliminates manual report distribution.
• Scalability: It supports growing business data needs.
• Data Security & Compliance: The controlled access ensures sensitive data protection.

How many Types of Power BI Apps?

1. Organizational Apps

These are created and managed within an organization to distribute dashboards and reports to specific user groups. There is role-based access control for secure data sharing.

2. Template Apps

These are pre-built apps developed by third-party vendors (or Microsoft). It’s designed for quick deployment. Template apps come in handy when integrating with popular business applications like Google Analytics, Salesforce, or Dynamics 365.

3. Custom Embedded Apps

Power BI reports are embedded into other business applications, portals, or websites. It’s used for seamlessly integrating Power BI into existing workflows.

4. Power BI Mobile Apps

Power BI Mobile apps are designed for viewing Power BI reports on mobile devices (Android and iOS). It enables on-the-go access to insights.

What is the Difference Between Power Apps vs Power BI?

1. Purpose & Functionality

• Power BI: It’s a data visualization and business intelligence tool used to create reports and interactive dashboards for data-driven decision-making.
• Power Apps: It’s a no-code/low-code application development platform that gives users room to build custom business applications without extensive coding. It helps automate workflows, collect data, and improve business processes.

2. Integration

• Power BI can be embedded within Power Apps to offer real-time analytics.
• Power Apps capture data from users. The data is usually analyzed in Power BI.

3. Use Cases

• Power BI is used for visualizing, analyzing, and sharing data insights to support business intelligence.
• Power Apps is used for automating manual tasks, form-based applications, integrating with other business systems, and collecting user input.

How to use the Power BI Application for Reporting?

Here are some custom visuals by ChartExpo that you can use in Power BI.

Sankey Diagram:

Likert Scale Chart:

Comparison Bar Chart:

Multi-Axis Line Chart:

The section below shows you detailed steps to create a Sankey Diagram by ChartExpo in Power BI. You will have to visualize customer segmentation data. Power BI best practices and some Power BI advanced features are also showcased in this section.

• Stage 1: Log in to Power BI, enter your email, and click the “Submit” button.

• You’ll be redirected to a Microsoft account. Enter your password, and click “Sign in.”

• You can opt to stay signed in.

• Stage 2: Create a Data Set and Select the Data Set to Use in the Sankey Chart.
• Navigate to the left-side menu, and click on the “Create” option. After that, select “Paste or manually enter data.”

• The Customer Segmentation data will be used for this illustration.

• Paste the Power BI data model table above into the “Power Query” window, and select the third “Create” option.

• Navigate to the left-side menu, and click on the “Data Hub” option. Power BI will populate the data set list. If no data set has been created, you’ll get an error message.

• Click on the “Create report” dropdown.

• To add the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo, you’ll have to create the Sankey Diagram. To do that, use an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource.
• Navigate to the right side of the Power BI dashboard and open the Power BI Visualizations panel. Click the ellipsis symbol (…) to import the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo.
• In the menu that opens, select the “Get more visuals” option.

• The following window shows you how to integrate Apps into Power BI workflows. Enter “ChartExpo” in the highlighted search box. You will see the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo.”

• Click on the Sankey Diagram, and also click the highlighted “Add” button.

• Power BI adds the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.

• To draw a Sankey Diagram with ChartExpo’s Power BI extension, select the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel. You’ll have to select the fields to use in the Sankey chart.
• Provide a ChartExpo license key or email address, and add the key under the Visual section. After that, you’ll see the Sankey Chart.

• After adding a key, you’ll see your chart. You can add the top header text in the chart under the General section.

• After that, click on General and add the top header text.

• There’s the option to disable the percentage value.

• Set the Level Labels in the top position.

• You can change the Node color by following the steps below:

• Here’s the final Sankey Chart.

The steps above can be used when working with any Power BI calculated table.

Insights:

The data tracks customer transitions across multiple value categories over three months. High-value customers dominate revenue, with consistent retention and some downgrades.

Medium-value customers frequently shift between higher and lower tiers, and that reflects volatility. Low-value customers mostly remain in their category but occasionally upgrade, and that indicates potential growth opportunities in targeted engagement.

Limitations of the Power BI Application

1. Data Size and Processing Limitations

Power BI free version has a 1 GB per dataset limit. Power BI Pro has limitations on dataset refresh rates. Users who work with large datasets may encounter performance issues, especially when there’s no proper data modeling.

2. Limited Customization

Power BI offers many visuals, but customization options are limited compared to other tools like Tableau.

3. Cost Constraints

Power BI Premium and Pro licenses are somewhat expensive for large organizations that need advanced features.

4. Security and Sharing Limitations

Free users are unable to share dashboards without a Power BI Pro license, and the row-level security is somewhat complex to configure.

FAQs

What are apps in the Power BI service?

Apps in Power BI Service are pre-packaged collections of reports and dashboards that give room for structured data sharing across an organization. They provide role-based security, centralized access, and easy updates for efficient decision-making.

How many apps can you have in a Power BI workspace?

Each workspace in Power BI has one app at a time. But you can update and republish the app as needed. This ensures users always access the latest dashboards and reports.

How to connect Power Apps to Power BI?

You’ll have to use the Power BI title control in Power Apps to embed reports or utilize Power Automate and Dataverse for seamless data exchange between both platforms.

Wrap Up

The Power BI App is a packaged collection of dashboards and reports for easy data sharing. It enhances security, accessibility, and collaboration, and ensures users receive consistent, up-to-date insights for better decision-making.

The Power BI App comes with some limitations, like limited customization and cost constraints. The customization options in the Power BI App are limited compared to other tools like Tableau.

Large organizations that are looking to use the advanced features will likely pay more for the Power BI Pro and Premium licenses.

Now you know the various Apps in Power BI, which of them is the most valuable in your organization?