How to Create a Dashboard in Power BI?

Are you looking to explore beyond creating dashboards in Excel? Do you want to learn other ways of creating engaging and interactive dashboards?

Look no further than Power BI, a powerful data visualization tool from Microsoft.Whether you’re a data analyst, business owner, or marketer, having a dashboard for your KPIs is critical. It aids in decision-making and in improving your overall performance.

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful business analytics service. It offers a wide range of features to create interactive dashboards and compelling visualizations.

Power BI dashboards allow you to monitor and analyze your business data in real-time.

With Power BI, you can connect to various data sources. These data sources include Excel workbooks, SQL Server databases, and cloud-based services like Salesforce and Google Analytics.

This blog post will discuss Power BI and guide you through creating a dashboard in Power BI.

Table of Content:

1. What is a Dashboard in Power BI?
2. Guidelines for Creating Dashboard in Power BI
3. Best Chart to Use in Power BI Dashboard
4. Coolest Power BI Dashboards
5. How to Create a Dashboard in Power BI?
6. Benefits of Using ChartExpo to Create a Power BI Dashboard
7. Wrap Up

What is a Dashboard in Power BI?

Before we dive into creating a dashboard in Power BI, let’s first understand what a dashboard is.

A dashboard is a visual representation that enables real-time data monitoring, analysis, and interpretation.

A Power BI dashboard comprises one or more visualizations added to a canvas. These visualizations include charts, tables, maps, graphs, etc. Also, you can add text boxes, images, and shapes to provide more context and information.

Guidelines for Creating Dashboard in Power BI

1. Define Your Objectives

What questions are you trying to answer? By defining your objectives upfront, you can ensure that your dashboard is focused and provides relevant information.

2. Keep It Simple

You should make it easier for your audience to find what they need. Thus, your dashboard should be straightforward, focused, and only contain pertinent data.

3. Use the Right Visualizations

Consider the type of data you are working with and the story you want to tell. Some visualizations work better for certain data types than others, so choose wisely.

4. Make It Interactive

Create as interactive a dashboard as feasible. This enables you to engage your users and give a more customized experience.

5. Test and Iterate

It is essential to test your dashboard and iterate where necessary. Here, you receive user input and make adjustments based on it.

Best Chart to Use in Power BI Dashboard

When creating a dashboard in Power BI, you can use many types of visualizations. However, the most effective chart to use is the Sankey Chart.

Why the Sankey Chart?

A Sankey Chart is a flow diagram showing data movement between different stages or categories.

A Sankey Chart is handy for visualizing complex data. Also, you can use it to show the relationships between the categories. Consequently, highlight trends and patterns in your data.

Coolest Power BI Dashboards

• Sales Analysis Dashboard

A sales analysis dashboard helps businesses to monitor sales performance by tracking key metrics. This dashboard can assist in identifying development opportunities and potential challenges necessitating attention.

The metrics you track can include total sales revenue, average order value, customer acquisition, customer retention rates, etc.

A sales analysis dashboard also provides insight into client behavior and preferences. You can find cross-selling and upselling opportunities by analyzing customer demographics and purchase history.

• Finance Analytics Dashboard

A finance analytics dashboard helps businesses to visualize financial data to help with decision-making. The dashboard displays the revenue, expenses, profits, and cash flow KPIs.

Today’s data-driven, fast-paced business climate necessitates using this tool to stay competitive. By combining the strengths of data visualization with business intelligence, you can extract actionable insights. Better financial decisions and steady expansion are probable with the help of these insights.

• Customer Segmentation Dashboard

Customer segmentation is a key marketing strategy. It entails dividing your customer base into distinct groups based on their characteristics, behavior, and preferences. This allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to specific groups. Consequently, improve the overall customer experience, drive more sales, and boost profitability.

The customer segmentation dashboard tracks customer demographics, lifetime value, churn rate, and customer satisfaction. This offers priceless customer insights and facilitates data-driven decision-making.

• HR Analytics Dashboard

HR analytics entails gathering and analyzing HR data to increase employee productivity, effectiveness, and overall business performance. Dashboard for HR analytics provides insights into key HR metrics. Such metrics include engagement, training and development, diversity and inclusion, and staff turnover.

• Email Engagement Analytics Dashboard

Email marketing is an indispensable tool for businesses of all sizes. Without the correct analytics tools, measuring the success of your email marketing can be difficult. That’s where a Power BI dashboard for email engagement analytics comes in.

An email engagement analytics dashboard collects and presents your email campaigns’ data concisely. You can monitor open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. This will enable you to assess the effectiveness of your email marketing and pinpoint areas for development.

• Marketing Campaign Insights Dashboard

A marketing campaign insights dashboard is essential for any marketer looking to optimize their campaigns. The dashboard provides a real-time snapshot of marketing key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs include engagement, conversion rate, and sales revenue.

By analyzing these metrics, you can identify the underperforming campaign areas. Consequently, make data-driven decisions to optimize and improve your campaigns.

How to Create a Dashboard in Power BI?

Now, let’s learn how to create a dashboard in Power BI. We will divide the process into 5 distinct stages as follows;

Stage 1: Logging in to Power BI

• Open the Power BI web service login page.
• Provide your email address and click the “Submit” button.

• This will redirect you to your Microsoft account login page.
• Enter your Microsoft password and click the “Sign in” button.

• You have the option to stay signed in or not.

• Once done, the Power BI home screen will open.

Stage 2: Create a Data Set and Select it to Use in Your Sankey Chart.

• Navigate to the left-side menu and click the “Create” button.
• Select “Paste or manually enter data”.

• We will use the cash flow data below for illustration.

Locations	Revenue	Profit & Cost	Details	Amount
North America	Revenue	Expenses	Cost of Sales	132000
North America	Revenue	Expenses	Salaries	159000
North America	Revenue	Expenses	Cost of Marketing	170000
North America	Revenue	Profit	Tax	182000
North America	Revenue	Profit	Profit After Tax	834000
International	Revenue	Expenses	Cost of Sales	162000
International	Revenue	Expenses	Salaries	158000
International	Revenue	Expenses	Cost of Marketing	145000
International	Revenue	Profit	Tax	171000
International	Revenue	Profit	Profit After Tax	753000
Middle East	Revenue	Expenses	Cost of Sales	155000
Middle East	Revenue	Expenses	Salaries	166000
Middle East	Revenue	Expenses	Cost of Marketing	199000
Middle East	Revenue	Profit	Tax	151000
Middle East	Revenue	Profit	Profit After Tax	685000

• Paste this data table into the “Power Query” window.
• Choose the “Create a dataset only” option.

• Navigate to the “Data Hub” option on the left-side menu.
• Power BI will populate a list of available data sets. (If you haven’t created a data set yet, refer to the section titled “Error! Reference source not found”).

• Select the data set you want to use for your Sankey Diagram.
• Power BI will populate the screen as below.

• It will display the data set and its fields on the right side of the screen.
• You will see various reports and data set options in the middle area.
• Click the “Create a report” dropdown and select “Start from scratch”.

• This will take you to the Report Canvas screen.

Stage 3: Adding the Power BI Sankey Diagram Extension by ChartExpo

• To create the Sankey Diagram, we will use an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource.
• Go to the right side of the Power BI dashboard to access the Power BI Visualizations panel.
• Click the ellipsis symbol (…) as highlighted in the diagram below. This is to import the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo.

• Select the option “Get more visuals”. Then enter “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” in the search box.

• The “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” option will appear as shown below.

• Click the “Add” button.

• Power BI will add the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” to the visualization panel.

Stage 4: Drawing a Sankey Chart with ChartExpo’s Power BI extension

• Select the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.
• This will open a new window on the report section of your dashboard.

• You can resize the visual to your liking.
• On the right side of the Power BI dashboard, you will find the “Fields” section next to “Visualizations”.

• Here, you select the specific fields you want to include in your Sankey Chart. Keep in mind that you must have selected the ChartExpo visual first.

• You will be prompted to provide a license key or email address for ChartExpo.

Stage 5: Activating your ChartExpo Trial or Applying a Subscription Key

• When you select the ChartExpo visual, you will notice three icons beneath the “Build visual” option.

• Select the middle icon labeled “Format visual”. The visual properties will appear on the screen, as shown in the image below.

• To begin using ChartExpo as a new user;
• Enter your email address in the designated textbox in the “Trial Mode” section. This is the email where your ChartExpo License key will be sent upon subscribing to the add-in.
• It’s crucial to provide an accurate and up-to-date email address.
• Once you’ve entered your email, click “Enable Trial” to activate your 7-day trial.

• You should then receive a welcome message from ChartExpo.
• Note that any Sankey Diagrams you create during the trial period will feature the ChartExpo watermark.

• If you have a license key;
• Go to the “License Settings” section and input your license key into the “ChartExpo License Key” textbox.
• Turn on the “Enable License” toggle switch to apply the license.

• Your Sankey Diagram will then appear without a watermark.

• To add the $ sign to the numeric values in the chart, expand the “Stats” properties. Then add the prefix value.

• To add colors to each node, expand the “Level Colors” properties and select the colors.
• All changes will be saved automatically.

• Click the “Pin” icon at the top of the Sankey Chart.

• Select the appropriate dashboard to pin the Sankey Chart and click the “Pin” button.

• The final chart will appear as below.

You can add more charts to enhance your Power BI dashboard ideas for stakeholder presentations.

Insights

• In Level 1, North America made the largest revenue contribution of $1.48 million. This accounts for approximately 35% of the total revenue. On the other hand, the Middle East contributed the least revenue, $1.36 million, making up 32%.
• The company’s total revenue, as shown in Level 2, was $4.22 million.
• Level 3 shows a profit of $2.78 million, with $1.45 million being the expenses.
• Level 4 provides more details on the profit. The taxes and profits amounted to $2.27 million and $504,000, respectively.
• The expenses were categorized into three nodes: cost of sales, salaries, and marketing cost. The cost of sales was $449,000, salaries were $483,000, and marketing cost was $514,000.

Benefits of Using ChartExpo to Create a Power BI Dashboard

• ChartExpo is incredibly easy to use, even for those without experience creating dashboards. Its intuitive interface makes it simple to create powerful visualizations without complex coding.
• ChartExpo integrates seamlessly with Power BI, allowing you to create interactive dashboards easily.
• ChartExpo allows you to customize your dashboard. You can modify the colors, fonts, and labels to your liking.
• ChartExpo is a cost-effective solution for creating insightful dashboards. It has a 7-day free trial and an affordable $10 monthly subscription plan.

FAQs

What is a Power BI dashboard?

Power BI dashboard is a data visualization tool that provides a snapshot of data in real time. It provides a consolidated visualization from which you can track all crucial metrics at a glance.

How do I create a BI dashboard?

To create a BI dashboard:

• Create interactive charts with ChartExpo.
• Pin the charts to a BI platform such as Power BI.
• Customize the layout and design of the dashboard and share the dashboard with others.

What are Power BI dashboards good for?

1. Data visualization: Power BI dashboards help to visualize complex data in an easy-to-understand format.
2. Real-time data monitoring.
3. Mobile access: You can access dashboards from anywhere using a mobile device.
4. Customization: You can customize the dashboard to meet specific needs.

Can I share my dashboard with others?

Yes, you can share your Power BI dashboard with others through various options, including:

1. Share via email
2. Share with a direct link to the dashboard.
3. Adding individuals as collaborators to the dashboard’s workspace.

Wrap Up

We have discussed how to create a dashboard in Power BI to monitor your data in real time.

If you are yet to appreciate the Power of dashboards, you are making a grave error. Dashboards are not just for data nerds anymore – dashboards are the way of the future.

Think of a dashboard as if it were a sentient being. It can monitor anything from performance to trends to data organization in real-time.

Creating a dashboard in Power BI may seem daunting at first. But with the right guidelines and tools, anyone can create an engaging and interactive dashboard.

Use the right visualizations and pay attention to the interactive aspects when creating your dashboard.

If you’re struggling to create compelling dashboards with Power BI, ChartExpo is the solution. ChartExpo allows you to create insightful dashboards in a few clicks. No complex coding is required.

Why not try it to discover new insights?

Do not hesitate.

Start creating your dashboard in Power BI today and take your data visualization to the next level.