Power BI Advanced Analytics: Techniques, Tools, and Insights

Data is the new gold, and Power BI is the alchemist’s tool that transforms it into actionable knowledge.

Think of Power BI as your trusty sidekick, armed with a toolkit of advanced analytics superpowers. Power BI advanced analytics empowers you to dig deeper, unearthing valuable patterns, trends, and correlations hidden beneath.

It’s like having a secret weapon in your data arsenal.

Join us as we embark on an adventure into the enchanting world of Power BI advanced analytics. We will explore the powerful tools and techniques to take your data analysis to the next level.

From predictive modeling to data clustering, this adventure will leave no data stone unturned and no insight uncovered.

But that’s not all.

Power BI also offers cutting-edge visualization capabilities to bring your data to life. Say goodbye to boring charts and hello to stunning visualizations that make your insights memorable.

No longer will your data remain a mysterious labyrinth.

Table of Content:

1. What Does Advanced Power BI Mean?
2. Video Tutorial: How to Create a Power BI Advanced Chart
3. Key Features and Capabilities of Power BI Advanced
4. Why do we need Power BI Advanced Features?
5. Top 4 Power BI Advanced Features List
6. Power BI Advanced Techniques to Create Advanced Insights
7. How to Create an Advanced Analytics Dashboard in Power BI?
8. Benefits of Using Business Intelligence Advanced Analytics
9. Best Practices for Power BI Advanced Dashboard
10. How Power BI Advanced Visualization helps Businesses?
11. Power BI Advanced – FAQs
12. Wrap Up

Let’s get started.

What Does Advanced Power BI Mean?

Advanced Power BI refers to going beyond the basic use of dashboards and visualizations to apply more complex features of the tool. It involves mastering areas like data modeling, DAX (Data Analysis Expressions), Power Query (M language), and performance optimization.

With these skills, users can handle large or complex data sets, create dynamic calculations, automate data transformations, and design reports that are both scalable and secure. In short, advanced Power BI means using the platform not just for simple reporting but for building powerful, efficient, and enterprise-level data solutions.

Video Tutorial: How to Create a Power BI Advanced Chart

Key Features and Capabilities of Power BI Advanced

When you move into the advanced level of Power BI, you gain access to a range of powerful features that go far beyond basic dashboards and charts. These capabilities allow you to manage complex data, deliver deeper insights, and create reports that scale with business needs. Some of the key features include:

Advanced Data Modeling

• Build relationships between multiple tables.
• Create star and snowflake schemas for complex datasets.
• Manage hierarchies and advanced relationships for accurate reporting.

DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)

• Write advanced calculations and measures.
• Use time-intelligence functions for trend analysis.
• Create dynamic KPIs and custom logic for deeper insights.

Power Query (M Language)

• Automate complex data transformations.
• Clean, merge, and shape data from multiple sources.
• Reduce manual work by creating reusable queries.

Performance Optimization

• Optimize models for faster report loading.
• Apply aggregation tables and query folding.
• Ensure scalability for large datasets.

AI and Advanced Analytics

• Integrate AI visuals for predictive analysis.
• Use clustering, forecasting, and sentiment analysis.
• Combine Power BI with Python or R for advanced statistical modeling.

Security and Governance

• Apply row-level security (RLS) to control access.
• Use sensitivity labels and data protection policies.
• Manage enterprise-wide governance with Power BI Service.

Integration and Automation

• Connect with Azure, SQL, and cloud data warehouses.
• Automate workflows with Power Automate.
• Embed Power BI into apps and websites for wider access.

Why do we need Power BI Advanced Features?

Power BI advanced features are important because they allow businesses to:

• Create accurate insights using Power BI advanced DAX formulas and time-based calculations.
• Improve efficiency through automation and optimized performance.
• Scale reporting to handle large datasets without slowing down.
• Strengthen security with row-level security and governance tools.
• Leverage AI and predictive analytics for smarter decision-making.

Top 4 Power BI Advanced Features List

• Advanced Data Modeling

Power BI advanced modeling lets you create relationships between multiple tables, build hierarchies, and design star or snowflake schemas. This ensures your reports remain accurate and can handle complex business data without errors.

• DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)

With DAX, you can go beyond simple calculations. It allows you to create dynamic measures, KPIs, and time-intelligence functions such as year-over-year growth or moving averages. This gives decision-makers deeper and more meaningful insights.

• Performance Optimization

As datasets grow, performance can become a challenge. Power BI advanced features like aggregations, query folding, and optimized data models make reports load faster and handle millions of rows efficiently, ensuring a smooth user experience.

• Row-Level Security (RLS) and Governance

Security is a critical part of enterprise reporting. With RLS, you can control who sees what data, ensuring sensitive information stays protected. Combined with governance features like sensitivity labels and auditing, Power BI becomes reliable for large organizations.

Power BI Advanced Techniques to Create Advanced Insights

Comparison Bar Chart

• Best for side-by-side comparisons of categories, such as sales by region or performance across departments.
• It makes differences between groups easy to spot, but it may not be ideal for showing trends over time.

Sankey Chart

• Useful for visualizing flows, like how users move through a process or how resources are distributed.
• It provides a clear picture of connections and proportions, but it can become cluttered with too many nodes or categories.

Multi-Axis Line Chart

• Great for comparing multiple metrics with different scales (e.g., revenue vs. customer growth) in a single chart.
• It’s powerful for advanced insights, though it can be confusing if too many axes or lines are added.

Likert Scale Chart

• Ideal for survey data, showing levels of agreement or satisfaction (e.g., customer feedback or employee engagement).
• It gives structured insight into sentiment, but it’s not suitable for continuous numerical data.

How to Create an Advanced Analytics Dashboard in Power BI?

Now, let’s explore the steps of creating advanced analytics with Power BI for showing advanced analytics insights.

Stage 1: Logging in to Power BI

• Log in to Power BI.
• Enter your email. Click the “Submit” button.

• You are redirected to your Microsoft account.
• Enter your password and click “Sign in”.

• Choose whether to stay signed in.

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

Stage 2: Creating a Data Set and Selecting the Data Set to Use in Your Sankey Chart

• Click on the “Create” option on the left-side menu.
• Select ”Paste or manually enter data“.

• We’ll use the following cash flow data for this example.

Total Cost	Company Type	Company Name	Expertise Categories	Expertise	Cost
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Skyline Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	15456
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Skyline Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Mechanical Work	10159
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Onyx General Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	18045
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Onyx General Contractors	Mechanical Installation	Mechanical Work	12695
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Living Well Remodeling	Mechanical Installation	Plumbing & Heating	14589
Total Cost	Subcontractor	Living Well Remodeling	Mechanical Installation	Welding	11456
Total Cost	Supplier	Power-up Builders	Raw Material	Cement	20561
Total Cost	Supplier	Power-up Builders	Raw Material	Steel	32456
Total Cost	Supplier	Five-star Construction	Raw Material	Bricks	10253
Total Cost	Supplier	Five-star Construction	Raw Material	Timber	9000

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

• Click on the “Data Hub” option on the left-side menu.
• Power BI populates the data set list. (If you have not created a data set, refer to the Error! Reference source not found section.)

• Choose the data set you want to use to create your Sankey diagram.
• Power BI populates the screen as shown below:

• The data set and its fields are shown on the right side. The middle area shows report and data set options.
• Click on the “Create a report” dropdown.
• Select “Start from scratch“.
• You should see the Report Canvas screen as shown below:

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

• Creating the Sankey Diagram requires us to use an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource.
• Navigate to the right side of the Power BI dashboard.
• Open the Power BI Visualizations panel.
• Click the ellipsis symbol (…) as highlighted in the diagram below. This will import the Power BI Sankey Diagram extension by ChartExpo.

• The following menu opens:
• Select the “Get more visuals” option.
• The following window opens:

• Enter “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” in the highlighted search box.
• You should see the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” as shown in the image below.

• Click the highlighted “Add” button.

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

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

• Select the “Sankey Diagram for Power BI by ChartExpo” icon in the visualization panel.
• The following window opens in the report section of your dashboard:

• You can resize the visual as needed.
• Navigate to the right side of your Power BI dashboard.
• You should see “Fields” next to “Visualizations.”

• You’ll select the fields to use in your Sankey chart here.
• The ChartExpo visual needs to be selected, though. Select the fields in the following sequence:
  • Total Cost
  • Company Type
  • Company Name
  • Expertise Categories
  • Expertise
  • Cost

• You’ll be asked for a ChartExpo license key or email address.

Stage 5: Activate your ChartExpo Trial or Apply a Subscription Key

• Select the ChartExpo visual. You should see three icons below “Build Visual” in the Visualizations panel.

• Select the middle icon, “Format visual.”
• The visual properties will be populated as shown below.

• If you are a new user,
  • Type in your email under the section titled “Trial Mode”.
  • This should be the email address that you used to subscribe to the ChartExpo add-in. It is where your ChartExpo license key will be sent.
  • Ensure that your email address is valid.
  • Click “Enable Trial“. You’ll get a 7-day trial.

• You should receive a welcome email from ChartExpo.
• The Sankey Diagram you create under the 7-day trial contains the ChartExpo watermark (see below).

• If you have obtained a license key:
  • Enter your license key in the “ChartExpo License Key” textbox in the “License Settings” section (see below).
  • Slide the toggle switch next to “Enable License” to “On“.

• Your Sankey diagram should now be ready (see below). Note that it does not have a watermark.

• Let’s add a Prefix (such as a $ sign) with the numeric values in the chart.
• Expand the “Stats” properties and include the Prefix value.

• Let’s add colors to each node. Expand the “Level Colors” properties and select the colors.

• Automatically all changes will be saved.

Insights

• The total cost of procurement at Level 1 is $155K.
• At Level 2, out of the $155K cost, $72.3K was spent on suppliers (46.7%), and $82.4K was spent on subcontractors (53.3%).
• At Level 3;
  • Out of the $72.3K supplier cost;
    • $53.0K was spent on Power-up Builder.
    • $19.3K was spent on Five-star construction.
  • From the $82.4K subcontractor price;
    • $25.6K was spent on Skyline Contactors.
    • $30.7K was spent on Onyx General Contractors.
    • $26.0K was spent on Living Well Remodeling.
  • At Level 4, the suppliers’ companies provided raw materials for procurement, which cost $72.3K. The companies providing Mechanical Installations cost around $82.4K.
  • Out of the $72.3K raw material cost;
    • $20.6K was spent on cement.
    • $32.5K was spent on steel.
    • $10.3K was spent on bricks.
    • $9K was spent on timber.
  • From the $82.4K mechanical installation cost;
    • $48.1K was spent on Plumbing and Heating.
    • $22.9K was spent on Mechanical Work.
    • $11.5K was spent on Welding.

Benefits of Using Business Intelligence Advanced Analytics

Here are the top advantages of using BI advanced analytics:

• Smarter Decision-Making – Use predictive models and trend analysis to confidently guide strategies.
• Improved Efficiency – Automate data preparation and reporting to save time and resources.
• Deeper Customer Insights – Understand customer behavior and preferences to improve personalization.
• Competitive Advantage – Identify opportunities and risks faster to stay ahead in the market.
• Stronger Risk Management – Detect anomalies and potential issues early to minimize business risks.

Best Practices for Power BI Advanced Dashboard

• Focus on the User – Design dashboards around stakeholder needs and highlight actionable insights.
• Build Strong Data Models – Use clean relationships and optimized schemas for accurate, scalable reporting.
• Keep the Design Simple – Avoid clutter, use consistent colors, and make key KPIs easy to spot.
• Optimize Performance – Apply DAX optimization, query folding, and aggregations for faster load times.
• Ensure Security – Implement row-level security (RLS) and governance policies to protect sensitive data.

How Power BI Advanced Visualization helps Businesses?

Power BI advanced analytics helps businesses make smarter decisions by turning complex data into clear insights. It allows companies to forecast trends, track KPIs, and uncover hidden patterns using tools like DAX, AI visuals, and advanced charts.

Automated data preparation and performance optimization save time and handle large datasets with ease. At the same time, features like row-level security and governance keep information safe. In simple terms, advanced analytics in Power BI enables businesses to work more efficiently, grow faster, and stay competitive.

Power BI Advanced – FAQs

Which is more advanced, Power BI or Tableau?

Both Power BI and Tableau are powerful business intelligence tools, but their strengths differ. Tableau is often seen as more advanced for data visualization because it offers highly customizable and interactive charts.

On the other hand, Power BI is considered more advanced in data modeling, Power BI advanced DAX, and integration with Microsoft services like Azure, Excel, and Teams.

What is considered advanced Power BI?

Advanced Power BI goes beyond building simple dashboards. It involves:

• Data Modeling – Designing complex schemas and relationships between multiple tables.
• DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) – Writing advanced calculations, KPIs, and time-intelligence measures.
• Power Query (M Language) – Automating data cleaning, merging, and transformation.
• Performance Optimization – Ensuring reports are scalable and fast, even with large datasets.
• Security and Governance – Using row-level security, sensitivity labels, and compliance features.
• AI and Integration – Leveraging predictive analytics, Python/R integration, and Azure services.

What is the most powerful feature of Power BI?

The most powerful PBI feature is its ability to seamlessly connect and integrate data from various sources. This enables consolidation, transformation, and analysis in a unified, interactive environment for comprehensive insights and reporting.

How can Power BI advanced analytics help businesses?

Power BI advanced analytics provide businesses with deeper insights into their data. This enables the identification of trends, patterns, and correlations that drive better decision-making. It empowers businesses to perform forecasting, predictive analytics, and complex data modeling. Consequently, optimize operations and gain a competitive edge.

Wrap Up

Power BI advanced analytics revolutionizes how businesses uncover hidden insights within their data. Going beyond basic reporting allows you to delve deeper to identify complex patterns, trends, and correlations.

This deeper understanding leads to more informed decision-making and strategic planning, ultimately driving business growth.

Power BI provides seamless integration and consolidation of data from multiple sources. As a result, it provides a comprehensive view of the business landscape.

Power BI advanced analytics also offers iterative analysis capabilities. This enables you to refine your analysis based on feedback and new insights continuously. Moreover, it fosters a culture of continuous improvement, driving you to extract the most valuable insights.

Furthermore, the visualizations and reporting capabilities enable you to present your findings compellingly and understandably. Interactive dashboards, charts, and reports facilitate data-driven storytelling. Consequently, this allows the stakeholders to gain a clear understanding of the insights derived from the data.

Conclusively, leveraging the power of advanced analytics and ChartExpo informs decisions that drive success.

Do not hesitate, the adventure awaits.