Whether to work with a (Power BI) PBI report or dashboard can be a dilemma. You do not want to get your audience absolutely overwhelmed with details and bored. On the other hand, you do not want to gloss over important details.
Both PBI reports and dashboards have similar features and also serve the same purpose. The two are used for data visualization and analysis. Moreover, you can use the same visualizations on the pair.
PBI reports are usually used to present detailed analyses. They showcase in-depth insights for your audience.
PBI dashboards, on the other hand, come in handy when monitoring and tracking key metrics. They exhibit a high-level overview for your audience.
So, which one should you choose? Your audience, main objective, and type of data should be your main guides.
In this article, we look at the Power BI dashboard vs. the report. We also define each of them. Eventually, we’ll learn how to create a report and dashboard in PBI. We conclude by answering some FAQs. Let’s dive right in.
A Power BI dashboard is a visual presentation of key performance indicators (KPIs). It provides a high-level overview of the data at a glance.
Dashboards are useful when you want to monitor and track key metrics. They are used to present data to executives and other decision-makers. They are summaries of important information.
With PBI dashboards, you can consolidate data from various sources. You can also monitor your KPIs in real-time. This helps you quickly identify areas that need attention or improvement.
The purpose of using PBI dashboards is to provide a high-level overview of KPIs and data insights.
You can also use PBI dashboards to show real-time insights into business operations, performance, and trends.
The key features of a Power BI dashboard include:
Tiles are the building blocks of a dashboard. They display data visualizations, such as charts, tables, and maps.
Dashboards display data in real-time. This allows users to monitor performance and KPIs as they change.
You can customize the layout, theme, and style of the dashboard to match your branding.
Compared to a PBI dashboard, a PBI report is more detailed. It provides a more granular view of data. Your audience can focus on specific details and explore the data in greater depth.
Reports help present detailed information and analysis to your audience. They are dynamic and are updated based on underlying data changes.
Power BI reports are mainly used to garner insights.
Let’s look at an example. A team can use a PBI report to garner insights from disparate data sets.
To do this, they will need to use Power BI to:
In this section, we look at the PBI report’s key features.
Power BI report templates are pre-designed, customizable layouts. You can use them for your Power BI report design.
You can create your own custom template from scratch if you already have Power BI report ideas.
Templates include:
You can also add other elements during report template creation. For example, query definitions, data model definitions, visuals, pages, and other visual components.
PBI reports also support data filtering. This enables you to only show what’s important.
You can directly publish reports on the web. PBI also lets you edit, refresh, and update published visuals on the web.
In this section, we further explore the Power BI dashboard vs. report and the key differences.
In Power BI, a dashboard typically consists of a single page. This helps display the most important and relevant information to your audience.
Too many pages or too much information can overwhelm your viewers and make it harder to focus on the key insights you want to communicate.
A report, contrastingly, can have multiple pages or tabs. The number of pages depends on the complexity and depth of the data being analyzed.
The level of detail required by the users also contributes to report length.
The pages are organized logically and intuitively.
PBI reports generally provide more detailed information than PBI dashboards. Dashboards showcase a high-level view of data. Reports provide more in-depth analysis of specific data sets.
Both PBI dashboards and reports allow for data modeling. There are, however, differences in the interactivity and complexity of the visualizations.
Data modeling involves creating relationships between data tables, defining calculations, creating hierarchies, and grouping data for analysis.
In a PBI dashboard, the data model is typically simpler, with fewer tables and relationships.
The data model in a PBI report is more complex, with more tables and relationships.
Reports also offer greater flexibility in terms of data modeling and calculations. Users can create complex calculations and measures using Power BI’s DAX language. This option is not available on PBI dashboards.
PBI dashboards usually have more user interactivity than reports. They often include interactive elements such as slicers and filters.
In contrast, reports are more static. They present a summary of data in a tabular or graphical format.
Reports may include some level of interactivity, such as filtering or sorting options. They are, however, not as interactive as dashboards.
The Power BI dashboard vs. report differences will get even clearer with Power BI report examples.
In this section, we use an add-in or Power BI visual from AppSource to create our report. This add-in is the Sankey Diagram by ChartExpo.
We’ll divide the steps into several stages.
First data set
Earnings Source | Revenue | Expenses | Departments | Categories | Amount |
Providing services | Revenue | Expenses | Managerial | Training Sessions | 10000 |
Providing services | Revenue | Expenses | Managerial | Office rental | 16000 |
Providing services | Revenue | Expenses | Managerial | Wages | 9400 |
Providing services | Revenue | Expenses | Commercial | Wages | 11300 |
Sales of products | Revenue | Expenses | Commercial | Travel allowance | 10000 |
Sales of products | Revenue | Expenses | Commercial | Advertising | 12000 |
Sales of products | Revenue | Expenses | Production | Material Payment | 25000 |
Sales of products | Revenue | Expenses | Production | Loan Payment | 8500 |
Sales of products | Revenue | Expenses | Production | Wages | 19500 |
Loans | Revenue | Gross Profit | Taxes | 11000 | |
Loans | Revenue | Gross Profit | Net Profit | 13000 |
Second data set
Starting Point | Platforms | View product & details | Add to Cart | Cart Status | Ending Point | Traffic |
External Ad | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 20177 |
External Ad | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 26674 |
External Ad | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 11616 |
External Ad | Mobile App | View product & details | Exit | 21965 | ||
External Link | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 24979 |
External Link | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 6684 |
External Link | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 12829 |
External Link | Mobile App | View product & details | Exit | 27434 | ||
Direct Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 11281 |
Direct Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 8102 |
Direct Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 22124 |
Direct Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Exit | 6305 | ||
Organic Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 11376 |
Organic Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 12751 |
Organic Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 25429 |
Organic Search | Mobile App | View product & details | Exit | 7034 | ||
External Ad | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 13854 |
External Ad | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 6357 |
External Ad | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 20156 |
External Ad | Official Website | View product & details | Exit | 25474 | ||
External Link | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 17788 |
External Link | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 9670 |
External Link | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 13131 |
External Link | Official Website | View product & details | Exit | 11169 | ||
Direct Search | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 5747 |
Direct Search | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 11817 |
Direct Search | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 26562 |
Direct Search | Official Website | View product & details | Exit | 8389 | ||
Organic Search | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Clear Cart | Exit | 28670 |
Organic Search | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Checkout | Purchase | 11015 |
Organic Search | Official Website | View product & details | Add to Cart | Click on another product | Purchase | 18522 |
Organic Search | Official Website | View product & details | Exit | 8023 |
We now learn how to create a dashboard in PBI. We’ll use the PBI report we generated to create our Power BI dashboard design.
You can add more charts to this dashboard according to your needs.
Here are the steps that you need to take to convert a report to a PBI dashboard:
Dashboards provide a quick overview of your KPIs and business performance. You can easily consume information at a glance. They are also more interactive when compared to reports. Lastly, you can view real-time data with PBI dashboards.
We have explored the Power BI dashboard vs. report in detail. While dashboards and reports are used for data and data visualization, they are not exactly the same.
We have come across major differences. For example, dashboards are single-page views of main KPIs. Reports, on the other hand, are more detailed and have more pages.
You can also view real-time data with dashboards.
We also looked at how to create a PBI report with ChartExpo’s Sankey diagram add-in. We then used this report to generate Power BI dashboard ideas.
Ultimately, we answered a few FAQs.
We hope that you’ll explore the Sankey diagram add-in for your dashboards and reports.