Power BI (PBI) reports are used for visualizing and analyzing data in a business context. They provide interactive and dynamic visual representations of data.
This allows users to gain insights, make informed decisions, and track key performance indicators.
Creating great PBI reports, however, might not be as easy as it seems.
Going through Power BI report examples is a great move. It can help you create better PBI reports more efficiently and effectively.
Moreover, it will help you avoid common pitfalls. It can also expose you to Power BI features to help you create great reports.
PBI report examples can serve as a source of inspiration. You get to see how others have solved problems similar to yours. You also learn how to analyze data in unique ways.
You then collect ideas and insights to apply to your own reporting needs.
PBI report examples can also help you learn how to use PBI more effectively. By studying Power BI report examples, you can gain a better understanding of how to:
Going through PBI reports gives you access to templates that you can adapt for your use case. This also saves you considerable amounts of time.
In this article, we explore Power BI report examples. We begin by defining Power BI reports and their pros and cons. We then look at the best Power BI report examples.
Finally, we learn how to create charts for reports in Power BI. We’ll also answer some FAQs.
A Power BI report is a collection of data visualizations, charts, graphs, and tables. They are created using the PBI service.
In PBI, a report can be created from one or more data sources. It can include various visualizations such as tables, matrices, charts, maps, and gauges.
Users can also create calculated measures, columns, and tables in Power BI to create custom analytics. These calculated measures and tables can be used in the report’s visualizations.
This helps in creating more sophisticated and insightful visualizations.
You can also create paginated reports using the Power BI report builder.
To share PBI reports, you can use the Power BI service, SharePoint, or other web applications. You can export your reports in various formats, such as PDF, Excel, and PowerPoint, for offline use.
Let’s explore the major pros and cons of PBI reports.
Power BI reports are user-friendly and do not require extensive training to use. They also have a drag-and-drop interface that makes data analysis and visualization simpler.
Power BI reports provides real-time data updates. This allows you to make decisions based on the latest available information.
Power BI reports allow users to customize dashboards, charts, and graphs to suit their needs.
Since Power BI reports are cloud-based, they can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.
Power BI reports can be integrated with other Microsoft tools, such as Excel and SharePoint. You can also integrate them with other third-party tools, such as Salesforce.
PBI reports do have a free version. The full version, however, can be expensive, especially for smaller organizations.
Power BI reports are relatively easy to use. However, to use the software to its full potential, there’s a bit of a learning curve involved.
The available options may not be sufficient if you require more extensive customization.
Since PBI reports are cloud-based, you need an internet connection to access the data and create reports. If the internet connection is slow or down, you may be unable to work on your reports.
We’ll use Power BI finance reports as examples. You can refer to these for your use case or even to learn more advanced PBI report features.
A spend report is a document that provides a summary of expenses over a period of time. The expenses can be an individual’s or a company’s.
A spend report can be used to:
A spend report typically includes information such as:
Spend reports can be generated manually using a spreadsheet. They can also be automatically generated using personal finance software or mobile apps.
The following is a PBI dataset of a company’s spend:
Total Spend | Department | Category | Spend Amount ($) |
Total Spend | Marketing | Advertising | 20,000 |
Total Spend | Marketing | Events | 15,000 |
Total Spend | Marketing | Collateral | 30,000 |
Total Spend | Marketing | Salaries | 50,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Rent | 10,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Utilities | 8,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Supplies | 15,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Salaries | 40,000 |
Total Spend | Sales | Salaries | 30,000 |
Total Spend | Sales | Commissions | 6,000 |
Total Spend | R&D | Salaries | 40,000 |
Total Spend | R&D | Contractors | 20,000 |
Total Spend | Admin | Salaries | 30,000 |
Total Spend | Admin | Legal | 15,000 |
Total Spend | Admin | IT | 10,000 |
A PBI report will present the above data in a very effective way.
A financial report provides information about the financial performance of a company or organization.
The report usually includes financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. All these show a company’s
Financial reports are often prepared on a quarterly or annual basis.
They are typically used by investors, analysts, creditors, and other stakeholders. They help evaluate the financial health of a company.
They can also be used to make decisions about investing or lending money to the company.
They may also be used as part of regulatory financial disclosure requirements.
Let’s use the following data to create a PBI financial report:
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 |
In this section, we learn how to create charts for reports in Power BI.
Total Spend | Department | Category | Spend Amount ($) |
Total Spend | Marketing | Advertising | 20,000 |
Total Spend | Marketing | Events | 15,000 |
Total Spend | Marketing | Collateral | 30,000 |
Total Spend | Marketing | Salaries | 50,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Rent | 10,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Utilities | 8,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Supplies | 15,000 |
Total Spend | Operations | Salaries | 40,000 |
Total Spend | Sales | Salaries | 30,000 |
Total Spend | Sales | Commissions | 6,000 |
Total Spend | R&D | Salaries | 40,000 |
Total Spend | R&D | Contractors | 20,000 |
Total Spend | Admin | Salaries | 30,000 |
Total Spend | Admin | Legal | 15,000 |
Total Spend | Admin | IT | 10,000 |
Power BI reports are interactive data visualizations created using Microsoft’s Power BI platform. They enable users to analyze data from various sources. You can also create visualizations, customize them, share them, and explore them in different ways.
Power BI reports are used to analyze and communicate insights from data. Businesses frequently use them to keep an eye on their performance, spot trends, and make data-driven decisions.
Creating Power BI reports might seem quite straightforward. To create effective reports, however, there are a few more things you need to learn.
In this article, we defined Power BI reports and looked at their pros and cons. We also looked at the best Power BI report examples. We used Power BI finance reports (spend reports and financial reports) for our examples.
We then looked at how to create charts for reports in Power BI, step by step. We used a cash flow Power BI dataset.
Finally, we answered some frequently asked questions. We hope that you’ll explore some Power BI reports and get inspired to create more effective ones.