Only optimized information acquiring from various data can yield proper and knowledgeable business decisions and it’s not achievable without the help of an adequate tool that has been specifically developed to address such points. Microsoft Power BI is designed to turn data into efficient information. It is a web-based platform that could be the best choice for data analytics and visualization, due to its feasibility for any company regardless of its size and budget. Most of the Power BI elements are free.  

“BI” stands for Business Intelligence, which is the art of extracting meaningful information from data. And this information can be visualized in different ways according to your need. You can create automatically updated reports and dashboards with just a few clicks, which can be the result of many different data sources that are not just limited to Microsoft.  

The Power BI Building Blocks:  

• Power BI Desktop: Windows desktop application 
• Power BI service: an online SaaS  
• Power BI mobile apps: apps for Windows, iOS, and Android devices. 
• Power BI Report Builder: creating paginated reports 
• Power BI Report Server: an on-premise report server for publishing Power BI reports 

Data Source Connection: 

By the means of these tools, you can get access to your data, regardless of its location, whether it is from on-premises or cloud sources. Then by simplifying the data preparation through capturing, transforming, integrating, and extending the data you can save so much time.  

The database programs often generate only list-based reports, optimized for printing. Power BI can establish a connection to various data sources regardless of whether they are located on your local PC, on a file server of your company, or in the cloud, this can also include connection to cloud services such as Google Analytics, Mailchimp, and much more. It also presents an API code that enables the users to easily integrate it with many software modules. 

The workflow is basically the same for all data sources you creating a data set by connecting to data sources, and then create a report that presents the data in a meaningful way, then create dashboards based on the reports which can be shared with others.  

Microsoft Power BI Sharing Features: 

With Power BI you can easily share your reports and dashboards with other people without having to provide the entire workbook or static graphs as screenshots, which firstly become obsolete after a short time and secondly do not offer the possibility for ad-hoc evaluations. It is up to you whether share the dashboard with visualizations or whether you also provide access to the individual reports or even the database of the reports. Also, Power BI can send data-driven notifications for mobile insights. 

Visualisation:  

Another important advantage of Power BI is representing interactive graphics and tables, it allows for many intuitive data analyses. With the Power BI report tools, you can create so-called dashboards which you can also optimize from mobile devices and provide the latest data and visualizations for further analysis, company-wide and for all devices, but only to those who should have access.  

The appearance of the dashboards can be changed and customized according to business needs and organizational goals.  

Microsoft Power BI Pricing: 

Conclusion 

When it comes to the analytic platform for handling a large amount of data from a wide range of sources and turn them into meaningful applicable information, Microsoft Power BI is definitely above all other platforms, thanks to its Powerful pictorial dashboards, magnificent connection capabilities, unlimited accessibility, and unique queries. 

In 365 Digital Consulting, we can help you in customising Power BI according to your business and take the best from it.