Reporting tool for individual data analysis

Power BI as a program from Microsoft has officially existed since 2015. Why should such a tool be used for reporting and what can be created and achieved with it?

In the following article we answer these questions and would like to bring you up to date as briefly and effectively as possible:

• Why will Power BI be even more important for reporting in 2022?
• Benefits and return on investment when using Power BI
• Possibilities in Power BI

Why Power BI as a reporting tool?

There are vast amounts of data available in every company. Often, however, these are not clean. This is referred to as data quality. Furthermore, the “know-how” how to use the data correctly and extended is often missing. It is quick and easy to map business figures, but gaining extended “insights” from these figures often becomes complex. What was often done in the past using Excel or a scripting language can now be done quickly, easily and efficiently with Power BI. Power BI is the all-rounder which works by means of the ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) process. With over 300 connectors (Power BI connectors), virtually any data source can be connected. Power BI is able to read, transform and visualize the data in any state.

Benefits and return on investment of Power BI

Power BI has the great advantage of being able to achieve a “single point of truth” (SPOT). With Excel there is often the problem that the reports are distributed by e-mail. Each recipient can make changes to it again and different versions already exist. For Power BI, only one report exists online in the Microsoft service. This can then be referenced. From this, each user can create their own dashboard, but it will always reference the same data model. This ensures standardization within a company.

Power BI offers simple and practical solutions for any industry. Simple, quick analyses can be carried out, such as financial figures, sales figures, stock levels or even relevant employee figures.

However, Power BI is already so advanced that you can quickly get deeper insights into the data. For this purpose, Power BI uses artificial intelligence (AI/AI) on the one hand, but also very easy-to-use visuals and measures.

Here’s a rough overview of Power BI’s cost model:

• Power BI Desktop
  • Cost: Free
  • Report file is only available locally and must be shared manually
  • No «Single Point of Truth»
• Power BI Pro
  • Cost: approx. 10 Fr. per user per month
  • Power BI Service available
  • Automatically update your reports
  • Dataflow for data query possible
• Power BI Premium
  • Cost: approx. 20 Fr. per user per month or 4915.60 Fr. per capacity per month
  • All the features of Power BI Pro
  • All the features of Power BI Pro
  • “Machine Learning” possible

Insights and possibilities in Power BI

We at redIT Business Solutions are convinced of Power BI and have tested Power BI to its limits as a reporting tool. You are welcome to see this for yourself on our homepage with the Covid sample report (Covid Dashboard redIT).

Data connection

The data is retrieved daily by means of a dataflow directly and automatically from the BAG website. The “data cleaning” and the transformations of the data also take place directly in the Dataflow. Thus, the report can directly access the cleaned Data Cube.

KPIs

A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a key figure that is relevant for business or analysis. It indicates the behavior of an object over a certain period of time, e.g. how the business year is going or how the sales per business unit are going. Many are pre-built and ready to use by Power BI. However, you can also create and use your own measures and KPIs using Dax functions.

Power BI also offers external developers to build their own visuals. We are excited about Zebra BI. Zebra BI works according to the IBCS certification (IBCS standards) and thus has a strong presence in finance and also in business figures in general. We have applied the new card visual of it in our report. This compares two selected time periods and provides valuable insight back. In the visual itself, further configurations can be made regarding view and structure, which makes the visual very dynamic.

General visuals

Power BI already has a huge range of visuals built in. All of them can be configured very specifically, so we can also keep up visually with the dashboard from the FOPH. In addition, the visuals are interactive and you can perform various filter settings and drill down on them. Specific formatting can also be applied, which dynamically adapts to new data, providing the user with an optimal “user experience”.

Our service

We have the “know-how” on Power BI and are constantly developing it. Are you interested in Power BI or would you like to see what a report with your figures would look like? Then contact usfor a non-binding assessment hour. – We also provide individual training tailored to your needs.