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Interactive Dashboards like you’ve never seen before
You’ve probably heard the term “Dashboard Reports”, after all it’s practically a must have skill if you do any type of reporting in Excel.
So, I’m excited to introduce you to the amazing tool from Microsoft called Power BI that enables you to build stunning interactive dashboards and share them on any device.
What is Power BI
Power BI is a free suite of tools you can download and install on your own PC (sorry, not for Mac’s). It’s not tied to Office so you are free to get updates without restrictions.
With Power BI, Microsoft are bringing data visualisation and Business Intelligence (hence the ‘BI’) to the masses.
Many of us have been using Excel to build interactive dashboards for years, but Power BI offers functionality we can only dream about in Excel.
And the best part; Power BI is free for personal use! There are also paid ‘Pro’ and ‘Premium’ licences if you want to share your dashboards online with others, but many of us can get by happily with a free licence, which we can also use to learn Power BI, Power Query and Power Pivot.
For example, the dashboard below was built using only the free tools available in Power BI:
Why should I use Power BI
Power BI can get data from multiple sources so you can visualise it together in one report. And there’s 60 different data sources it can work with – click here to see the list.
Building Power BI dashboards is super-fast with drag and drop navigation.
Interactive visualisations allow users to cross highlight and filter by clicking on the charts (see example below).
Allow users to drill down to lower levels and even underlying data (with your permission).
Power BI takes the hassle of sharing dashboards out of the equation, enabling us to easily share reports on any device*.
*Requires Power BI Pro licence @ US$10/mth.
Updating Power BI dashboards is easy too. Simply schedule a refresh so your dashboards are always up to date.
Learning Power BI is a natural progression for the Excel user and if you’re already familiar with Power Query and Power Pivot then you’re most of the way there, since those tools are also used by Power BI.
Tip: if your version of Excel isn’t compatible with Power Query and Power Pivot but you’re dying to get your hands on them, then Power BI is your answer since it comes with them included! Power BI doesn’t care what version of Excel you have?
Who is Power BI for?
Power BI is for the Excel user who is ready for more. More features, because Power BI Dashboards can do things you simply can’t do in Excel, and more skills to add to your resume.
So, if you’re wanting more interactivity from your Dashboard reports and you’re prepared to learn some new skills then check out Power BI.
Free Power BI Webinar Replay – Build 2 Dashboards in 1 Hour!
I can go on and on about the features and benefits of Power BI, but to really understand please attend Microsoft Excel MVP, Mynda Treacy’s free webinar replay and see for yourself what is possible with Power BI.
In just one hour you’ll see how to build not one, but these two fully interactive dashboards:
Click here to view the webinar.
Here’s what Gord said about Mynda’s Power BI webinar:
“Holy (insert expletive)! Relational data handling of MS Access plus graphing capabilities of Excel plus much, much more. That was amazing. Thank you Mynda for yet another informative eye-opener. Truly appreciative of your efforts.”
Webinar Prerequisites
All you need is an internet connection, a web browser and speakers or headphones.
You don’t need Power BI to watch the webinar but I’ll bet you want to install if afterwards so you can have a play around with it yourself.
Invite a Friend
Feel free to forward this email to your friends and colleagues and invite them to watch Mynda’s Power BI webinar too. They’ll thank you for it.
What people are saying about Power BI
Mynda had some folks road test her new course and here’s what Joe had to say about Power BI:
“I’ve wanted to get into Power BI, but wasn’t convinced that it is the right tool for the job in hand, perhaps due to not seeing enough of what it can actually do, and mainly having lack of time for learning about it. Mynda has brought it all together and showed me that yes, this is the tool for the job. After seeing its practicality and real life application my jaw almost fell with amazement and excitement at the same time.”
Don’t have time for an hour long webinar?
Check out Mynda’s online Power BI course, test the embedded Power BI dashboard and watch the short 12 minute video, where Mynda builds this fully interactive dashboard:
And if you decide you want to supercharge your Power BI learning journey and get up to speed fast then you can get Mynda’s online Power BI course for 20% off until Thursday, May 10.