MICROSOFT POWER BI MANUAL
FOR DESKTOP
Visualizing Data
Visualizing Data
Three Key Questions
1.
1 What TYPE OF DATA are you working
with?
Geospatial? Time-series? Hierarchical? Financial?
1. What do you want to COMMUNICATE?
2
Comparison? Composition? Relationship? Distribution?
1. Who is the END USER and what do they
3
need?
Analyst? Manager? Executive? General public?
Three Key Questions
1. What TYPE OF DATA are you
working with?
TIME SERIES FINANCIAL
GEOSPATIAL TEXTUAL
CATEGORICAL FUNNEL
HIERARCHICAL SURVEY
The type of data you’re working with often determines which type of
visual will best represent it; for example, using maps to represent
geospatial data, line charts for time-series data, or tree maps for
hierarchical data
Three Key Questions
2. What do you want to
COMMUNICATE?
COMPARISON COMPOSITION DISTRIBUTION RELATIONSHIP
Keep it simple! While there are hundreds of charts to choose from, basic
options like bars and columns, line charts, histograms and scatterplots
often tell the simplest and clearest story
Three Key Questions
3. Who is the END USER and what
do they need?
THE ANALYST THE MANAGER THE EXECUTIVE
How you visualize and present your data is a function of who will be
consuming it; a fellow analyst may want to see granular details, while
managers and executives often prefer topline KPIs and clear, data-driven
insight
Analytics Dashboards
Dashboards are analytics tools designed to consolidate data from
multiple sources, track key metrics at a glance, and facilitate data-driven
storytelling and decision making
Dashboard Design Framework
1 A well-designed dashboard should serve a
distinct purpose for a distinct audience, use
clear and effective metrics and visuals, and
2 provide a simple, intuitive user experience.
Key questions to consider:
3 Who are the end-users of your dashboard?
What are their key business goals and
objectives?
4 What are the most important questions
they need answers to?
5 How can I present information as clearly as
possible?
6
The Report View
Insert Menu (Add pages, visuals, buttons, shapes, images, etc.)
Report View Panes
(Data, Format,
Bookmarks,
Selection)
Report Canvas
Filter Pane
(Page-level,
report-level,
Visual-level
filters)
Report Pages (each tab is a blank report canvas) View Options(Zoom, fit to page)
Building & Formatting Charts
The Build menu allows you to change the visual type, auto-suggest visuals,
and add data to customize chart components (x-axis, y-axis, legend, tooltips,
etc.)
This is a contextual menu, so you will only see options which are relevant
to the selected visual
You can build visuals by either inserting a specific chart type and adding
data, or by dragging a field from the Data pane onto the canvas
Building & Formatting Charts
The Format menu allows you to quickly add common chart
elements (title, axis labels, data labels, legends, etc.) and
access additional options and properties in the Format pane
This is a contextual menu, so you will only see options which are
relevant to the selected visual
Enable on-object formatting by double-clicking the chart
object (or right-click > format), which allows you to select and
edit individual chart elements
On-object formatting is only available for certain visuals (bar,
column, line, area, combo & scatter
Filtering Options
Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting allows you to dynamically format Table or
Matrix visuals based on cell values
Conditionally formatting options can be found in the Format pane,
under Cell elements
Options include background color, font color, data bars, icons, or
Web URL
MAP Visuals
Power BI includes several types of map
visuals powered by Bing Maps
Tips for creating accurate maps:
1. Assign categories to geospatial fields
2. Add multiple location fields
3. Use latitude/longitude when possibl
Slicers
Slicers are visual filters which affect all other visuals on a report page (by default)
Slicers can take many formats depending on the data type, including lists,
dropdowns, tiles, ranges, and more
Tip: Use Apply/Clear All Slicers
buttons for more filtering control
DRILL UP & DRILL DOWN
Drill Up and Drill Down tools allow you to switch
between different levels of granularity
In this example users can “drill up” from weekly to monthly, or “drill down” to daily
The single down arrow activates drill mode, allowing users to drill by clicking data
points
The forked down arrow expands each level of the hierarchy (used in matrix visuals)
Tip: Use location hierarchies and enable drill
mode to create interactive map visuals
Report Interactions
Edit report interactions to customize how filters applied to one visual impact other visuals
on the page
Cross-filter options include filter, highlight and none, depending on the visual type
Format > Edit Interactions
Data Visualization Best Practices
