How to Create a Power BI Dashboard? Step-by-Step Guide

Dashboards help visualize complex and unstructured data, aiding in better understanding and using that information to make informed decisions. For business owners, making decisions at the right time and with the proper context is essential; hence, we are here to help you understand the process for creating dashboards in Power BI. 

To create a Power BI dashboard, start by extracting and collating data, connecting data to your Power BI service, cleaning the data, deciding on visualizations, and arranging the dashboard according to your requirements. Let’s understand in detail how to create a Power BI dashboard.

Why Use a Power BI Dashboard?

Microsoft Power BI dashboards share a consolidated view of critical data related to your business. In addition to helping organizations understand their performance metrics, it also enables stakeholders to track performance, identify trends, and make decisions in real time. 

Unlike traditional reports, a Power BI interactive dashboard provides rich visualization, dynamic filtering, and cross-source data integration.

Executives and analysts can explore patterns without switching between different tools. A Power BI interactive dashboard is helpful for every industry, from finance to marketing, and it helps slice, drill, and segment data, making these information portals indispensable.

Types of Power BI Dashboards You Can Build

Before learning about creating dashboards in Power BI, we have listed the main types of dashboards below for your reference.

Interactive Reporting Dashboard

Tailored for strategic decision-makers, professional dashboards provide a high-level overview of operational and financial health. Drawing data from different business systems like ERP, CRM, and HRMS, the dashboard layouts help focus on bringing better clarity and KPI alignment.

Power BI KPI Dashboard

Built explicitly for tracking performance, the Power BI KPI dashboard displays metrics such as revenue growth, churn rate, conversion rate, and resource utilization. With real-time updates, you can ensure your decisions impact current operational realities.

Need a Custom Power BI Solution for your Specific KPIs? Interact with our Microsoft Power BI experts today and understand the process of building dashboards for data-driven decision-making.

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Strategic Power BI Online Dashboard

Strategic dashboards present high-level information summarized into key metrics. Executives and key decision makers use them as monitoring tools to assess the overall health of the organization. The business intelligence dashboard helps organizations move forward towards their strategic goals. 

Here are some executive dashboard examples for your reference. Check them out to build your own dashboards and make better decisions.

Step-by-Step Power BI Dashboard Process

Before we dive into the creation process for professional Power BI dashboards, here are some prerequisites to follow. 

• Install Power BI desktop tool as it will help in building BI reports that you will feed into the dashboards. 
• Identify the tools for holding data, such as Microsoft Excel, SQL Server, Salesforce, among others. 
• Know the KPIs that you will track on the dashboards, as they will help build targeted reports and dashboards. 
• Establish and follow the security protocols, permissions, and accessibility options to identify who can access and interact with the data. 

These steps will set the foundation for creating an accurate and high-quality dashboard setup.

Connect your Data Points

To connect data points with the dashboard creation tool, open Power BI Desktop, and click on Get Data. Microsoft’s free tool is compatible with over 100+ connectors, including Microsoft Excel, SharePoint, SQL Server, Google Analytics, Azure, Salesforce, and more.

This is a key step, as only after connecting your data to Power BI can you create a relevant and accurate dashboard.

Clean and Transform your Data

The data is loaded onto the platform using Power Query Editor. The Editor is your staging area, and it decides all your Power BI dashboard use cases.  Use the Editor to;

• Filter out unnecessary rows or columns.
• Format columns to the right data types (text, number, date, etc.).
• Remove null or duplicate values.
• Merge or append queries to combine datasets.
• Create custom columns using the M language.

Take care that you name your queries and steps clearly in the tool to improve collaboration and version tracking. Cleaning data before you send it for processing isn’t a choice; it’s the backbone of creating insightful and accurate dashboards.

Create Visual Reports

Creating comprehensive reports before moving to building dashboards. You can use the report to drag and drop fields from your data model and build informational visuals, including:

• Bar and column charts to compare metrics.
• Card visuals for KPIs.
• Line charts for trends over time.
• Maps for geo-spatial analysis.
• Slicers and filters for interactivity.

For better understanding, organize visuals by different sections like performance, trends, comparisons, and forecasts. In the software, you will find the “Format” pane, use it to change colors, add legends and labels, and create tooltips for accessibility and visual consistency. 

Remember that these Power BI reports do not qualify as the dashboard itself. Instead, they are the data-driven visuals you will need to make up the components of the dashboard.

Publish Reports to Power BI

Once the report works in Power BI Desktop, click on Publish. This will prompt you to sign in to the Power BI Service account and upload your report to a workspace.

This transition is essential if you want to:

• Access reports and dashboards via browser or mobile.
• Automate data refreshes from cloud sources.
• Set up sharing, collaboration, and role-based access.

Doing this is essential as you cannot create the Power BI until the visuals are shared from the Power BI service.

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Build the Dashboard

Within the tool you are using for dashboard creation, navigate to your published report and use the Pin function to add visuals to a new or existing dashboard template.

During the creation process, you will understand that dashboards are single-page, customizable collections of visuals. Hence, they are ideal for tracking high-level KPIs, metrics, and parameters in one go.

In this dashboard customization window, you can;

• Resize and rearrange tiles for emphasis.
• Add web content or external links.
• Configure real-time streaming datasets.

We recommend that you use a grid-based layout for better understanding. Group all KPIs and parameters you want to assess by theme or business unit for intuitive navigation. As you complete this step, you will start to feel the difference between a Power BI dashboard vs report.

Share with Stakeholders

Once your dashboard is ready, you can share it with the stakeholders. In addition to this, there are options to manage permissions, ensuring only the people allowed can access the dashboards. 

For best impact, enable features such as:

• Set alerts and trigger notifications when KPIs cross a threshold.
• Allow stakeholders to comment, as it facilitates data-driven conversations within your team.
• Allow users to subscribe to reports, enabling them to receive them in their inboxes on a schedule.

For broader access, embed dashboards in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, or internal portals using embed codes or Power BI web parts.

Follow this link to get some Power BI dashboard examples and features for your understanding.

Best Practices for Power Business Intelligence Dashboard Design

A well-built dashboard isn’t just a tool for displaying data. Instead, it communicates, guides action, and builds trust. Here are some best practices for Power BI dashboards to ensure higher usability, accuracy, and executive-level clarity.

Prioritize Relevance

Design the dashboard to display business-critical KPIs and metrics that align with strategic goals, including revenue, churn rate, and customer lifetime value, among others. Every chart, card, or table should answer a question your stakeholders are actively asking. Moreover, avoid vanity metrics that look good but offer little insight.

Maintain Visual Hierarchy

Keep in mind the visual hierarchy during Power BI development. You need to apply a logical structure guiding the viewer’s eyes from the most important parts to the least important ones. 

For best results, position the most critical KPIs in the top left side of the dashboard, as this is where every viewer will begin analyzing the dashboard. For critical metrics, you can use larger visuals and bold typography. Moreover, grouping related visuals can create a better understanding of associated metrics and performance.

Optimize Dashboard for Performance

Your dashboard needs to perform seamlessly, period. Inefficient dashboards work slowly under the pressure of large datasets and complex visuals. Hence, to ensure this doesn’t happen, minimize the usage of high-cardinality visuals like detailed maps showing thousands of data points. 

Moreover, don’t add unnecessary visuals and datasets, as each new addition impacts the performance and load time.

Use Consistent Color Palettes

Don’t think of the color as another decorative element. It’s a communication tool, and you need to use it consistently to send the right message across to the users. 

When creating a Microsoft Power BI dashboard, define a standard color scheme. Ensure the color palette you choose aligns with your brand identity. You can also do some smart play here and assign red color for negative trends, green for positive movements, etc. 

However, don’t use more than 6 colors as adding more reduces the visual appeal while making this confusing.

Use Interactive Elements

Add interactive controls and elements in the dashboards to help users explore and assess information easily. You can use slicers to filter the view by date, category, and region. Use drill-down and drill-through controls to move the content from a summarized view to a detailed view. 

If you need to share information on some metrics, KPIs, etc., add a tooltip column that opens when hovering over them. This does not overwhelm the dashboard with content and media elements put together in one frame.

Ensure Mobile Responsiveness

As users will access dashboards on mobile devices, you need to ensure they are responsive to the screen size. Poor responsiveness leads to misalignment, cut-off visuals, and low engagement.

While building the Power BI demo dashboards, check them with the Mobile Layout View. Rearrange and resize visuals for smaller screens to ensure the information you share is always aligned with the user’s point of view.

Conclusion

A Power BI dashboard isn’t a reporting tool; it’s your organization’s decision-making compass. A visualization built to help you follow the right direction, create best practices, and unlock the full potential of business operations by using data to your benefit. 

At X-Byte Solutions, we provide Microsoft Power BI Consulting and Development services. Hire us to create bespoke dashboards for your organization and ensure every decision you make is well-calculated and data-driven. 

Get in touch with us today.