What is Microsoft POWER BI? An Overview of the Different Features

Power BI is an enterprise-grade business analytics platform by Microsoft. It aims to offer intuitive business intelligence solutions with a user interface easy enough for even end-users to make their own infuse dashboards and reports. In short, it is part of Microsoft's Microsoft Power Platform.

The basic idea behind these tools is to let end users directly access and control data from any database, including ones that are not in a Windows environment. In other words, it brings together Microsoft Power BI and Machine Learning technology. What is so great about these tools? The concept is to allow for a much more intuitive design and breakdown of reports and visualizations. These visuals can often be automatically updated in real-time, thus providing even more accurate insights than could ever be achieved manually. Below, we will take a closer look at the power of these visualizations and how they work within the confines of a large corporate data warehouse or a single large-scale deployment of ERP/SaaS applications.

The way that reports can be viewed and analyzed using Microsoft Power BI is quite astounding. This is because the visualizations are made to make it easier for users to make sense of the information that they see. For example, if a report tells you that sales are up 30% over last year, but you only see a small percent increase in actual sales, the visualizations can make it much easier for you to understand that things are running smoothly and in balance. As such, business intelligence products such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Crystal Reports become much more user-friendly when used in conjunction with Power BI.

In a nutshell, the power of these visualizations comes from the fact that they can be easily downloaded to a user's desktop via a program like Windows Live Search. From there, the desktop application can allow analysts to drag and drop various visualizations to make their reports or dashboard more easily understood. This is one of the biggest advantages of these types of tools - they are extremely lightweight and can be quickly downloaded and used by any modern-day business. In the end, this means that Power BI can be incredibly valuable to any modern organization, regardless of what type of business it is.

However, even though Power BI can make it easier for analysts to understand their data models, it is important to note that these visualizations cannot do all the work for them. To do this, business intelligence programs such as Microsoft Excel have been developed. These Excel apps are far superior to Power BI tools as they provide analysts with not only a wealth of knowledge about their data models but also with a way of manipulating that data in order to create custom queries and even predictive reports. In essence, these apps allow analysts to turn the insights provided by Power BI into something that is much more personal and far more tailored to their specific needs. By turning the information provided by these tools into custom queries and reports, rather than Power BI dashboards, analysts can ensure that they get the most out of the tool.

Beyond simply making it easier for analysts to understand their data analysis models, a properly implemented Power BI dashboard can also help them make the most out of their existing business intelligence visualizations. For example, some business intelligence programs such as Microsoft Business Solutions can integrate with the Excel Work Center, making it incredibly easy for analysts to drag and drop their data models, select relevant boxes, and then enter in the information required. In doing so, they are able to not only make it much easier for their analysts to perform specific calculations, but also to get them into the proper data analysis forms. Rather than having to go through a series of forms, an analyst can simply select a data analysis form from one of the many available options on a Power BI dashboard and then enter in the information as required.

Samuel James is a Sales Manager for Australia's leading Microsoft Dynamics Partner, Dfsm Consulting. He is also a writer for Microsoft Dynamics Business Solutions