Power BI is a business analytics solution that provides insights based on which to make informed decisions instantly - and transforms data into stunning visuals, which you can easily share with colleagues on any device. Here are my thoughts, as a Business Intelligence consultant, on what to expect from Power BI.
Custom visuals
Power BI is not limited to "what's in the box." With custom visuals, Power BI lets you create any visualization you can imagine. And it's easy to use in conjunction with other Microsoft products and services; it's designed to work easily with Excel, Office 365, Azure and SQL Server. With improved forecast accuracy combined with Dysel's software solution, customers can forecast business needs based on a dataset over a period of time.
For the equipment management industry
We are currently working hard at Dysel to develop reports based on equipment objects, work orders, sales invoices, items, timesheets, etc. Microsoft Power BI is the default reporting tool for Dysel; it is one of the leading reporting tools on the market, providing users with numerous options for presenting reports.
Three ways customers view these reports through ELC
1. Standard reports with visualizations of the previously mentioned topics. In these standard reports the user can apply the necessary filters to display the figures, for example, by company, by branch or by booking status. The user has no rights to modify the report. This option is available for desktop computers, tablets and cell phones. A light version of Power BI is available on desktop, but the reports created with it are also available on tablets and cell phones (the user then needs the Power BI app for mobile devices).
2. Personalized dashboards using the standard report as a base. Users can place some visuals from the standard report into a personalized dashboard applying their own filters.
3. Datasets: users can create their reports using a light version of Power BI. This way they can access the data (in cubes) as mentioned earlier and use the fields in tables, charts and scorecards. They can also make these available to the rest of the organization.
The beauty of Power BI is that it is an excellent product for every type of user; from senior management interested only in KPIs from standard reports to the BI specialists who want to know every detail in their own developed reports. It means that Power BI is an easy and intuitive solution to use and yet provides the comprehensive functionality you are looking for to run your organization successfully.
Bjorn Schouten is a Business Intelligence Consultant at Dysel and helps clients turn data into valuable management information.
