Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is a business intelligence platform from Microsoft which has capability to integrate with other Microsoft products. Power BI has many data analytics and modelling features but its main strength is its Artificial intelligence and exceptional data modelling.
Power BI stands for Power Business Intelligence and refers to a set of software tools and connectors that help you transform data from multiple sources into actionable insights.
Power BI was originally named Project Crescent and was launched in 2011 and renamed in 2013 as Power BI for Office 365 and finally Power BI was released as a standalone product in 2015.
Microsoft’s Power BI is one of the most popular business intelligence platforms, but has some strong competitors like Tableau, Looker, Domo and SAP Business Intelligence.
Power BI vs. Excel
Both Power BI and Excel are Microsoft products for data analysis and visualization with creation of reports and interactive dashboards but Power BI is designed to provide more in-depth and powerful analytics that provide business value while Excel is focused on simpler use cases.
- Excel is a spreadsheet program suitable for smaller datasets and simpler analyses while Power BI is a dedicated business analytics tool designed for big data scenarios.
- Excel offers a wide range of built-in functions and formulas for data analysis, but on the other hand Power BI includes DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) for creating calculated columns, forecasting, and regression analysis.
- Excel provides basic graphing and charting features while Power BI offers a rich set of visualization options, including interactive charts, graphs, tables and maps.
Powers of Power BI
- User Friendly: Power BI has a user-friendly interface and can be used with minimum or no training especially if you are good in using MS Excel so both nontechnical and technical audiences can easily use Power BI
- Artificial intelligence: Users can access AI-powered image recognition and text analytics and can also create machine learning models using automated capabilities. It also giving users the ability to ask questions about data to create reports. Power BI can also integrate with Azure Machine Learning.
- Data integration: You can Connect seamlessly various data sources like Excel sheets, salesforce, onsite data warehouses, and even cloud-based data storage and transform them into business insights.
- Customization:Users can modify the appearance of default visualization and reporting tools and import new tools.
- Reporting and Dashboards: Power BI enables users to create interactive reports and dashboards and same time turn data into a wide range of different visuals, including charts, graphs, KPIs, and many
- Scalability:Power BI can support large-scale data sets, making it suitable for enterprises.
- Data Transformation: Users can clean, transform, and model their data within Power BI using its built-in data preparation tools.
- Data Modelling: Power BI includes robust data modelling capabilities that enable you to shape and transform your data according to your analysis needs. You can create relationships between different data tables, define calculated columns and measures using DAX (Data Analysis Expressions).
- Real-time information. All the dashboards update in real time, as data is streamed in, which gives viewers the ability to solve problems and identify opportunities quickly.
Key Components of Power BI
Power BI is made up of several components that work together to deliver an all-encompassing business intelligence solution and here we will discuss few of them as follows.
- Power Query. This data transformation tool integrates data from multiple sources and you can delete data from numerous data sources and extract data from a wide range of databases like Oracle, MySQL, and other databases.
- Power View. Here users can create and interact with their own data visualizations and retrieves metadata that can be utilized for data analysis.
- Power Pivot. This is a memory data modelling tool and acts as a data modelling and calculation engine and the language used is Data Analysis Expression (DAX)
- Power BI Q&A. This language query engine can take user inputs and produce data visualization outputs. It enables users to get insights from their data without requiring extensive query programming.
- Power Map. Power Map is a 3D data visualization tool that enables you seamlessly map the data on Bing maps applying 3D format.
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Final Thought
Power BI is used globally by organizations of all sizes since its launch as it is easy to use for nontechnical business users and same time affordable, flexible and powerful. Power BI consists of a collection of apps and available on a desktop as well as on cloud-based SaaS offering and mobile Power BI runs on mobile devices. Overall, Power BI empowers you to turn your data into actionable insights, improving business performance, enabling better decision-making and driving innovation.
For more info on Power BI: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Humayun Atif | CMA, CPA, CA (FIN), MS-IT, CA Articles from Big 4, Certified Forensic Accountant (USA), Six Sigma & Oracle Certified.
Atif is passionate about Business, Tech, and the written word. He is the author of the book ‘IFRS Made Easy’. He is a Tax and IFRS coach and the founder of accountingblogger.com
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