Data visualisation has become increasingly important in business decision-making in recent years. Thanks to tools and features like Power BI dashboards, businesses can gain clear and actionable insights around their internal processes, sales and more, which are crucial for making informed decisions.
The benefit of using tools like Power BI for business is that management can make quick and thoughtful decisions while at the same time making the data management process more straightforward.
Without the tools for effective data visualisation, it can be difficult for companies to measure their productivity levels, sales, the efficacy of their marketing campaigns, and the business’s overall performance.
In this post, we’ll explore some Power BI dashboard examples, compare what a Power BI Report is vs a Power BI dashboard, take you through 15 Power BI dashboard examples and cover some fundamental Power BI elements that you need to know!
What Is A Power BI Dashboard & What Do They Do?
Building dashboards in Power BI is a great way to make data visualisations that can be used in a wide range of scenarios. Power BI dashboards allow users to save time on analysis by providing them with the important information vital to their business processes without spending their valuable time inputting data manually.
A Power BI dashboard has many uses, but if we’re asking what Power BI dashboards do? Well, this can be answered in a couple of ways.
Firstly, Power BI dashboards are used to visually display critical business information so that you have a top-level view of your key metrics at any one time. Additional features like Power BI Mobile Apps mean you can access your dashboards any time, anywhere.
Secondly, as discussed, having a Power BI dashboard is the first step in getting to grips with your business data. In this sense, Power BI dashboards give you more control over your business and help you make data-driven decisions based on actual data from your own business or competitors.
What’s The Difference Between A Power BI Dashboard And A Report?
The report feature in Power BI is the result of visualised data formed from a single data set. The report can be as long or as short as necessary, and they are most commonly made in Power BI Desktop.
On the other hand, the dashboard feature is a single page display screen comprised of report visuals. The visuals are designed to give the reader a summary of the information needed. Dashboards can only be created using Power BI Service.
The main differences are in the following aspects:
- Pages – reports can be multiple pages, Power BI dashboards are single pages
- Creation – reports can be made in both Power BI Desktop & Service, dashboards can only be made in Service
- Data Source – reports comprise a single data set; dashboards can comprise several data sets.
- Alerts – You cannot set alerts for reports, but you can for a Power BI dashboard.
- Featuring – You cannot set reports as featured reports, but you can set featured dashboards.
Reports and dashboards in Power BI are useful for different things, depending on your end goal. For example, if you want a comprehensive view of the data, a report might be better. On the other hand, if you are looking for a quick overview, a dashboard is ideal.
You should also consider if Microsoft Excel can be used to help filter your data so it’s ready to use in Power BI. We recently did a comprehensive Power BI vs Excel comparison which is worth exploring!
15 Best Power BI Dashboard Examples
Now you’re up to speed on the ‘power’ of a Power BI dashboard, let’s take a look at some Power BI dashboard examples that you can use in your business.
These Power BI dashboard examples are helpful examples of how Power Bi can be used in business, and you might find that they inspire you to create some dashboards of your own (or with the help of a Power BI expert).
1. Power BI Sales Scorecard Dashboard
The first of our power BI dashboard examples is a sales scorecard dashboard. Many businesses need to track their sales for different purposes, and a sales scorecard dashboard offers a simple solution. Tracking sales metrics can help to answer several different questions and provide valuable insight into sales performance.
This information can help sales managers to gain an insight into the areas that it is selling in either by product or region. They can also see comparisons with the previous year’s profits which can provide the sales performance into perspective.
2. Customer Analysis Dashboard
The customer analysis dashboard is perhaps the most useful for a business that wants to emphasise its customers. Managers can gain an insight into the profit for regional customers and sales. The dashboard can be used in almost every industry.
This Power BI dashboard is great for businesses that deal with large amounts of data; some of the insights provided include channel-specific sales, profits, product-wise sales analysis and customer-specific growth and profit statistics.
3. Inventory Stock Analysis Dashboard
Creating an inventory stock analysis dashboard will provide a clear view of a company’s inventory. You can track stock availability and use this in their replenishment efforts. The inventory can be categorised as the managers see fit.
It can be used to determine which products sell well and which don’t and how this affects the percentage of the total sales. There is also stock prediction options where managers can see how well the product is likely to sell in the coming days, weeks, or months.
4. Customer Segmentation Dashboard
A customer segmentation dashboard is a tool designed to combine all customer data and house it in a single location. There are many different customer insights which allow the user to visualise their audience—in addition, having the data in one place will enable users to conduct a detailed customer analysis which can, in turn, improve business processes.
A customer segmentation dashboard should also include critical metrics that can help set a marketing budget and maximise marketing efforts because there is now a clearer sense of the audience. It can also help to support your sales efforts by adjusting pricing and improving profitability.
5. Financial Analytics Dashboard
A financial analysis dashboard is as it sounds – it is a tool that can be used to improve the cash management of a business by tracking expenses, sales, and profits. Using something like financial analytics dashboard, a company can validate its figures and drill down into the financial details as necessary.
Financial dashboards are a great source of information; the user can set alarms and spot anomalies or issues in their infancy before they become problems. On the other hand, they can also see what they are doing well and dedicate more of their efforts to this.
6. Attendance Tracker Dashboard
An attendance tracker dashboard can be used by business administrators to keep track of their employees. It can be an invaluable tool when it comes to monitoring staff. At a glance, the user can see where the productivity might be affected and spot any patterns in absences. A business is only as strong as its staff.
A Power BI attendance tracker dashboard is also a fantastic way for a business to identify its greatest strengths and weaknesses. By using it regularly, managers can decide whether the company should hire more employees or change any management practices deemed ineffective.
7. Team Performance Dashboard
A team performance dashboard is another form of staff monitoring. It can be used to highlight the performance level of a team and set targets for them. The user can then share those targets and see how the team has performed against them. This can help managers find areas that can be improved upon and allow them to know where the teams are doing well and reward them accordingly. Sales Dashboards
8. Quarterly Financial Performance Dashboard
This Power BI dashboard is an excellent tool for businesses. It is used to compare profit margins and other metrics across quarters. The user can select different quarters and conduct their analysis accordingly.
This insight can be used as the business enters the next quarter by highlighting the areas that need work. Using this information, managers can conduct research before the fiscal quarter begins to improve their products, market themselves more efficiently, or implement any number of other changes.
A quarterly financial performance dashboard use cases are almost endless. With it, businesses can analyse market trends and predict future profits with ease. It is also a great way to compare your company with others in your industry.
9. Social Media Monitoring & Analytics Dashboard
The social media monitoring and analytics dashboard can be used by marketing managers and marketing agencies alike. It can help you to tailor your ads, thereby improving sales and increasing profits. The tool is predominately used to measure the efficacy of a business’s ads to get an idea of how their audience views their product.
It works with most social media platforms, and it provides insights like total mentions, shares, or reach of the ad. This can be divided further into positive, negative and neutral reactions. If a business uses influencers, then the impact of the influencer can be measured too.
10. Product Sales Dashboard
The product sales dashboard is, again, as it sounds it a tool that is used for sales analysis and monitoring. Managers use it to keep track of product performance metrics. Most of the main functionality of this specific type of dashboard lies in its graphical analysis of product-orientated sales metrics.
These metrics often include sales by product, gross margin by product, monthly revenue trend, the top-performing products, sales versus gross margin by product and the monthly gross margin trend.
11. Email Engagement Dashboard
An email engagement dashboard contains a series of visualisations that can provide an insight into how the receivers are engaging with the content – in this case, emails.
It allows the user to see how effective their email marketing efforts are and can let the user know whether to call to action in the email worked, whether the email was even opened or deleted immediately.
Users can provide their own metrics, such as website visits or discount codes, to personalise their use of this dashboard.
12. Ad Display Campaign Dashboard
Of course, digital marketers could opt for an ad display campaign dashboard instead if they advertise through website ads. It lets the user know the advertising campaign’s success through things like clicks, conversions, or the click-through rate percentage. Using these metrics, the ads can be better tailored for success in the future.
13. Marketing Campaign Insights Dashboard
A marketing campaign insights dashboard is similar to the above dashboard in that they are both designed to show the effectiveness of a campaign. The main metrics that are tracked are the number of conversions, the cost per conversion and the actual revenue generated. They can also be tailored to track the bounce rate or the time spent on site by campaign visitors.
14. Marketing Automation Dashboard
A marketing automation dashboard is used for lead generation through your website’s contact us page, email sign-ups, phone call tracking and more. You can track various information such as the number of website visitors from social media, phone calls from ads and the most popular types of contact.
This type of dashboard is similar to a sales performance dashboard, but it targets individual contacts, not products or services sold. A marketing automation dashboard can be used by individuals in a business marketing department and marketing agencies.
15. Customer Experience Dashboard
The final item on our list of Power BI dashboard examples is a customer experience dashboard. This tool provides insights into how your customers feel about your company and its product, most often through surveys and polls. Customer satisfaction is measured through questions like “How likely are you to recommend this business to your friends or family?”
This type of dashboard is used for many purposes, such as gaining insight into whether or not a product is viable in terms of marketability and customer interest. It can also provide insight on ways that you could improve the customer experience.
As you can see, there are plenty of Power BI dashboard examples that demonstrate how this software can be used. If you need assistance in creating your own dashboard or would like to see more Power BI dashboard examples that show what we could create for your company, feel free to get in touch to discuss your needs.
How Long Does It Take To Build Dashboards In Power BI?
This question is difficult to answer as it depends on several factors: such as whether or not the individual is building their own from scratch or using templates, or whether you are outsourcing the build to a Power BI consultant or building in-house and how big the project is.
The first step is to build your first dashboard, which might take around two weeks, depending on the project’s complexity. After creating your first dashboard, you can continue developing and improving your report over time, but you must measure its success to see how well it performs.
This is typically done by doing an A/B test with two different dashboard versions with a small group of users. This test will then be used to decide which version performs better and is re-promoted through the organisation.
So, in conclusion: It depends upon a number of factors, such as whether you’re outsourcing or building it in-house and how big the project is. In short, the whole process can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.
How Do I Create A Dashboard In Power BI?
Power BI is a data visualisation software application that can be used to visualise and create dashboards from your data. In this case, the user will have an empty canvas with various visualisations of information laid out within a dashboard.
From here, you can drag and drop multiple visuals into the report depending on which metric you want to display. However, the reports are not limited to just looking at metrics.
Power BI can also be used to create visualisations based on your data so you could have an infographic-style report, for example. Various templates allow you to quickly build a professional-looking dashboard without the need for any design skills or knowledge of coding.
Depending on the dashboard you want to build, you can find various online resources that can help you make your dashboard to your specifications. Power BI is a Microsoft tool, and so the best resources and information can be found on their website.
Can Power BI Dashboards Be Created Using Power BI Mobile?
Yes, Power BI mobile apps can be easily created for Android, iOS devices and Windows phones or tablets to use Power BI mobile.
To do this, you will need to have a Power BI Pro account and download the app from either the Apple or Google app store. The mobile version interface is similar to that of the desktop version but has a few limitations, such as not being able to create custom visuals.
The mobile app is only available on iOS and Android, but you can build your dashboards using any device that has access to the web browser portal, including Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.
Can Power BI Dashboards Be Created Using Power BI Desktop?
Power BI Desktop allows users to create dashboards and reports. It is a windows-based-desktop-application used on PCs and desktops and mainly used in office situations. Power BI Desktop also allows users to build reports and graphs in an easy drag-and-drop interface that can be published to either the personal or business dashboard, depending on permissions.
Are There Power BI Dashboard Templates?
In short, yes, there are templates that you can find online which can help you when building or developing your own Power BI dashboard. However, the templates may not be exactly what you are looking for; they might need a bit of tweaking in order to work for your business. So, bear that in mind when looking for templates, and if you need any help, contact us.
Where Can I Get Sample Data For Power BI?
There are various sources you can use to get your data into the Power BI platform. This includes Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace, which has a wide array of samples that you can download, as well as other marketplaces such as Alteryx and Databricks, which provide more complex analytics solutions.
You can also connect to existing databases and data sources. There a numerous ways of doing this whether they are on-premise or in the cloud.
Once you have your data ready, you can use the model designer in order to create a data set for your dashboard or reports. You don’t have to manually build a model for your dashboard, though it is advisable if you want to ensure the best use of your data.
However, if you have a team member with more experience in designing models, there are tools available for them to design the model without needing to use Power BI Pro, which allows users who build their own models to share it across an organisation for others to access and use.
Conclusion – Power BI Dashboards Deliver Incredible Insight
In the end, the Power BI makes it easier to build intelligent apps. In turn, this allows users to create rich dashboards that turn long and confusing information into visual data, making it easy to glean insights that might otherwise be missed. These custom visuals can be tailored to the needs of the business.
A Power BI dashboard enables users to make quick decisions on the day-to-day operations of the business, thanks to these insights. Above all else, they are incredibly convenient and user friendly, which can be incredibly advantageous when dealing with dense and hard to understand data.
