As we approach the end of another month, it’s time to look back at the latest Power BI update cycle and analyse some of the recent changes.
By now, it’s no secret that Microsoft tends to introduce features based on customer feedback, addressing ongoing issues while enhancing the overall user experience.
July has been no different, and in this blog, we’ve taken the time to dig deeper into the most significant updates, assessing the impact these will have on our clients.
Covering reporting, visualisations, analytics, data connectivity and data preparation, Microsoft has introduced a range of exciting new features, allowing users to continue transforming masses of data into important insights.
One such update is the first step towards KPI icons for reports, which was the top request on the Power BI ideas site, offering users greater creative license when compiling their reports.
Analytics – Counts for Key Influencers visual
The first update worth mentioning is the introduction of counts for the Key Influencers visual, giving users a better idea of how their data is represented per influencer.
Once counts have been turned on through the analysis card of the formatting pane, a ring will appear around each influencer’s bubble, representing the approximate percentage of data each influencer contains.
These counts can then be sorted into a specific order through the ‘sort by’ toggle, which arranges bubbles by counts rather than their impact.
By making the most of this new feature, it becomes a lot easier for users to see how each influencer relates to their data, allowing you to focus on the individuals with the greatest impact.
This feature adds depth to the analytics of Power BI, helping users extract maximum benefit from their data.
Reporting – Icon sets for table and matrix
As mentioned in the introduction, one of the most requested updates featured this month is icon sets for the table and matrix visual – the first step towards KPI icons for reports.
Like icon sets in Excel, the new feature allows users to set up rules for showing different sets of icons within their table and matrix.
As with other conditional formatting features, the icons can be turned on through the contextual menu for a specific field or via the conditional formatting card.
Once switched on, the default rules will apply a red diamond to the lower 33% of your data, a yellow triangle to the middle 33% and a green circle to the upper 33%, with users given the creative freedom to customise icons as they’d like.
Rules can be adjusted to suit the unique requirements of the user, while icon layout options allow users to choose where the icons feature in the report.
Visualisations – Sunburst by MAQ Software
Of course, we always take the time to recognise some of the most impressive new visuals that have been released each update cycle.
This month, the Sunburst marketplace visual was one of the standout additions, allowing users to harness and display their data in an engaging way.
This visual enables you to display hierarchical data as a set of nested rings, like a donut chart visual, except the levels are nested within one another.
The benefit of using Sunburst is that it allows you to clearly see the breakdown across all the categories, making it easier for readers to digest the data and spot important trends.
Some of its other key features include, customisable arcs, customisable detail and data labels, zoom animations and support for cross-highlighting and drillthrough.
Creating a strategy for success...
As the months pass, the Power BI platform becomes stronger and more effective, allowing businesses to transform their data into important insights.
The beauty of the app is in its commitment to quality, putting the interests of its userbase first and implementing changes in direct response to customer feedback.
Rather than introducing new features without thought, every update is tailored to address existing issues, while giving users greater creative freedom when it comes to reporting.
If you want to learn more about Power BI and the solutions available to your business, then contact our in-house team and begin creating a strategy for future success.