Create a Dashboard in Power BI

Last Updated :

21 Aug, 2024

Blog Author :

Wallstreetmojo Team

Edited by :

Ashish Kumar Srivastav

Reviewed by :

Dheeraj Vaidya

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Creating a Dashboard in Power BI

Dashboards can tell the story in a single page view and are also an interactive tool. So, Power BI is best suited to create such kinds of interactive dashboards. So, we will show you how to create an interactive sample sales dashboard in Power BI.

Below is the data we are using to build a dashboard. It is the dummy data of various mobile phones sold in different cities of India. You can download the Excel workbook to create a dashboard in Power BI.

Power-BI-Dashboard-Sample-Data

You can download this Power BI Dashboard Sample Excel Template here -

How to Create a Sample Sales Dashboard in Power BI?

Follow the below steps to create a sample sales dashboard in power bi.

Upload Data to Power BI

Step 1: Open the Power BI file, and go to the “Home” tab. Click “Get Data” and choose the data source as “Excel.”

Upload Data to Power BI - Step 1

Step 2: Choose the file from the saved location and click “Open.”

Upload Data to Power BI - Step 2

Step 3: Before you upload the file, it will ask you to choose the Data Table, so choose the table name (My table name is “Mobile_Sales”) and click on “Load” to upload the selected table data to Power BI.

Upload Data to Power BI - Step 3

It will take some time to upload.

Now, we can see the data in the “Data” view.

Upload Data to Power BI - data in the “Data” view

Create New Calculated Column

  • From the Data Table, we have only “Units Sold” and “Price Per Unit” only, so we need to calculate “Total Sales.” Right-click on the table name and choose “New Column.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 1

  • It will ask you to name the column first, so give it a name as “Total Sales.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 2

  • This column will be calculated by multiplying “Units Sold” by “Sale Price.” So from the table, choose the “Units Sold” and “Sale Price” columns.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 3

It will create a new column in the table as “Total Sales.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 4

  • We need to format this column as “Currency,” so select the column, go to “Modeling,” and choose the format as “Rupee.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 5

  • Come back to the “Report” view now.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 6

In this “Report” view, we will create a dashboard now.

  • First, insert the title bar for the dashboard. Next, go to the “Home” tab, click on “Shapes,” and choose the “Rectangle” shape.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 7

  • Draw this shape at the top of the page.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 8

  • Change the background color of this shape, and select the shape. It will open up the “Format Shape” option to the right side.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 9

  • Click on Fill >>> Fill Color >>> Custom Color.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 10

  • Power BI works on HEX color codes so that we can get the color codes from the “color-hex.com” website. So, you can choose the color code (without #) you wish to have and paste it.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 11

  • Now, our shape is filled with a blue color.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 12

  • Now, from the “Home” tab, insert the “Text box.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 13

  • Type the text as “Sales Dashboard.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 14

  • Place this on the shape, and change the font color to white.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 15

  • Now, we need to create slicer visuals. From the Visualization tab, insert a blank slicer, and select the “Date” column from the data table for the slicer “Field.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 16

Create New Calculated Column - Step 16.1

  • We need to design this slicer, so choose the slicer and click on the “Format” option. Next, choose “Data inputs” and apply the below changes.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 17

  • Now, our start and end dates are formatted like the below.

18Create New Calculated Column - Step 18

  • Now, change the background color.

18Create New Calculated Column - Step 19

Like this, you can change the border and other things. So, now our “Date” slicer looks like this.

18Create New Calculated Column - Step 20

Like this, we need to create four more slicers to have “City,” “Product,” “Manager,” and “Date” columns. Copy and paste the same slice but change the field column and header of the slicer, respectively. We have created similar slicers, and below is the same image.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 21

  • Let us insert the Card visual to show the “Total Sales” value.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 22

The Card visual shows the total sales value.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 23

  • Now, design the card through the formatting section, which looks like this.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 24

Create New Calculated Column - Step 25

  • Insert the “Doughnut” chart to show “City-wise Sales Value.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 26

  • Insert “TreeMap” to show “Manager-wise Sales Value.”

Create New Calculated Column - Step 27

One final visual we will add is the “Date-wise” sales value.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 28

So, finally, our “Sales Dashboard” in Power BI looks like this.

Create New Calculated Column - Step 29

Like this, by using Power BI, we can create interactive dashboards.

Note: We have done so much formatting to these charts. You can download the Power BI sample dashboard file from the below link and apply each formatting technique as applied.

You can download this Power BI Dashboard Sample Template here

Things to Remember

  • If the required column is not in the data, we must create it using the DAX function.
  • To get attractive colors, search on the web about Hex color codes.
  • We must always maintain the dashboard with the most important data.