Dashboard in Power BI

Creating Power BI Dashboard

There is some basic knowledge required on how to create a dashboard in power bi and they can be such as to know the relationship between a dashboard and a report, and basic steps such as how to import a data set on our workspace and chose right visualization.

Creating a dashboard isn’t easiest job because you need to think like an architect who designs something. As an architect, it is his responsibility to design things and decide on what is needed and what is not required. Similarly, when you are creating a dashboard in power BI, you need to think like an architect and overview your design of the dashboard before you actually start doing it.

To create a dashboard you need data to work with, so you can download the excel workbook template from the below link which is used for this example.

How to Create a Dashboard in Power BI?

To create a dashboard, you need to have large amount of data that has plenty of information.

• Below is the data we are going to use to create a dashboard in Power BI, you can download the workbook to practice along with us.

• The first thing you need to do is to download the workbook, then open Power BI software and upload the data.

Remember this is not excelling spreadsheet to straight away build a dashboard, we need some extra columns from existing columns. For example, if you want a unique customer count then we don’t have a column for that.

First, we will calculate the measures that are required for our dashboard building. Create below calculated measures first.

• To store all the calculated measure lets create a separate table, click on “Enter Data” under the Home tab.

• This will open up new table data entry form, just give a name and hit the enter key.

• Now we will have a new table below.

• In this table, we will store all our calculations. The first calculation we need is we need the unique customer count, for this right-click on the table and choose “New Measure”.

• This will open up the formula tab and give the name as “Customer Count”.

• Open the “DISTINCTCOUNT” DAX function.

• This formula will count all the unique values from the selected column. Since we need unique values to count for customers, select the customer name column.

• You can add the comment for this formula below as shown in the below image.

• Now to understand how this column works insert Table visual from the visuals list.

• Drag and drop Month name first, then “Customer Count” and “Customer Name”.

Click on the “Customer Name” drop-down and choose “Count”.

• Now the table shows the two different numbers on the table.

In the month of “April,” total customer count is “203” but unique customer count is just “109”.

• Now create a new measure for “Total Sales” value, for this right-click choose a new measure and insert the below formula.

• Now using the above column we can calculate each month’s percentage contribution against overall sales. Enter the below measure.

Ok, this is enough to create a simple Dashboard.

Steps to Create a Dashboard in Power BI

• First, we will create a “card” visual to show total sales, total cost, and total profit values. Insert “card” visual and insert the “Sales” field.

• Under the “Format” tab we can design this card to apply beautification.

• I have applied formatting for the card and my card visual look like this now.

• Copy and paste the same visual but change fields as “Total Units Sold” and “Total Profit”.

• Now insert Table visual to show sales, % contribution, and Profit values.

• Drag and Drop fields as shown below.

• Now table visual showing the numbers like this.

• For this table, we will apply some conditional formatting. Click on the drop-down list of the “Sales” column and choose “Conditional Formatting”.

• Choose “Background Color” and enter the rules as shown below.

• Click on “Ok” and we will have a table with “Sales” column formatted like this.

• For the “Profit” column choose “Icon Set” and enter the rule as shown below.

• Click on “Ok” and our “Profit” column formatted with icons.

Apply some formatting for the table to make it look beautiful. I have applied some formatting, you can download the Power BI file and apply formatting accordingly.

• My table looks like this now.

• Now add “Funnel Chart” to show “Sub-category –wise” sales values.

• At the bottom add slicers to filter the data. I have inserted slicer for “Segment”, “Region”, and “Ship Mode”.

Now our simple dashboard is ready to use. You can use slicer in excel filters to interact with the dashboard visuals.

Note: To apply DAX Formulas we need data, you can download the Power BI file to get the ready table.

Things to Remember

• While creating a dashboard in Power BI knowledge of DAX formulas is very important because not all the time we will have all the required columns in place.
• Use simple colors, never look for fancy colors.
• Adjust visuals length and width to fit the dashboard on one page.

Recommended Articles

This has been a Guide to Create a Dashboard in Power BI. Here we discuss how to create a Power BI dashboard using DAX formulas to count all unique values from the column selected. You can learn more about Power BI from the following articles –

• Power BI Features
• Dashboard in Excel
• KPI Dashboard in Excel
• Visuals in Power BI
• Power BI IF Statement