With the rapidly evolving business architecture, the utilization of business decision making tools has become more critical. Among them Microsoft Power Platform, a suite featuring multiple integrated applications, like Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI and Power Virtual Agents takes a prominent place. This post primarily focuses on reporting options for business solutions including views, Microsoft Power BI visualizations, and dashboards that are part of the “PL-100 Microsoft Power Platform App Maker” exam.
Views in Power Platform
Views in Power Platform provide specific information required for diverse business solutions. It operates as a filter, displaying records from the database with specific columns and in specific orders based on the configured criteria. The customizable nature of views facilitates to create, delete, add columns, define sorting order, narrow down data through filters for a particular business requirement.
As an example, if a business wants to analyze the sales activities for the last quarter, they can create a view in the Power App. This view would specifically include columns related to sales, filtered for data from corresponding months, and sorted in descending order of the sale amount.
Microsoft Power BI Visualizations
Visualizations in Power BI refers to graphical representation of data. Wide-ranging types of visualizations are provided by Power BI including charts, graphs, maps, and more. It provides a visual summary that is much easier to interpret than raw data. The relations, trends and patterns observed in visualizations play a key role in influencing business decisions.
For instance, a business can use bar graphs of Power BI to visualize the number of products sold over a specific period. This will provide a clear understanding of the trend and help in making informed predictions for future sales.
Dashboards in Power Platform
Dashboards in Power Platform act as an interactive tool to track the metrics and KPIs real-time. It incorporates visualizations, reports, and other data in one place to provide a consolidated view. Dashboards in the Power platform are responsive and user-friendly and can be customized based on the user role and business requirements.
Let’s say a business wants real-time tracking of its sales, it can create a dashboard in the Power Platform. The dashboard may include components like a sales leader-board, daily targets, and live sales charts per region.
Comparison between Views, Power BI Visualizations, and Dashboards
| Criteria | Views | Power BI Visualizations | Dashboards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To filter and display data in specific orders | To create a graphical representation of data | To provide consolidated real-time status |
| Customizations | Highly customizable (filters, sorting orders) | Customizable (Types of charts, colors, axes) | Not highly customizable (Limited to components that feed data into dashboard) |
| Real-time data | Not usually real-time | Can display real-time data | Displays real-time data |
| Interaction | Data can be interacted, records opened | Mostly for visual purpose, limited interaction | Highly interactive, displays multiple types of data |
Thus, depending on your business requirements, you can utilize different reporting options provided by Microsoft Power Platform. Understanding these options will give you a strong foundation for the PL-100 Microsoft Power Platform App Maker exam. Further, it will help in designing effective solutions that are beneficial for your business.
Practice Test
Business analysts can make use of views in Microsoft Power Platform to present data in an organized manner.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Views in the Microsoft Power Platform are valuable tools for business analysts. They allow you to organize and present data in a way that makes sense for your business.
Power Bi only supports tabular data; complex data like images and spatial data cannot be visualized.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Power BI supports a variety of data types including images and spatial data and can visualize this data in a range of different formats.
What type of Power BI visualizations can be utilized on Microsoft Power Platform?
- Histograms
- Bar charts
- Pie charts
- All of the above
Answer: All of the above
Explanation: All manner of Power BI visualizations, including histograms, bar charts, and pie charts, can be utilized on the Microsoft Power Platform to present data in visually pleasing ways.
Power BI dashboards cannot be embedded into a Power App.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Power BI dashboards can be embedded into Power Apps, this enhances the data analysis capabilities of the app.
Dashboards in Microsoft Power Platform provide real-time updates to stay current with business data.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Power Platform dashboards provide real-time updates, including live streaming data, to keep users informed with the most current business data.
Power BI visualizations don’t support drill-down or interactive functionality.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Power BI visualizations do support drill-down and interactive functionality. This allows users to delve deeper into data for detailed analysis.
Power BI dashboards are an effective way to obtain a comprehensive summary of business data.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Power BI dashboards provide a consolidated view of business data, thereby providing the ability for a comprehensive summary.
A ‘View’ in Power Platform can be created to filter and display data in a specific format to analyze trends.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: ‘Views’ in Power Platform are used to represent data in a particular manner to analyze trends effectively.
Power BI visualizations do not support data source connectivity to Microsoft Excel.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Power BI visualizations do support data source connectivity to various platforms including Microsoft Excel.
Power BI visualizations can be shared across the organization even if the user doesn’t have a Power BI Pro license.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: To share Power BI visualizations across the organization, a Power BI Pro license is required. Without it, sharing isn’t possible.
Interview Questions
What is Microsoft Power BI?
Microsoft Power BI is a business analytics service provided by Microsoft. It provides interactive visualizations with self-service business intelligence capabilities, enabling end users to create reports and dashboards by themselves without having to depend on information technology staff.
How would you define a Power BI visualization?
A Power BI visualization is a graphical representation of data in a report. The visualizations are used to make data more understandable and can be in the form of charts, graphs, maps, and other visual formats.
What are views in business solutions reporting?
Views in business solutions reporting are predefined filters or queries that allow users to see specific subsets of data in a convenient format.
How would you create a new visualization in Power BI?
To create a new visualization in Power BI, you select the visualization type from the Visualization pane, and then you drag and drop the fields you want to include from the Fields pane to the visualization.
Can a single report have more than one view in Power BI?
Yes, a single report can have more than one view in Power BI. You can create different views by applying different filters or by creating different pages within the same report.
What are the key components of a Power BI Dashboard?
The key components of a Power BI Dashboard are tiles (the actual visualizations of the data), navigation pane (that allows switching between various views and dashboards), and dashboard canvas (where the tiles are placed and arranged).
Can you share a Power BI dashboard with others?
Yes, Power BI allows you to share dashboards and reports with others within your organization. You can also publish reports to the Power BI service where users can view and interact with them.
What is the role of slicers in Power BI visualizations?
In Power BI, slicers are used to filter the visualized data. A user can select an option within the slicer and the visualizations present on the page adjust according to the chosen filter.
How can you refresh data in a Power BI report?
To refresh data in a Power BI report, you can use the “Refresh Now” button in the Power BI service, or schedule an automatic refresh in the dataset settings.
How can R scripts be employed in Power BI?
R scripts can be used in Power BI to create data models, transformations, and visualizations that are not natively available in Power BI. This allows for more sophisticated and custom analyses.
What is drill-through in Power BI?
Drill-through in Power BI allows you to create a page in your report which focuses on a specific entity such as a specific product or a department. It is used to provide detailed information about that entity.
Can custom visuals be imported into Power BI?
Yes, Power BI allows users to import custom visuals. You may either use visuals created by others or create your own using the Power BI Custom Visual SDK.
How can tooltips be customized in Power BI?
Tooltips can be customized in Power BI using the “Tooltip” pane in the Visualizations pane. You can change fields, format, and general options for the tooltip according to your needs.
Can Power BI connect to different data sources?
Yes, Power BI can connect to a range of data sources including cloud-based data sources, SQL Server, Excel files, web services, and more.
How can Power BI service be accessed?
Power BI service can be accessed through your web browser by signing into your Power BI account. You can also use the Power BI mobile app to access reports and dashboards on your smartphone.
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