What is Power BI?

Power BI is both a piece of software and a larger ecosystem of products. Usually when people throw out the phrase “Power BI,” it’s in reference to the desktop authorship software. However, when discussing how most people will (visually) share the fruits of their work with others, it’s done so in the context of Power BI service, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that hosts Power BI datasets and reports that can be used by others who have access. Even beyond these two features, there are a wide variety of products in the family that allow you to embed reports into websites and other applications, view reports on your mobile device, and even have your own version of the SaaS solution on-premises. This book focuses on Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service since they are your most basic and valuable building blocks. Power BI Desktop is a tool for data investigation and visualization. Analysts can take data and create interactive reports that enable end users to garner insights that were previously buried. In finance, you might use Power BI to automate the generation of profit and loss (P&L) statements or analyze costs over time. In construction, you could use Power BI to identify variances in times to complete projects based on team composition or geographical factors. In retail, you might identify which of your products are the most successful, while pinpointing which ones might be on the cusp of taking off given a bit more of a push via a what-if analysis. According to Microsoft at the 2021 Business Applications Summit, 97% of the Fortune 500 uses Power BI in some capacity. So it’s a technology you can trust putting your time and effort into, if you’re looking for the kind of insight that transforms your enterprise. Or in my case, it’s the excuse to build a Pokédex for my daughter. Sometimes you just really want to be the best, like no one ever was.