Using Power BI for Digital Storytelling

In the data driven business world we need the tools that allow us to better understand our data. Power BI is the best tool out there for your data. And now it’s even better with the new features that have been released over the past few months, offering a great way to extend Power BI and make it a more efficient storytelling tool.

In a recent webinar, Pragmatic Works’ Training Director, Devin Knight, gave insight into leveraging these new features and walked through demos to create different reports. Here’s a run-down of the new features within Power BI:

Drillthrough

Drillthrough allows you to look at a report and drill down into a more detailed report. All you do is right click on an item in your report to get more detail and go deeper into the data. It is easy to enable this Drillthrough filter to a chosen item on your report and it automatically works on all reports that use this field.

Bookmarks

This feature is one of the more innovative things that have been added to Power BI. Bookmarks allow you to take a snapshot view of your report at a certain point in time. You can add Bookmarks and update existing Bookmarks – no need to delete and recreate them as with other tools in the past. You can use the View feature to play through each Bookmark that you have.

Selection Pane

The Selection Pane feature gives you the ability to show or hide certain visuals or items in your report. Whatever features you’ve added to a report, such as an image, a map, a slicer or a report table, you can determine what is shown or hidden in your report. A great tool to integrate with Bookmarks.

Spotlight

The Spotlight feature enables you to put emphasis on one visual above all others. Other visuals within the report will be grayed out, leaving the visual you chose highlighted. These features are easy to turn on and when used in combination, they give you much better ability to use Power BI for digital storytelling.

Power BI is an amazing tool to help you to visualize and understand your data. If you’re not up to speed on Power BI, we can get you there. Pragmatic Works On-Demand Training platform offers 8 Power BI courses, ranging from beginner-level to more advanced. We recently added 2 new courses, Power BI for Consumers and Power BI Administration. All of our courses are taught by industry experts and Microsoft MVPs. Let Power BI and its new features get you on your way to becoming a digital storyteller and gain a better understanding of your data.