Power BI

• Monitor data and have an insight of what is the current situation
• Predict or forecast
• Have a better decision

Power BI is not really a new reporting tool from Microsoft. It was introduced in 2010 as Project Crescent and then included in the SQL Server 2011.

For many years that have passed, Microsoft continues to advanced PowerBI, and it is among the four core products of Power Platform being given highlights by Microsoft.

Before jumping directly to developing reports, dashboards, and visualizations, it is necessary to understand Power BI basics.

PowerBI offers the Desktop version and Service version.

Power BI Desktop is a free downloadable version that you can install on your PC to build your reports. You won’t be able to share your created report easily.

While the Power BI Service is accessible via a browser, you need to have a paid license to build reports and share. 

Power BI Service has two different types of licenses: Pro & Premium.

You may try PowerBI for free for 60 days using this link – https://powerbi.com/

In addition to the basics mentioned above, in developing in PowerBI, we need to be mindful of the following essential topics which can affect the development of reports:

For full list – https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/#powerbi-comparison-table

There are two data connectivity modes: Import and DirectQuery.

• Import means that your data will be imported and loaded to Power BI. this will consume storage and memory.

• DirectQuery means having a direct connection to your data source to get the data.

DirectQuery has many caveats; thus should be assessed, especially if you are in a shared capacity. Don’t forget that in a shared capacity, you are limited to do a data refresh eight times per day.

Besides, if your data resides on-premises, you need to install and use a Data Gateway. Managing a data gateway has a particular requirement you can access from this link.

If you have encountered some performance issues, then most reported problems can be caused by different factors such as:

1. Capacity
2. Number of your data sources and how they are connected
3. Scheduled refresh
4. DirectQuery
5. Network latency / on-premise gateway

To check the health of Power BI service, check and follow this page https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/support/

For troubleshooting scenarios :

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/desktop-directquery-troubleshoot

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/refresh-troubleshooting-refresh-scenarios

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/service-gateway-onprem-tshoot