A common mistake for new Power BI users is not knowing the difference between reports and dashboards.
Although these terms are often used interchangeably, reports and dashboards have different functionality and serve different purposes. First and foremost, the content that you create within Power BI Desktop is known as a report. Even if it has a “dashboard” feel or contains multiple tabs, it’s still simply known as a report. A dashboard, however, can’t be created within Power BI Desktop. A dashboard is a collection of visuals from one or multiple reports that is assembled within the Power BI Service.
If you can make a report look like a “dashboard”, why would you ever need to create a real PBI Dashboard?
Typically, when you create a report, you model all data sources together to allow all visuals to interact with each other. A dashboard, on the other hand, allows you to pin visuals from several unrelated reports into one review. If you had a marketing report using dataset A and an HR report using dataset B, you can take a visual from each report and add it to a dashboard. Dashboards are traditionally utilized by executives who want to keep tabs on a variety of KPIs from various departments. Often times they don’t need to use the interactivity that a report offers – rather, they just need to quickly see a refresh view of all important metrics.
Advantages of a Dashboard
- Having a central place to view metrics from various reports
- For KPI visuals (gauge, KPI card, etc.), there is the ability to set alerts when a metric hits a certain number
- Ex: Receive an email notification when a percent-to-target metric exceeds 100%
- Allow end user to utilize natural language Q&A abilities
Disadvantages of a Dashboard
- Lose the ability to interact with pinned visuals
- Because these visuals can be sourced from multiple datasets, when you click inside of a visual, it does not perform typical interactions and instead acts as a hyperlink that takes you to the source report
- Doesn’t allow the ability to filter using slicers
Dashboards may not be utilized often, but there is a use case for them
I personally do not utilize Dashboards that often. I find that users are usually focused on one subject- matter and want the ability to filter and interact with visuals as a way to explore their data. However, if you have an individual that simply wants to monitor key metrics across multiple departments, Dashboards are a very nice option to have.
FAQs
dashboard is a single page, often called a canvas, that tells a story through visualizations” while “report is a multi-perspective view into a dataset, with visuals that represent different findings and insights from that dataset.” Due to its limitation to one page, a well-designed dashboard in Power BI contains only ...
What's the main difference between reports and dashboards in Power BI? ›
Remember, the primary purpose of a dashboard is to provide a real-time consolidated view of business performance, ideal for quick insights and monitoring. On the other hand, reports are designed for detailed, interactive analysis, enabling you to explore data in-depth and answer complex business questions.
What are the differences between a Power BI dataset and a report? ›
Report is where you can see the visualizations. Those visualizations are driven by your Dataset (contains your data model). That means you can also create multiple Reports from 1 Dataset. When you work in Power BI Desktop in Import mode, if you publish the pbix, it will generate a Report and Dataset in the workspace.
What is the difference between dashboard and visualization in Power BI? ›
Power BI shows a range of possible visuals on the working page, without data. A tile, on the other hand, is the result of placing data into a visual(ization). And by extension, a dashboard is a single-page collection of tiles, while a report is one or many related dashboards.
What is the purpose of a Power BI report? ›
Power BI lets you easily connect to your data sources, visualize and discover what's important, and share that with anyone or everyone you want.
Why are dashboards better than reports? ›
Reports tend to be broader and feature historic data. Because they must be delivered periodically, they represent a snapshot of a specific area or organization rather than its real-time situation. Dashboards, on the other hand, are built to visualize and organize data in real-time.
Which of these is a difference between a report and a dashboard? ›
A dashboard usually focuses on a theme to be explored over time, represented by indicators that are updated in real time and visualisations that show the evolution of the data over time. Reports, on the other hand, are used to monitor projects or themes of a specific duration.
What is the difference between a report and a dataset? ›
Data Sets define collections of records and can represent data stored in different sources and formats. They can read, insert, and remove records. Report Definitions generate SQL queries to retrieve and sort information from the PegaRULES database, an external database, or an Elasticsearch index.
What is the difference between dashboard and data dashboard? ›
Data dashboards are a summary of different, but related data sets, presented in a way that makes the related information easier to understand. Dashboards are a type of data visualization, and often use common visualization tools such as graphs, charts, and tables.
What is the difference between dashboard and visualization? ›
To recap, Data Visualization is the process of presenting information in a visual form. Its purpose is to promote quick and easy understanding of the information. A Dashboard is a snapshot, or summary, of a large set of information.
Dashboards are one of the easiest ways to visualize your company's data, which means you can easily understand how your business is operating on a daily basis. These tools allow you to gain insight into areas that need improvement as well as track performance so you know exactly where to focus your company's attention.
What is a visualization dashboard? ›
What is a data visualization dashboard? A data visualization dashboard is an interactive dashboard that allows you to track key metrics across multiple marketing channels, visualize the data points, and create reports for your clients that outline all your hard work.
