Companies all over the United States are discussing data visualization and data science. Every business aspires to create a meaningful picture out of its data. Many businesses and individuals are using Microsoft’s Power BI, a free or low-cost tool.

Power BI Pros

Learning Curve

First and foremost, Power BI is a simple tool to work with. Excel’s data visualization tools have been taken to a new level with this new version of pivot tables. Making charts, graphs, and tables that make sense of the data is not difficult once the data is in a Power BI dataset. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Excel should be able to do it. Slicers in Power BI reports allow you to narrow down the scope of your report to only include data that meets certain criteria. One report can show sales by month for a single customer and compare sales by a person for a single product line for the previous month. Within a period of six months, I believe you can achieve power user status.

Custom Visualization

Power BI has a slew of tools and widgets for bringing data to life in the form of the previously mentioned information tableau. Visualization aids in the translation of data science into actionable business intelligence. Power BI has a wide variety of graphs and charts, just like Excel. In addition, maps and gauges can be used to transform data into information. A KPI visualization and an “R script visualization” are available (presumably for data science applications). Multiple visualizations can be included in a single report. To enhance the reading experience, reports include title boxes and cards. Reports in a dashboard can all be affected by slicers, or only one report can be affected. Data can be drilled down to a more specific report by clicking on it. Power BI is a powerful data analytics tool because of all of these features.

Constant Updates and Innovations

Frequent updates are the third pro on our list of pluses and minuses. Every month, Microsoft releases new versions of Power BI. In addition, Microsoft listens to its customers. Submitting ideas for improvement is a simple process. This makes it more likely that the most frequently requested features will be implemented in the next release. In addition, updating is a breeze. If an update is due, Power BI will let you know when you open the program. The latest version can be downloaded and installed by clicking the link.

Excel Integration

Power BI’s ability to export data to Excel is another useful feature. It doesn’t matter how good a data visualization tool is; people still prefer doing their own analysis in Microsoft Excel. With Power BI, this is a piece of cake. The first step is to use the slicer tools in a report to narrow the scope of the data. For example, a factory’s production data for the past three months To save the data in Excel, just a few simple clicks open a dialogue box. Now that Excel has been updated, you can see the underlying data that powers the visualization.

It is possible to use Power BI on multiple platforms. Any web browser can be used to access this web application. There is a desktop version that can be used offline to create and analyze data visualizations. It’s possible to run Power BI on a smartphone or tablet. An organization’s operations can be viewed at any time, from any location, by its managers.

Cost

Let’s start with the positives. As previously stated, Power BI is a low-cost option. If you want to create your own reports, you can use them for free. Co-workers can use Power BI files created by one person to analyze data. In this scenario, each user would have their own Power BI account and would be responsible for maintaining their own data and reports. Cloud or on-premises hosting options are available from Microsoft if a group needs to access the same reports and data. This service comes with a small fee per user, but it’s surprisingly affordable.

Microsoft Power BI Desktop – Free

Power BI Cloud – $9.99 a month

Tableau–$70.00

Tableau’s Cloud Service is $35 per month.

Power BI Cons

User Interface

Power Bi’s user interface is bloated and difficult to navigate. If you have the side par and formula help windows open, vitals may be hidden from view. Even though it may take some time and effort to implement a scrolling dashboard, it would be nice to have this as a default.

Data Handling Capacity for Free Versions

Another con is the ability to work with huge amounts of data. Power BI has a limit on the amount of data it can ingest. (I think it is about 2GB). After the data hits the limit, you have to upgrade to the paid version of Power BI. Also, ingesting millions of rows of data takes a long time. This is not necessarily Power BI’s problem, but it can be frustrating if you are making datasets with huge amounts of data. The free version also samples data, exporting it in large amounts.

Rigid Formulas

Power BI has its flaws, but they’re not insurmountable. Formulas can be used to create new data, but there are some restrictions. Concatenate statements also exist, but they are limited to two elements. Nest the concatenate statements if you want to combine multiple elements. Power BI becomes more difficult to use when reports go beyond simple visualizations. It’s not the most flexible language, but DAX allows you to perform a wide variety of custom calculations. However, the outcome of these can always be translated well visually.

Visuals configure ability

While most of the custom visuals aren’t customizable, the native visuals are and most of the custom visuals aren’t. There is a common desire to improve the visuals, but there are limits to what can be done to achieve this goal.

Table Relationships

Finally, the way that Power BI handles relationships between tables is rigid. When there are two ways to connect two tables, it does not like it. If you need to join tables, you may need to create new fields in the tables themselves. Allowing you to select multiple fields from one table and link them to another would be ideal.

Analysing data has never been easier with Power BI. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Anyone familiar with Excel pivot tables, charts, and basic formulae can begin to use Power BI for quick data transformation.

Final Words

Many businesses and individuals are using Microsoft’s Power BI, a free or low-cost tool. Slicers in Power BI reports allow you to narrow down the scope of your report to only include data that meets certain criteria. Multiple visualizations can be included in a single report. It can be used offline or online to create and analyse data visualizations. Some users may find the user interface bloated and difficult to navigate, but overall, it’s an Editors’ Choice.

The free version of Power BI samples data, exporting it in large amounts. It’s not the most flexible language, but DAX allows you to perform a wide variety of custom calculations. There is a common desire to improve the visuals, but there are limits to what can be done.