Building Interactive Dashboards

What is a Dashboard? #

A dashboard is a visual summary of data using charts, KPIs, and filters.

Goal:

• Show insights quickly
• Enable interaction
• Support decision-making

Preparing Data (Before Dashboard) #

Make sure:

• Data is cleaned (Power Query)
• Relationships are created
• DAX measures are ready

Example measures:

Total Sales = SUM(Sales[Amount])

Building Visualizations #

Adding Charts #

Go to Visualizations pane and choose:

Example Dashboard #

• Card → Total Sales
• Bar Chart → Sales by Region
• Line Chart → Monthly Sales

Drag & Drop Fields #

• Axis → Category (Region)
• Values → Sales

Making Dashboard Interactive #

Filters #

Types: #

• Visual-level
• Page-level
• Report-level

Example:
Filter only “2025” data

Slicers (Important) #

Add slicer:

• Choose field (Region, Date)
• Users click to filter

Drill-Down Feature #

Allows deeper analysis

Example:

• Year → Month → Day

Enable:

• Add hierarchy
• Click drill-down button

Tooltips #

Show extra info on hover

Example:

• Hover on chart → shows details

Cross-Filtering #

Click one chart → filters others automatically

Designing a Good Dashboard #

Layout Tips #

• Keep it simple
• Align visuals properly
• Use consistent colors

Best Practices #

• Highlight KPIs
• Avoid too many charts
• Use meaningful titles

Example Layout #

Top:

• KPI Cards

Middle:

• Charts

Side:

• Slicers

Creating Reports #

What is a Report? #

A report is a collection of dashboard pages

Each page shows different insights

Multiple Pages Example #

• Page 1 → Overview
• Page 2 → Sales Analysis
• Page 3 → Customer Insights

Navigation #

Add buttons:

• Insert → Buttons
• Link pages

Publishing Reports #

What is Publishing? #

Uploading your report to Power BI Service (cloud)

So others can access it

Steps to Publish #

1. Click Home → Publish
2. Sign in to Power BI account
3. Select workspace
4. Upload

Accessing Online #

Open browser → Power BI Service

• View dashboard
• Share with others

Sharing Reports #

• Share link
• Give access to users
• Embed in website

Refreshing Data #

Why Refresh? #

To update dashboard with new data

Types #

• Manual refresh
• Scheduled refresh

Exporting Reports #

• Export to PDF
• Export to PowerPoint

Real-World Example Workflow #

1. Import sales data
2. Clean in Power Query
3. Create DAX measures
4. Build dashboard
5. Add slicers & filters
6. Publish report
7. Share with team

Summary Table #