/ˈpaʊər ˌbiː aɪ/
noun — "turning spreadsheets into flashy charts that make managers nod knowingly."
Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft that enables organizations to visualize, analyze, and share data in interactive dashboards and reports. It transforms raw data from multiple sources into insights, helping decision-makers understand trends, patterns, and performance metrics.
Technically, Power BI involves:
- Data connectors — importing data from databases, Excel files, cloud services, or APIs.
- Data modeling — cleaning, transforming, and structuring data for analysis.
- Interactive visualizations — creating charts, maps, and KPIs to summarize key metrics.
- Sharing and collaboration — publishing dashboards and reports for teams and stakeholders.
Examples of Power BI usage include:
- Visualizing sales trends and performance by region or product.
- Monitoring network uptime and Network Monitoring metrics in real-time dashboards.
- Analyzing customer behavior data for Business Intelligence purposes.
Conceptually, Power BI is the translator between raw data and human intuition—it turns numbers into stories that drive decisions.
In practice, Power BI complements Data Analysis, Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Dashboard creation to provide actionable insights across IT and business operations.
See Data Analysis, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Dashboard, Network Monitoring.