Power BI dataflows best practices for your business​

Power BI best practices

To harness the full potential of Power BI, it’s essential to follow best practices. We’ll explore the dos and don’ts, from data modeling and visualization design to dataflow optimization and security. These best practices will help you build efficient and reliable data solutions that drive your organization’s success.

1. Optimize Visual Quantity: Restrict the number of visuals on your reports and dashboards. It’s recommended to limit widget visuals to eight per report page and grids to one per page, with a maximum of 10 tiles per dashboard.
2. Gateway Selection: Choose the on-premises data gateway standard mode over personal mode. Standard mode is more efficient when dealing with large databases compared to personal mode.
3. Separate Gateways: Utilize separate gateways for Power BI service live connections and scheduled data refresh to prevent live connection performance degradation during scheduled refresh.
4. Efficient Data Modeling: Minimize complex measures and aggregations in data models by creating calculated measures rather than calculated columns. Try to push calculated columns and measures closer to the data source for improved performance.
5. Schema Selection: When possible, opt for a Star schema instead of a Snowflake schema, as it simplifies query structure, reduces joins, and minimizes data redundancy.
6. Slicer Usage: Use slicers judiciously, as they can impact performance. Each slicer generates two queries, affecting data retrieval. Consider the Filter pane to evaluate and remove unnecessary slicers.
7. Regional Alignment: Ensure that your reports and data sources are in the same region to reduce network latency, leading to faster data transfer and query execution.
8. Selective Data Import: Import only necessary fields and tables instead of entire data sets to keep the data model narrow and efficient.
9. Template Utilization: Use templates (.PBIT files) to expedite and standardize report development. Templates help in maintaining branding, connecting to data sources, and offering common DAX measures.
10. Query Reduction: Reduce the number of queries by using query reduction settings for slicers and filters, optimizing performance. Be cautious about bi-directional relationships against high-cardinality columns, as they can negatively impact report performance.

Leverage the benefits of Power BI for your organization

The benefits of Power BI extend far beyond data visualization. By using Power BI effectively, your organization can unlock new opportunities, streamline operations, and gain a competitive edge. We’ll dive into the ways Power BI can empower your organization to make data-driven decisions and improve overall efficiency.

In conclusion, if you’re looking to optimize your organization’s data analysis and visualization capabilities, Team Venti, a Microsoft Gold Partner, is here to assist. Our team has a deep understanding of Power BI, as well as expertise in Power Platform, Power Apps, and Power Automate. We can help integrate these Microsoft solutions seamlessly into your business processes, ensuring you make the most out of these powerful tools to drive success.

Book a no obligation consultation and take a deep dive into Power BI dataflows and see how they can revolutionize your data analytics journey.