Power BI is central to all reporting needs. As you expand the usage of PBI within the Project Environment, we wanted to share some helpful tips & tricks that will enable you and your team to interact with the reports, export and share reports and even visualize reports based on your needs.

Power BI Reports Basic Functions

Exporting Reports – reports, individual visuals, or data from a selected section or a report, may be exported to Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF using the export functions.

• Export entire report – select “Export” dropdown list from the top and choose how you would like to export the report. If exporting to PowerPoint or PDF, you can choose to export current values, default values, or only export the current page.

         

Exporting visuals or data – visuals or data from selected areas of a report can be exported by selecting the ••• icon for more options in the top right corner of any visual (table, graph, chart, etc.). Then, select “Export data” from the dropdown list.

Subscribing to Reports – subscribe to a report for yourself or on behalf of someone else. Set the cadence to weekly or daily or any report utilizing this function.

 

• Subscribe to Report – select “Subscribe to report” from the top tool bar within the report you wish to subscribe to you, or whomever you’re subscribing to,

will receive an email notification with the report live data at the scheduled frequency.

 

From the pop-up window, select “Create a subscription.” Then, set the cadence for your subscription and enter recipients’ names of who should receive the report. Once completed, select “Save” at the bottom.

 

Select Data to Export – When exporting the data used to create a visualization or table, you need to select an option from the “Which data do you want to export?” screen that appears after selecting “Export Data”. Administrators may limit export data options for users. You can select the file format you would like to export the data type into excel.

Focus Mode – any visual (chart, graph, table, etc.) can be visualized in full screen view by selecting the “Focus Mode” icon in the top right corner of a visual. Select “< Back to report” in the top left corner of the screen when finished to minimize image and return to the report.

 

 

 

 

Using Filters – Reports include several filter options based on the type of report. These filters are editable by administrators. To show the filter options, expand the right hand navigation filters by selecting the <<< in the top right corner of the screen. You can hide the filters by selecting <<< the arrows.

Filters are defaulted to select all options for each filter. Select multiple values for a filter by holding the control key to select multiple values to display on the report. If a value doesn’t appear in a filter, there is not an active project with that value in the system. In the example below, we can see the project managers filter selected on only (2) PM’s – Mia Reed & Neall Alcott. We can select additional PM’s to display on the report by holding the control key.

Selecting on Visuals – when you select on a visual, bar chart, pie chart or values in a table/grid, it will filter the data on the report based on that selection. Use control key to select more than one area on a visual. Selecting multiple areas of a visual will display information in other areas of the report only for the selected areas.

• In the example below, we have selected on (3) different projects by selecting the bars which represent them in the bar graph visual “Budget Forecast by Project”. As you can see, the table and other visuals automatically filter to only show data for those selected projects in the bar graph.

Expanding and Collapsing – the expand [+] and collapse [–] functions can be used on row headers next to each hierarchical level within reports to view data for each resource manager, role, and resource name with max units.

• In the example below, we can see that Meghan Maynard’s projects and tasks are currently collapsed (hidden) but Mia Reed’s projects and tasks are expanded (displayed). Data for any project manager can be visualized and hidden by selecting the expand [+] and collapse [–] functions, respectively.
• In the example below, you can see the detailed data for Mia Reed’s Projects when you expand initially, and then the tasks when you expand on individual project names associated with Mia Reed.

Sorting on Columns – columns can be sorted by selecting the column title to sort data by greatest to least or by most recent to latest, depending on the data being sorted.

• In the example below, the data in the table on the Program Health report is sorted to show the “Overall
  Health” KPIs in order of projects “On Track” first and those that are “Critical” last. We can reverse this
  order to show critical at the top by selecting the column again.
• The example below, in the Availability Heatmap, shows the Resource names column sorted to show
  values in alphabetical order, from A -> Z. Clicking the column header again will reverse the sorting order

Drill Through – allows you to select a value in a visual or table and drill-through to a different report showing the details for the value you have selected. This mechanism allows the option to drill through from a Project Name in a Portfolio report to that Project’s Status Report, by right-clicking the project name and choosing “DT – Status Report”, which would appear as an option in the pop-up after right-clicking on project name.

If Risk Management is a key objective, drill-through from a project name to the Risks Dashboard, is also available. This allows you to see details for at-risk or off-track projects with a high count of active risks or issues.

• In the example below, we can see by right-clicking on the project name “Acquisition Target Analysis”, in the Portfolio Health report, we can add the option in the pop-up for “DT – Status Report”, which would take you directly to the Status Report for that given project selected.

Teams Collaboration – sharing a Power BI report to teams is a very useful feature for Teams collaboration. You can share a report to a Teams chat, group, or channel. First, navigate to the report and set the filters for the report as you want them to be when shared. Then, select the “Chat in Teams” option, located above the report. A pop-up window will appear, where you can search for a Teams member, group, or channel. After choosing who to share wish, select “Share” in the pop-up window. The screen will then confirm your report has been shared and ask if you would like to “Close the Window” or “Go to Teams”. The receiver will have the option to “Open” and/or “Subscribe” directly from the chat sent in Teams.

• In the example below, we can see by right-clicking on “Chat in Teams” from the Resource Assignments report, in the pop-up window that appears, I have chosen to share the report with Mia Reed.
• We can also see in the example below, the option to add a custom message in the chat before sending it. In the example below, the message “Look at this report for the resource assignments!” has been added.