Chapter 7: Creating the Final Report

We have spent the last few chapters importing, scrubbing, and shaping data, and then carefully crafting it into a data model. In addition, we have learned about the many powerful features of Power BI that can help us unlock insights into our data.

All of this hard work is about to pay off. In this chapter, we will put all of these tools and techniques together into a final report that we can share with the organization! This chapter provides detailed steps regarding how to create a polished report. This will not only provide ease of use and valuable insights to the viewer but can also be easily created and maintained over time.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Preparing the final report
• Creating the final report pages
• Finishing up

Technical requirements

You will need to meet the following requirements to follow the instructions in this chapter:

• An internet connection.
• Microsoft Power BI Desktop.
• Download LearnPowerBI_CH7Start.pbix from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Learn-Power-BI-second-edition/tree/main/Chapter07.
• Check out the following video to see the Code in Action: https://bit.ly/3wvTk1i

Preparing the final report

Before we start creating the final version of our report, it is important to take a moment to get things in order concerning how the report will be created. A little bit of preparation can save a lot of time, headaches, and avoid rework. So, we'll start preparing for the final report in the following subsections.

Planning the final report

Continuing with the example scenario we introduced in Chapter 2, Planning Projects with Power BI, Pam takes a moment to contemplate the various groups of individuals within the company that the final utilization report will serve.

The main groups include the following:

• C-level executives
• Division managers
• Branch managers

Each group is interested in utilization but in slightly different ways. The C-level executives simply want a quick summary of the utilization numbers, whether it is meeting the desired goals, how utilization is trending, and so on. Division managers, on the other hand...

Creating the final report pages

Pam is finally done with the preparation. However, all of this preparation is about to pay off by making creating the rest of the final report pages far easier.

In the following subsections, we will create each of the seven pages of our report.

Creating the Executive Summary page

The first page we must create is the Executive Summary page. This page will display a quick snapshot of the most important information to the business executives. To create the Executive Summary page, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Template page and choose Duplicate Page.
2. Rename Duplicate of Template to Executive Summary.

Because this page is a duplicate of the Template page, all of the slicers on this page have the same group names that were defined for the slicers on the Template page. This means that the slicers on this page will be kept in sync with the slicers on the Template page; any other pages that are created will be done by duplicating...

Finishing up

Even though Pam has finished building her report, she still needs to test the report and clean up some loose ends.

In the following subsections, we will perform some final testing and cleanup on the report to ensure that everything works correctly and that the report is ready for business users to consume.

Testing

Pam decides to work through an example scenario to see how the report performs. To perform this test, do the following:

1. Start on the Executive Summary page. Here, we can see that the overall utilization is good and above our goal. All of the branches are above our target utilization. However, one Division, in particular, is noticeably below the average. This is the 3001 Management division. Let's investigate this Division further to see what is driving down utilization.
2. In the % Utilization by Division visual, right-click on the 3001 Management bar and choose Drill through and then Division Management. Checking the green dynamic title...

Summary

In this chapter, we learned about the importance of proper planning when creating a final report. Planning a report by thinking about how users will use and interact with the report will make the report creation process go more smoothly and help ensure that users find the report intuitive and easy to use. Thinking ahead about using sync slicers and report filters can save time and effort. Using a theme ensures that colors are consistent throughout the report and can also save time by reducing the amount of formatting that's required for visuals. Creating a page template can also save time and effort when creating multiple report pages.

While creating the various pages of the utilization report, we learned valuable lessons about how to overcome the limitations of certain visuals by using DAX, as well as how to use DAX to create dynamic titles that are helpful when working with the drill-through feature and how to add visual cues by using SVG and data categorization....

Questions

As an activity, try to answer the following questions on your own:

• What Power BI feature allows the report author to preset elements such as colors and font sizes?
• What are the three preparation steps that are taken before creating the final report pages?
• What feature keeps the settings for slicers consistent across pages?
• What type of visual can display the current value of a metric and the trend of that metric and track that metric against a goal?
• What two features of Power BI are used to allow report viewers to reset the slicers on a page?
• What DAX function can be used to determine whether a column has a single value?
• What Power BI feature allows ad hoc information to be entered into the data model?
• What two analytics features were used on the report pages?
• What report and data elements can be hidden from report viewers?

Further reading

To learn more about the topics that were covered in this chapter, please take a look at the following references:

• Using Report Themes in Power BI Desktop: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-report-themes
• Using gridlines and snap-to-grid in Power BI Desktop reports: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-gridlines-snap-to-grid
• Textboxes and shapes in Power BI reports: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/power-bi-reports-add-text-and-shapes
• Conditional table formatting: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-conditional-table-formatting
• Sort by column in Power BI Desktop: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-sort-by-column
• Using bookmarks to share insights and build stories in Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-bookmarks
• Using the Analytics pane in Power BI Desktop: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-analytics-pane
• Tips and tricks for creating...