Designing Clear, Interactive Power BI Reports and Dashboards
Designing Reports and Dashboards is an intermediate-level course of 5 lessons (about 1 h 30 min), with 15 exercises and 15 quiz questions. Prerequisites: DAX Fundamentals, Data Storytelling and Presenting Results. The course needs a Windows virtual machine with Power BI, planned for a later phase of the platform.
- Power BI
- Intermediate
- 5 lessons
- 1 h 30 min
- 15 exercises
- Windows virtual machine (phase 2)
The course in brief
This course teaches you how to turn a data model into an effective report. You choose visuals based on business questions, structure your pages, use color with intent, then add drill-down, drillthrough, tooltips, bookmarks and field parameters. You finish with accessibility, mobile layout, performance and a full acceptance checklist before publishing.
What you will be able to do
- Choose the right visual for each question and avoid misleading charts
- Structure a page around reading direction and apply a consistent theme
- Set up drill-down, drillthrough, page tooltips, bookmarks and buttons
- Create conditional formatting, dynamic titles and field parameters
- Make a report accessible and create a mobile layout
- Measure performance and run an acceptance checklist before publishing
Syllabus: 5 lessons
- Match a business question to a family of visuals
- Avoid misleading or unreadable visuals
- Build a first page with suitable visuals
- 02
Layout, Visual Hierarchy and Color
- Organize a page into zones following the reading direction
- Use color with intent and in an accessible way
- Apply a consistent theme across the whole report
- 04
Conditional Formatting, Dynamic Titles and Field Parameters
- Apply conditional formatting by rules or by measure
- Create dynamic titles and texts
- Let the reader choose the axis or measure with field parameters
- 05
Accessibility, Mobile Layout, Performance and Acceptance Testing
- Make a report accessible (alt text, tab order, contrast)
- Create a mobile layout
- Check performance and quality before publishing
AccessibilityMobile layoutAcceptance testing and performance
Final project
First-Quarter Sales Dashboard
The retail chain's sales management wants a Q1 2026 performance report built on the sales and targets model. Design a three-page report: a summary (key indicators and references), an analysis (monthly trend, comparison of stores and categories, and an analysis axis of your choice) and a product detail page reachable through drillthrough. The report must be readable, accessible, usable on mobile and verified by an acceptance checklist.
Deliverables
- The report's .pbix file (3 pages, including a drillthrough page and a tooltip page)
- The JSON theme file used
- The summary page wireframe (photo or screenshot)
- The completed acceptance checklist, with the timings recorded by Performance Analyzer
Assessment criteria
- Visuals suited to the questions, every indicator accompanied by a reference
- Structured layout, intentional and consistent colors
- Working interactions: drillthrough (Fromage = 78 €), monthly tooltip, bookmarks, reset
- Measure-driven conditional formatting and correct dynamic titles
- Accessibility (alt text, tab order, labels), mobile layout and a documented acceptance checklist
Frequently asked questions
How many visuals should a report page have?
Generally 6 to 8 at most. Beyond that the message gets diluted and the page gets slower, because each visual sends its own queries.
What is the difference between drill-down and drillthrough?
Drill-down goes down a hierarchy within the same visual. Drillthrough opens another page of the report, filtered on the item you chose.
How do you make a Power BI report accessible?
Give every visual a title and alt text, set the tab order, take care of contrast and never use color as the only carrier of information.
What is a field parameter?
A table created by Power BI that lets the reader choose, through a slicer, the dimension or measure shown in a visual.
This course, told for your job
Say what you want to be able to do: “Designing Reports and Dashboards” takes its place in your path, with examples from your field. The concepts stay those of the course.