Power BI Customization

Your company has a unique way of defining important data and asking questions that can be answered with data. You may already have someone who is tech and data savvy that has developed great looking excel visuals. As they know, it is time-consuming to extract and format data so customizing Power BI data may be a massive time saver. For data nerds, this type of project can be exciting and beneficial to everyone involved.

If you already have a custom dashboard, and you want to know how to access it from within ActionFlow, jump below.

In order to customize dashboards, we provide a basic understanding of:
  • Power BI's filter and visualization functions
    • Learn how to make changes to the default dashboard
    • Learn how to create a dashboard from scratch
  • the ActionFlow Power BI data structure

Power BI Customization - Making Changes to the Default Dashboard

This video demonstrates how to make changes to the default dashboard provided by ActionFlow.

​NOTE: If you save a copy of the default dashboard and make changes, you will NOT get updates that we make to filters or visuals. We recommend only customizing the default dashboard if you have many significant changes in how you want to think about or view the visuals we provide. The underlying data will stay consistent so if you are happy with the dashboard as is and aren't concerned about potential future updates, this may still be a great option for you. 

Alternatively, you could create an entirely new custom report (see video below) if you are looking for new visuals and then reference both your single report and the default dashboard we provide.
  • Intro (0:00)​
  • Power BI Desktop App (0:05)
  • Get the default dashboard (0:40)
  • Visualizations and Fields Tabs (1:25)
  • ​Adding another year to the Range Selection (2:30)
  • Filtering fields/slicers (3:20)
  • Changing headers and page labels (4:10)
  • Changing/Adding fields in visuals (5:55)
  • Formatting visual colors (6:30)
  • Secondary Y-Axis (7:20)
  • Publishing the report to your workspace (8:10)
  • 2 Factor Authentication (8:40)
  • Using Power BI Online (9:15)
  • Word of Caution! (9:55)
  • Sharing reports with your team (10:50)

Power BI Customization - Building Dashboards from Scratch

You can build ActionFlow Power BI dashboards from scratch by tapping into the Data Model and creating your own visuals. This may be useful if the default dashboard does not have a visual close to what you are trying to display. This may also be useful if you are trying to organize pages or visuals to limit access for certain users or break out topics like "Sales" or "Installs and Templates" more clearly. 

When Power BI opens, you can access the data model by clicking "Get Data" and selecting "Azure Analysis Services database" and inputting the following information:
​
       Server: asazure://centralus.asazure.windows.net/aflowas
       Database: PowerBI_ActionFlow
       Live Connection

If you would like to format your dashboard similarly to the default dashboard, you can use the "Starter Template" provided.
  • Intro (0:00)
  • Get Data with Azure Analysis Services (0:18)​
  • Example: $T per process and filtered by date (1:30)
  • Formatting Date Slicers (2:45)
  • Example: $T by year (3:30)
  • Using the Starter Template (3:50)
  • Copying data and filters from the default dashboard (4:05)
  • Syncing filters (4:30)
  • Example: SqFt for Actions (5:30)
  • Formatting the Slicer font color (6:00)
  • Use Tables to test your data and make sure you understand data underlying the visuals (6:40)
  • Filtering on completed and uncompleted actions (7:30)
starter_template.pbix
File Size: 541 kb
File Type: pbix
Download File
You can also download the theme which will also help in matching the default dashboard formatting.​ See the image to the right to show how to add this downloaded theme to your report.
theme.json
File Size: 0 kb
File Type: json
Download File

ActionFlow Power BI Data Structure

This video provides a general overview of ActionFlow's Power BI data model which can help in understanding how current visuals are created and how you may design future visuals.
  • Intro (0:00)​
  • Data Model (0:30)
  • How Data gets filtered down (0:45)
  • Job Table (1:30)
  • Areas and Key Metrics (2:00)​​
  • The difference between 1 and 2 way filters (3:05)
  • Jobs vs Job History (Static vs Dynamic) (4:55)
  • What "Job Date" means and intro to dates in Power BI (7:20)
  • Job Custom Fields (9:55)
  • Inventory Tables (10:40)
  • Important Final Thoughts (12:18)
Dates in Power BI
In order to drill down and filter on dates, we create a date dimension table behind the scenes which links a number like 20220215 to fields: "2-12-2022," "February," "2022," "15" etc.

When we want to filter the Job History table on Date Completed, we reference the date dimension table behind the scenes in order to quickly link the 8-digit "Date Completed" number to the various elements of the date.  
Job History vs Job Actions
We since added a new table called "Job Actions." If you want to filter or look up information related to Actions, you want to use this table.

The "Job History" table is used behind the scenes to filter on when jobs changed from one status to the next. This table is a high level approach that is not intended to be used for key visuals.