Creating a Power BI Design Way of Working
Why you should have one and how to get started!
Power BI is an incredibly powerful tool that enables us to connect to diverse data sources, transform and model data, and build interactive reports and dashboards. While the freedom to create a report tailored to your needs is great, managing multiple reports or collaborating with others can become complex.
Without a consistent approach, organizations with numerous reports and developers often face challenges related to scalability, maintainability, and user experience. Therefore, creating a Power BI Way of Working becomes crucial once an organization begins using Power BI.
Moreover, within Power BI, there are various areas where a defined Way of Working can have a significant impact. These include data modeling, naming conventions, visualization guidelines, and workspace and app management, to name a few.
Why Develop a Power BI Way of Working?
A well-defined Way of Working for Power BI ensures:
- Consistency: Your end user knows what to expect across reports.
- Scalability: Adding new reports and maintaining older ones becomes manageable.
- Maintainability: Errors are reduced, and updates are easier to implement.
- Collaboration: Developers and designers work seamlessly together.
Having a Way of Working doesn’t mean that there is no more room for creativity. Instead, it is a supportive framework to help teams make informed decisions faster. Over time, as your team gains more experience, your Way of Working will evolve to incorporate new insights and methodologies.
An example: A Power BI design Way of Working
Here are a few topics that could be part of a Way of Working for Power BI report design. Looking at this list, it becomes clear that even choosing one area to start with involves many choices.
- Canvas Settings: Decide on dimensions like 16:9 or custom size (e.g., for larger screens or printable formats).
- Typography: Choose fonts and sizes for titles, subtitles, legends, and labels. Users will appreciate a consistent and easy-to-read design.
- Conditional Formatting is a great tool if used well, but it’s easy to overdo it. Decide how and when to use it for clarity, not clutter.
- Colors: Choose a color palette that works across reports. This improves readability and helps users immediately recognize key information.
- Navigation: If your reports have multiple pages, include clear descriptions and make it easy to navigate.
- Tooltips and Drill-throughs: These features can add depth to your reports. Decide on best practices to avoid overwhelming users with too much or irrelevant detail.
- Accessibility: To make reports accessible to a broader audience, consider colorblind-friendly palettes, readable font sizes, and keyboard navigation.
- Templates: Do you want to use background templates or design everything with shapes? You should take one approach and stick to it.
- Core Visuals: Decide upfront if you feel comfortable using anything other than core visuals.
Where to Start?
Whichever part of Power BI you chose to create a Way of Working – It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you try to tackle everything at once. To keep it manageable, I suggest these three steps:
- Start with one topic: Choose an area that will have the most impact and focus your efforts there.
- Collaborate: Involve others to gather diverse insights and perspectives. A shared approach will work better for everyone.
- Keep others informed: If a team will be using this Way of Working, share updates and collect feedback throughout the process. It’s easier for people to embrace changes when they’ve had time to understand the why and the how.
A Way of Working should grow with you. Start simple, adapt as you learn, and build something that truly supports your team.
Feeling Stuck? Try a Brainstorm session!
Even after narrowing down a topic, the process of creating a Power BI Way of Working can feel overwhelming. Brainstorming is a simple yet effective method to organize your ideas and focus on what matters most. Here’s how:
- Gather your team: Choose a topic to focus on—such as report design—and invite team members with diverse perspectives.
- Set a timer: Spend 10–15 minutes writing down all the ideas that come to mind regarding the chosen topic, no matter how big or small.
- Group your ideas: Organize related ideas into subcategories for better clarity.
- Prioritize together: Discuss the subcategories and decide where to start. For example, if a report template or font guidelines will make the biggest impact, focus on that first.
This approach helps break the process into manageable steps while encouraging collaboration and input from your team.
Step-by-Step Development
Step by step, your Way of Working will transform into a comprehensive guide that streamlines report design and collaboration within your team. There is always room to expand and refine it further as your team grows and learns.
Do you need help getting started or refining your Way of Working for Power BI? I’d be happy to guide you and your team through the process. Just click contact in the menu at the top, and I will get back to you!