Welcome to Part 5 of our blog series “Power BI Enhancements You Need to Know”, where we uncover the features that are transforming the Power BI experience for developers and users alike. In this post, we're exploring one of the most intuitive and time-saving features recently introduced: On-Object Interaction in Power BI.

Power BI continues to evolve, and the Copilot feature is a game-changer for anyone looking to build insightful reports quickly. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to leverage Power BI Copilot for rapid, automated report creation—even if you have minimal experience with DAX or complex data modeling.

Welcome to Part 4 of our Power BI enhancement series! In this installment, we'll explore the Task Flow feature in Microsoft Fabric, a powerful tool designed to streamline your data projects by providing a visual representation of workflows within your workspace.

In Part-1 of this series, we explored how the Power BI workspace evolved with Microsoft Fabric.
In Part-2 we introduced OneLake – the single, unified data foundation for your entire organization.

Now it’s time to talk about one of the most transformative upgrades in performance and scalability for Power BI users

In Part-1 of this series, we explored how the Power BI workspace has evolved from a simple reporting environment into a multi-functional data platform, thanks to Microsoft Fabric.

Now, let’s unlock one of the biggest game-changers in this transformation.

Power BI is no longer just a data visualization tool – it’s now the central engine of the entire Microsoft Fabric ecosystem.

This post focuses on one of the most frequently asked questions: What is the Microsoft Fabric licensing model? and provides comparison with the Power BI licensing structure to highlight their similarities and differences

When Power BI reports run slowly, the issue often lies not in the visuals, but in the data model itself. Focusing solely on DAX formulas isn’t enough to solve performance problems. In this post, I’ll share three powerful yet often overlooked techniques to optimize your data model and boost report performance.

Note: This may not be a typical community blog discussing DAX techniques or visualization tips. Instead, it reflects observations from working with data in finance roles, specifically around master data maintenance and its downstream impact on Power BI reporting.

In many organizations, the process for maintaining master data—cost centers, chart of accounts, vendor codes, and the like—follows a seemingly structured flow. Requests are submitted, routed to the appropriate approvers (often Finance leadership), and entered into the system upon approval. On the surface, this appears to tick the box of SOX compliance.

Power BI continues to reshape the world of data analytics with its monthly updates. The May 2025 release brings groundbreaking improvements in user experience, modeling, and visualization. In this post, we’ll explore three powerful features that haven’t yet been deeply covered in the community blog—but are sure to make a big impact.

Power BI in Fabric provides developers with multiple options for selecting a semantic layer. Various considerations can help you choose the appropriate semantic modelling strategy to meet your business objectives. The choice of semantic modelling strategy involves several factors. This discussion will examine the implications of each mode for both BI and Excel users.

Make Smarter Marketing Moves with a Unified Power BI Dashboard

Optimize Campaigns & ROI with an Omnichannel Power BI Dashboard

Customers engage with businesses across a multitude of touchpoints — social media, email campaigns, paid ads, organic search, and more. With such a fragmented marketing ecosystem, understanding which channels truly drive high-quality leads, align with sales goals, and deliver the best return on investment can feel overwhelming.

Many organizations find themselves relying on siloed tools and platforms, each offering only a piece of the customer puzzle. This disjointed view makes it difficult to track performance, calculate ROI or ROAS accurately, and coordinate efforts between sales and marketing teams. The result? Missed opportunities, inefficient budget allocation, and a reactive approach to strategy.

But what if all your data could converge into a single, interactive dashboard, offering a clear, unified view of your customer journey and campaign effectiveness? That’s exactly what the omnichannel dashboard by Power BI delivers.

Designed to be both powerful and user-friendly, this dashboard empowers marketing and sales teams to make data-driven decisions with confidence. From real-time performance tracking to cross-channel attribution, it provides the insights needed to optimize strategies, maximize ROI, and work in sync — all from one centralized hub. It untangles complex data and transforms your marketing and sales strategy from reactive to proactive.

What is an Omnichannel Dashboard?

An omnichannel dashboard is a centralized reporting system that brings together data from web, social media, email campaigns, CRM, sales platforms, paid ads, and more, giving you a 360-degree view of your customer journey and campaign performance. It helps businesses like yours identify:

• The most effective channels
• Customer drop-off points in the funnel
• Revenue-driving tactics
• Campaign ROI in real time

Key Components of an Omnichannel Dashboard

• Overall Insights
  Get a bird’s-eye view of leads, conversions, revenue, and engagement metrics across all platforms.

• Leads Analytics
  Understand where your leads are coming from, which channels convert best, and where they drop off.

• Sales & Opportunity
  Monitor your pipeline — from first contact to deal closure.

• Paid Media Analytics
  Deep dive into ad performance on Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.

• Web Analytics
  Analyze user behavior on your site, bounce rates, top-performing content, and more.
  
  

Visualizing the Marketing Funnel: A Real-Life Use Case

Imagine this — a lead has just entered the funnel at the MAL (Marketing Accepted Lead) stage, full of potential and promise. As they progress toward becoming an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead), the journey gets tougher, with more scrutiny and higher expectations. This is where your sales team steps in, working diligently to ensure the lead stays engaged and doesn’t fall through the cracks. With timely follow-ups, personalized outreach, and the right nudges, the lead eventually converts and becomes a Closed Customer (C-Cust), completing the funnel journey.

This animated funnel isn't just fun — it tells the story of conversion, making your data relatable and powerful.

How Power BI Supercharges this Journey

Power BI acts as the engine behind this funnel visualization, offering capabilities that simplify and elevate your marketing and sales analytics.

• Data Integration

Whether you're using HubSpot, Salesforce, Google Analytics, or LinkedIn Ads, Power BI connects them all, ensuring your dashboard is always powered by real-time, accurate data.

• Interactive & Engaging Visuals

  With animated funnel charts, custom measures, tooltips, and drill-throughs, Power BI lets you create visuals that don’t just inform — they tell a story.

  • ROI/ROAS Calculation at Your Fingertips

  Track your Return on Investment (ROI) or Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) per channel with calculated measures and custom KPIs.

  • Collaboration Made Easy

  Need to share insights with your team? Power BI allows seamless sharing across departments via Power BI Service or Teams integration.

Best Practices for Building Your Omnichannel Dashboard

Creating an effective omnichannel dashboard in Power BI isn’t just about loading in data — it’s about turning that data into meaningful insights that drive smarter decisions. Here are some key best practices to keep in mind:

• Keep Visuals Clean and Focused on Outcomes
  Avoid clutter and information overload. Choose visuals that communicate performance against your goals, such as lead conversion rates, ROI, or campaign effectiveness. Every chart or graph should have a purpose and guide the viewer toward actionable insights.
  
• Use Drill-throughs for Deeper Exploration
  Surface-level metrics are useful, but the real strength of Power BI lies in its ability to let users explore the "why" behind the numbers. Set up drill-throughs that allow users to click into specific campaigns, segments, or timeframes for more detailed analysis without crowding the main dashboard.
  
• Update Dashboards Regularly
  Your marketing strategy is dynamic, and your dashboard should reflect that. Schedule regular data and review your KPIs periodically to ensure they align with current goals, channels, and campaign types. An outdated dashboard can mislead more than it informs.
  
• Validate Data Logic and Source Mapping
  Clean data is the foundation of trustworthy insights. Make sure your data sources are mapped correctly, definitions are consistent across platforms, and calculated metrics (like ROAS or funnel drop-offs) are logically sound. Inaccuracies here can lead to poor strategic decisions.

Final Thoughts

An omnichannel dashboard built in Power BI isn't just another report — it's a strategic asset. It empowers your team to:

• Spot what’s working — and what’s not

• Boost ROI and conversion rates

• Align marketing and sales like never before.

AI is transforming how businesses interact with data, and Microsoft Fabric’s AI Skill are at the forefront of this revolution. Imagine getting instant, data-driven answers without writing complex SQL or DAX queries. AI Skill allow decision-makers and analysts to bypass traditional reporting and receive real-time insights - all through natural language questions.

But how do they work? What are the benefits? And what challenges should you watch out for? In this article, we explore why AI Skill will reshape analytics, how they integrate seamlessly with Power BI, warehouses, lakehouses, and KQL databases, and the key considerations for accuracy and validation.

The Problem with Traditional Approval Hierarchies

Many organizations still operate under the illusion that requiring CFO or CEO approval equates to strong financial oversight. However, real-world cases of fraud and inefficiencies tell a different story. These hierarchical approvals:

• Create bottlenecks – Senior leaders are often overwhelmed with approvals, leading to delays and inefficiencies.
• Encourage superficial reviews – Executives rarely have time to deeply analyze each request, turning approvals into a formality.
• Do not effectively mitigate risk – Fraud often happens at executive levels, where transactions are approved under the guise of authority, bypassing real scrutiny.
• Give unchecked power to human bias – Approvals become a tool for reinforcing personal agendas, favoritism, and misallocation of company resources.
• Preserve budget control at the top – Budget allocation is the ultimate power in corporations, and those in senior roles are reluctant to relinquish control, even if AI can distribute resources more fairly and efficiently.

Instead of safeguarding company resources, traditional approval hierarchies often consolidate power among a few individuals who may have their own financial interests in mind.