Business Intelligence (BI) applications are presently valued at USD 22 Billion in 2022. Through AI and other advancements in Business Intelligence, in-depth trend analysis, quick data assimilation, and superior decision-making are all possible. Microsoft Power BI tools play a vital role in enterprise growth and strategy as they provide a visual representation of performance data.
Microsoft Power BI is currently one of the most widely-used enterprise tools. It has reserved a spot for Microsoft 15 years in a row in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for BI and Analytics Platforms. How does Power BI manage to be at the top consistently? One of the reasons is continuous improvement through regular updates. This blog will share 9 updates that users can expect in Power BI in the coming year.
Data Protection Enhancements
Data protection and security are always at the top of the list when it comes to software updates. Hackers are constantly releasing new viruses on the internet in attempts to steal information and sabotage businesses. On top of that, ransomware is a new threat to enterprise data that can only be dealt with via frequent back-ups.
Therefore, the latest security update from Power BI will allow users to control read and download access at multiple levels. Users will be able to simply add tags and manage the read/download permissions for each dashboard or other documents. This is part of Microsoft’s data loss protection (DLP) initiative.
Faster Backup and Restore Feature
While the data loss protection (DLP) initiative is a reasonable precaution and proactive approach to data security, disaster management protocols are also crucial. There is an increasing likelihood that employees will get targeted for ransomware attacks to blackmail companies for large sums of money.
Microsoft has made the backup procedure much faster to facilitate Power BI users. In fact, the time for backing up a large dataset has been sped up 22 times than before, making it a significant boost. Not only that, the restore time for archived data has also been reduced by 30%. Together, these improvements have made the backup and restore more convenient and accessible.
Previously, the backup and restore feature was not available to all users, and they did not opt for it frequently because of the long waiting period. It is now available to all Power BI users and is a good step toward reducing downtime in enterprises.
Default Tags
Since the basic level of security is now dependent on labels, Power BI automatically assigns default labels to new files or reports that users create. Users can choose which tags to set as default, and this automatic function will keep adding them to documents.
Microsoft has made default tabs a background function, which means it won’t disrupt users’ workflow. Before this, users needed to tag each file manually and could not move to a new document without labeling it first. So setting up a default tag is a valuable addition to the user experience.
Mandatory Tags
Organizations that use Power BI can make certain tags mandatory. These mandatory tags ensure that Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) is enabled for any content created or uploaded to Power BI.
Mandatory tags are different from default tags as users cannot delete these from a document. They’re permanent tags added by the organization to ensure a primary level of security on all their Power BI documents.
Mobile Accessibility
Power BI has fully arrived on mobile devices now, as users will soon be able to format reports and dashboards directly from the Power BI mobile app. The goal is to optimize the mobile view for Power BI so users can edit the layout and visuals as they would like to view them on their mobiles.
Data visualization needs to be precise and appealing to be helpful to the user. The Power BI mobile app was not beneficial before as it only allowed users to view reports and dashboards. Now, it will be a fully functional mobile version for users to create and edit analytics on the go.
Card Selection on Reports
If you’re a Power BI user whose most significant problem was not being able to select cards across multiple rows, you’re in luck. Microsoft has now enabled the selection and filtering of multi-row cards.
By pressing ‘Ctrl + Shift,’ it is possible to select multiple cards simultaneously. In addition, the interface dims the unselected cards to make the user’s selection more prominent. This aids users in filtering items on the report while reviewing it or sharing their analysis with other users. It can also help in creating visual objects conveniently.
Updated Format Pane
The ‘Format’ pane in the Power BI top ribbon has been redesigned. Microsoft has attempted to make the format options uniform for visual and non-visual components. There is now an “outline setting” for matrices and tables. Users can directly add a ‘shade area’ under combo charts and toggle the independent axis label for charts. They can also customize the marker by series in the scatter plot from the Format pane.
These are the most noticeable changes to the formatting pane. There are also some visual changes to make it easier to navigate for users.
Goal Tracking with Power Automate
Soon Power BI users will be able to leverage Power Automate features on the business intelligence tool. It has merged two of these popular platforms to let users automate functions when they reach a specific goal on Power BI.
Users can set the completion of a goal as a trigger for an action within Power BI report. They can also enable notifications for when your performance is falling behind or exceeding a set goal. Users can even push automatic event updates by setting triggers for Power Apps to add comments in the notes section for goals.
Integration with MS Teams
Power BI automatically creates an add-in for MS Teams once you install it. Users will be able to add rich links to Power BI and perform an integrated search across both platforms.
A handy feature of integrating Teams and microsoft Power BI is that organizations can get analytics for Teams usage just like other. Therefore, Power BI can serve as an employee performance analyzer as well. Users can see which MS Teams feature they spend most of their time on, and then customize the report to extract the desired insights.
Conclusion
Microsoft Power BI is a powerful analytics tool that has led the industry in business intelligence for the past decade-and-a-half. Its applications are still expanding, so organizations are still opting for Power BI for decision-making rather than exploring the market for other tools. Power BI has not compromised on security, as it knows enterprises use sensitive data in the app. The constant re-evaluation and improvement of security features have garnered loyalty among Power BI users.
Xavor Corporation is a Software Solutions company and has been a Microsoft Gold Partner for 25 Years. Xavor empowers businesses to deploy the visualization tool in their existing infrastructure to better analyze and act on business decisions faster. We have worked with clients from various industries and helped them shape their raw data in an easily understandable format so that they can turn valuable insights into actions.
Learn more about Xavor’s data analytics and visualization services here.