Intermediate level · Module 4: Designing Power BI Reports · Lesson 1 of 3
Report Design for Different Audiences
Design pages for executives and for operational staff, with the right level of detail for each.
In this lesson you will
- Design executive and operational pages
- Choose visuals and layout for each audience
Key concepts
executive summaryoperational detailvisual hierarchyconsistent design
The lesson
Executives need a few KPIs against targets, trends and exceptions on one page. Operational staff need details they can act on: which branch, which product, which week.
Place the most important information top left, use consistent colours for the same meaning across pages and title each page with its purpose.
Choose visuals for the message: cards for KPIs, bars for comparisons, lines for trends, tables for details.
Step by step
- Interview a 'director' and a 'branch manager'.
- Design an executive page.
- Design an operational page.
- Apply a consistent theme.
Distributor executive page: sales against target
An executive Power BI page summarising a month's sales against target by branch.
Total sales
2.45M SSP
+6.5% vs target of 2.30M
Illustrative data
Branches on target
2 of 3
Wau below target
Wau, % of target
93.3%
560,000 of 600,000 SSP
Data refreshed
2 May 07:00
Daily refresh
Show the data behind the chart
| Branch | Sales (SSP) | Target (SSP) |
|---|---|---|
| Juba | 1,450,000 | 1,300,000 |
| Wau | 560,000 | 600,000 |
| Malakal | 440,000 | 400,000 |
Interpretation
Juba (+11.5%) and Malakal (+10%) beat their targets, lifting the total 150,000 SSP above target despite Wau's shortfall of 40,000 SSP.
Wau is the one exception to discuss; the operational page's drill-through shows which products fell short.
Recommendations
- Drill through to Wau's product detail before the monthly meeting.
- Keep the last-refreshed time on the page so directors know the figures are current.
Practice activity
Build the executive and operational pages.
Expected result: Two pages that each answer their audience's questions.
Check your understanding
-
What do executives usually need from a report?
Show answer
A few KPIs against targets, trends and exceptions.
-
Why use consistent colours across pages?
Show answer
So the same colour always means the same thing.
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