Business Intelligence
Microsoft Power BI
The reporting and dashboard layer, built on a governed semantic model with scheduled refresh and row-level security.
Product
Microsoft Power BIMicrosoft Power BI is the layer a decision is actually taken on, and it is the end of the chain rather than the whole of it. Reports and dashboards are published through the Power BI Service on a governed semantic model with agreed measures, so two departments reading the same figure read the same definition. Scheduled refresh, row-level security, and calculation groups are part of the model, with paginated and mobile reports where the audience needs them.
How it works
- The semantic model is built on the enriched layer of the warehouse or lakehouse, with measures defined once and named so a business reader recognises them.
- Calculation groups carry the repeated time and comparison logic, so the model stays maintainable as the number of reports grows.
- Row-level security is configured against the organisation's own structure, so a regional manager opens the same report and sees their own region.
- Scheduled refresh is set against the ingestion schedule, so a dashboard states its data as of a known time.
- Dashboards, paginated reports for operational and regulatory output, and mobile layouts are published to the audiences that need them.
- The workspace, the access model, and the deployment path are handed to the team that will own them.
A problem it solves
Sales performance is analysed in several spreadsheets, and a SKU or a region is grouped differently in each of them, so a meeting spends its first half deciding which number is correct. Microsoft Power BI puts one governed semantic model behind the report, with measures agreed once and row-level security applied, so the SKU and region breakdown reads the same wherever it is opened.