Office 365 Power BI – An overview from and end-user perspective part 3

This is already the third post in my Office 365 Power BI series. You can read the first post here and the second post here. The last part, for now, in this Power BI series focusses on the Windows 8 app. Although I am not really a massive fan of the Surface RT anymore (doesn’t always respons well and the lack of important apps), I do really like the Windows 8 app Microsoft created. Nowadays employees don’t only work with their laptops or desktops but also have smart phones and tablets. You can imagine that employees want to stay connected with valuable data, anywhere and anytime!

Before I show you the app, you have to realize that the app is only usable as a demo, you aren’t able to configure new data. Its really meant to provide you with an idea of the possibilities for your business. Let’s take a look:

The main menu shows the two Excel examples we have seen in the previous posts. The restaurant and olympic scenarios. I decide to take a look at sales results for popular mix drinks:

I am not really interested in mix drinks but in the sales results for rum. To see these results I can use the filter at the top right side of the screen:

The only thing I have to do is click on Rum and the results immediately change. Let’s say I am a sales executive, I now have a clear overview of the most popular rum and can make proper business decisions based on this data:

The results of the last three years are interesting for me to make a decision on our new sales strategy. Again, this is very easy by using the filter:

I can drill down even further by clicking on a brand of rum. In my example Bacardi:

My next interest is an overview of the bartenders selling the most Bacardi. Perhaps I can promote the bartender as a rewards for his or her good work. Every chart is clickable and opens up in a “new” screen:

I can use the filter to zoom in on Jeromes results:

He sold over 9k of Bacardi and is defnitely my best bartender!

The app has a lot of potential for business employees on the road who need to make quick and informed business decisions. I can also see the app being used in business meetings. At this moment there is no information how the app generates its data and how you can provision it. Or perhaps I have missed something 😉

I hope you got a good impression of Power BI through my posts. I am definitely very excited for the BI future of Office 365 and SharePoint Online.
European Office 365 Connect 2014 (GB263 for 10% discount)
SharePoint Connections Amsterdam 2013 (SP266 for 10% discount)

I also created a post with helpful Office 365 resources. Just click here.