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How to Use PowerBI to Overcome Data Blindness

Chelsea Sauder • Feb 27, 2020
The McKinsey Global Institute indicates that data-driven organizations are 23x more likely to acquire customers, 6x as likely to retain customers, and 19x as likely to be profitable as a result. 

There is no argument that data is important to business, but what happens when it becomes a distraction to your team?
Data Driven Business Statistics
With today’s technology, companies have access to a wealth of information. If you can think of it, you can track it. This unlimited access to data is a double-edged sword. Often in the course of harnessing data, organizations overwhelm their team with excess and irrelevant information for their role.
 
Banner Blindness is an advertising phenomenon that occurs when consumers are so inundated with display ads that they become unaware of the messaging. A poorly designed business intelligence system can create what we have dubbed “Data Blindness”. Data Blindness occurs when users are exposed to so much data, they mentally cannot process the details and fail to recognize critical information.
Data Blindness occurs when users are exposed to so much data, they mentally cannot process the details and fail to recognize critical information.
Microsoft Office 365 Power BI

When used effectively, data visualization tools and business intelligence platforms can increase data delivery while limiting Data Blindness. For our clients, Microsoft Power BI is our go-to business intelligence program. Power BI enables companies to create dynamic dashboards and provide self-service analytics to the entire organization. As part of the Microsoft Power Platform (Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate) Power BI works in conjunction with the other applications to drastically change the ways a business collects, displays, and disseminates data. 


Below are some of our favorite tips to prevent Data Blindness when using Power BI. 
Utilize the MAD Framework
The first step in avoiding Data Blindness is making sure the right people see the right information at the right time. The Data Warehousing Institute (TWDI) came out with the MAD Framework as the optimal way to design business intelligence delivery. When used correctly, it gives users the right type of information in a way they can digest with the fewest clicks.

What is the MAD Framework?
The MAD Framework consists of 3 layered BI functions: Monitor, Analyze, and Detail. The MAD Pyramid shows how each functional layer has an ideal target audience, information type, and desired outcome. Companies looking to create or improve data driven dashboards can use the MAD Framework to identify KPI’s, visualizations, and types of reports needed by role to factor into their overall dashboard strategy. 
TWDI MAD Framework for Business Intelligence Delivery
Tachometer Data Gauge Microsoft PowerBI

Monitor:

The monitor layer should provide a clear at-a-glance overview of the business using graphical KPI’s. Executives and senior level management are most likely to view this layer of information to identify trends that may require further investigation. For example, if the company sells a variety of products the monitor layer may highlight a decline in overall sales. 


Power BI Tool Tip: Power BI marketplace has a variety of Power BI visual apps to help create clean graphics and charts for your dashboards. A great visual tool to use on the monitor layer of your Power BI dashboard is the Tachometer. With the Tachometer, you can display variable performance against high, low, and acceptable levels of measurement such as units sold or leads generated.  
Enlighten Slicer Data Filter Microsoft PowerBI

Analyze:

The analyze layer allows users to view KPI’s from a variety of perspective using custom views and filters. Mid-level Managers and analysts can use this layer to identify the root cause affecting the performance of a KPI. For instance, if the monitoring layer unveiled declining sales, a user in this layer may identify that out of all their offerings (initial purchase, upsells, fees, etc), upsells have significantly decreased. 


Power BI Tool Tip: The Enlighten Slicer tool allows users to add an interactive and visually appealing filter to their Power BI dashboard. With this tool, you can display data based on a specific variable such as product type, industry, etc.
Drill Down Bar Data Microsoft PowerBI

Drill:

The drill layer focuses on operational queries and reports to drill down to the atomic level details of the business. Analysts and front-line staff can use this layer to identify the exact locations, products, people, etc that may be affected by a specific trend. If decrease upsells have been affecting overall sales performance, this layer could identify if a specific location, worker, marketing initiative, etc. was responsible.  


Power BI Tool Tip: The Drill Down Combo Bar PRO by ZoomCharts allows users to interactively drill down the information from a bar chart with a click of a button. This tool can be used to show sales by region at a glance and then users can click on each region to see more details such as sales by state in a specific region.
When creating your Power BI environment from the MAD framework keep the following in mind:
  • Use Row Level Security (RLS) to create role-based permissions and make sure users have quick access to the information relevant to their needs
  • Subscribe users to appropriate reports and dashboards to receive information via email on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis
  • Use query string parameter syntax to share a report with team members with preset filtered views

Break up data and reduce clutter with visuals
You can prevent Data Blindness by reducing the visual “noise” on a specific page. A strong visual design creates a balance between graphics, numerical data, and text. We’ve already mentioned a variety of visual apps from the Power BI marketplace that can be used to help display complex information in a concise manner. 

Below are a few more of our favorite apps to incorporate into your Power BI dashboard:
Chiclet Slicer
  • Description: Display image and/or text buttons that act as an in-canvas filter on other visuals
  • When to use: Use the chiclet slicer and cross highlighting functionality to filter reports with images such as products, industry icons, etc.
Chiclet Slicer Microsoft Power BI Visual App
Sunburst Chart Microsoft Power BI Visual App
Sunburst Chart
  • Description: An interactive donut chart to visualize hierarchical data, depicted by concentric circles.
  • When to use: Hierarchical datasets are perfect to display when natural groupings exist within multiple layers of the data. For example, show your revenue story broken down geographically by regions (ex. Country > Region > State > City)
Gantt Chart
  • Description: A bar chart that illustrates a project timeline with assigned resources
  • When to use: Gantt charts are great to display in project reports when multiple resources are required that may result in potential bottlenecks
Gantt Chart Microsoft Power BI Visual App
Word Cloud Microsoft Power BI Visual App
Word Cloud:
  • Description: Creates a visual representation based on a word’s frequency and value
  • When to use: The word cloud can be a great at-a-glance tool when trying to identify key words. For example, track your social media performance and show which hashtags have the highest engagement
Power BI should not be used in a silo
If users are suffering from Data Blindness because of the amount of data in one place, find creative ways to disseminate critical data. A key advantage to the Power BI platform is that it can be incorporated throughout the rest of the Microsoft Power and Office365 platforms. A successful business intelligence program takes advantage of the entire digital workspace. 

A few ideas for getting the right data seen are:
  • Use Power Automate to send email alerts to users when a data event is triggered
  • User Power Automate to send a text alert when a data event is triggered for urgent triggers such as low inventory
  • Add your Power Apps to Power BI so users can take immediate action on the insights they gain while in a report
  • Add Power BI tiles to display specific information within your Power Apps
Microsoft allows users to create a multi-faceted business intelligence landscape. When your Microsoft applications are integrated thoughtfully, users move from simple data absorption to data driven actions. To move your team from Data Blindness to data-driven contact TexasPGB today!
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