Lesson 39 - KPI Visuals in Power BI Desktop

KPI (Key Performance Indicator) visuals is the specialized visualization which allows us to showcase the performance metric against their pre-defined Target. 

Lets see how to create KPI visual in this blog

How to Proceed?

Step 1

Launch power BI desktop app and open the new report page and import the data required. 

Refer Lesson 7 - Power BI Datasets to build visuals  

Step 2

In “visualizations” pane click on “KPI” which is highlighted in the given figure. 

Step 3

Drag the data fields into “Field Section” that you want to analyze.  

Values: Display the Target achieved value – Count of Medal

Trend axis: How the value performs in certain time period also It shows visual on the back of the KPI – Year

Target: Add a goal – Average of Target

Now the KPI visual is created.

Here I'm showing KPI visual for medals won in the year 2016 Vs Target. The background shows green when it achieves the target, it shows red when it missed the target.

Step 4

Customizing the appearance 

Refer Lesson 6 - Formatting the visuals in Power BI Desktop

In the formatting option of KPI visual, Expand Trend Axis

Here High is good represents, values which is higher is considered to be a better KPI, Low values i.e., below the target will show red color which is considered to be a bad color.

We can also customize colors for values above target, below target.

Distance to goal shows the target with color coding along with the distance to the goal in percentage.

Increasing is Positive – shows positive percent for increasing value

Decreasing is Positive- Shows positive percent for decreasing value

Enable Date Option, it will display the KPI for specific date /Year.

We can customize the font, size, Color of the Date .

Step 5 Save the visual

Finally, KPI visual is ready. Click save button to save the visual. 

When to use KPI visual?

KPI visuals can be used when we want to monitor performance or tracking goal or to compare the performance across categories or time periods. It can be used when want to focus on a particular key metrics of the data.

Pros 

• Users can easily interpret and understand the data better.
• Interactive.
• Simple and clean visual
• Threshold and alerts make users to check if the KPI’s Falls outside the target.

Cons

• Not suitable for all types of metrics
• Works well with single metric alone
• No in-depth analysis.

Conclusion

KPI visuals in Power BI are powerful tools for monitoring and communicating key metrics, especially in scenarios where simplicity and quick interpretation are essential. However, considering reporting needs, it's important to select the metrics, set meaningful thresholds.

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	https://radacad.com/kpi-visual-in-power-bi-explained
MS Learn Modules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-kpi?tabs=powerbi-desktop
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz