Lesson 40 - Metric Visual in Power BI Desktop

Metric visual is a newly added visual in Power BI which track the progress of our key metrics in a single report. It will show the progress towards the target with statuses. let us discuss about creating a basic metric visual in this blog. It is still in preview

How to Proceed?

Step 1

In “visualizations” pane click on “Metrics (Preview)” which is highlighted in the given figure. 

Prerequisites

You need a Power BI service login essential for creating this visual.

Click on the metric visual then add metrics.

Step 2: Click either one of the two options displayed

Add a metric as a visual- To add a single metric

Add metrics as a list – To add list of metrics

Here I choosed Add metrics as a list to create a scorecard. You can either select “create new metrics” or can browse for already created metrics in power BI service.  You can create a scorecard in Power BI service.

Select Browse metrics to select a metric from an existing scorecard you have access to.

Select Create new in metric visual to Add a single metric as a visual

Step 3: Create a score card in Power BI service

Click on Create and select score card option to create metrics .List of metric values also known as Score card.

Step 4: Adding metric value

Give a title to scorecard and give a name to metric and set current value and target value. Status shows the progress of the metric

Step 5: 

We can set current value by manual and also, we can connect to embedded dataset in workspace.

Here for this demo, I have already uploaded a pbix file “Olympic Visuals” in my workspace and I used that report as my dataset in selecting a value.

Step 6: Customize the Report

Hover over the bottom of the visual, In the toolbar click Edit to further edit the visual. If you embed the existing report in this visual, the formatting we are doing here only reflect here in power BI Desktop but not in original scorecard in power BI Service

Step 7: Format the visual

Connected Scorecard will have scorecard source link. We can format the scorecard font colors etc., Also header and column headers can also be customized.

By using the format options, we can further customize the score card or metric to change the look and feel of the report.

Step 8 Save the visual

Finally, your Metric visual is ready. Click save button to save the visual.

When to use Metric visual?

Metric visual can be useful in tracking the progress of a specific metric or multiple metrics towards the target in an effective way.

Pros 

• Easy and flexible for users to track their KPI’s
• It can display single to multiple metric progress in a single visual.
• Showing Progress statuses helps in quick decision making

Cons

• Need power Bi service log in.
• Not interactive

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	https://www.numerro.io/blog/using-power-bi-scorecards-metrics-visuals
MS Learn Modules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-scorecard-visual
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz