Designing Reports for Navigation - Training

Designing Reports for Navigation - Training

When creating reports, it is essential to consider the placement and design of buttons to ensure that report consumers can navigate effectively. Buttons should be placed in relevant and coherent locations within the report. The design of both the report and the button itself plays a crucial role in guiding users through the report.

If a button only affects a specific section of a report, it should be placed within that section. This makes it clear to report consumers that the action only applies to that particular section. Similarly, if an action retrieves details from a page, it should be placed as close as possible to the visual object that triggers it.

Power BI automatically adds a Back button, located in the top-left corner of the page. Additionally, you can configure buttons to change their state when the cursor is hovering over them. This can provide visual feedback to users, enhancing their navigation experience. You can also configure tooltips to provide additional information or context for buttons.

Configuring Automatic Page Refresh - Training

Automatic Page Refresh (APR) is a feature that automatically refreshes a Power BI report. You can enable this option for a specific report page when the report is connected to a dataset that meets certain criteria. APR can be enabled for datasets that include DirectQuery storage tables, have a dynamic connection to a tabular model in Azure Analysis Services or SQL Server Analysis Services, or are hybrid datasets.

DirectQuery Storage Tables:
A Power BI dataset can have DirectQuery storage tables when it represents a DirectQuery model, a composite model, contains a hybrid table, or consumes a streaming dataflow using DirectQuery storage mode.

Hybrid Tables:
By configuring an import table in a dataset with Power BI's incremental refresh feature, you can enable the "Get latest data in real-time with DirectQuery" option. When enabled, Power BI automatically creates a table partition that uses DirectQuery storage mode. In this case, the table becomes a hybrid table, with import partitions for storing older data and a single DirectQuery partition for current data. When querying a hybrid table, Power BI can use the cache for older data or directly query the data source for the latest data. It's important to note that this option is only available with a Premium license.

Streaming Dataflows:
Streaming dataflows allow data modelers to connect, ingest, blend, model, and create reports based on near-real-time streaming data directly within the Power BI service. These dataflows are created within the Power BI service and can ingest streaming inputs from Azure Event Hubs, Azure IoT Hub, or Azure Blob Storage.

With a drag-and-drop designer and no coding required, you can filter, aggregate, combine, group, and join input streams. You can also configure time window functions using constant-size hops, jump windows, sliding windows, session windows, or snapshot windows.

Streaming dataflows are consumed by a model that you develop in Power BI Desktop. Use the dataflows connector to connect to the streaming dataflow and ensure that the model's storage mode is set to DirectQuery. It's important to note that streaming dataflows are only available with a Premium license.

There are some important restrictions to consider:

• Streaming dataflows must be enabled by a Power BI administrator.
• Enhanced compute engine for dataflows must be enabled by a capacity administrator.
• Streaming dataflows cannot be stored in the same workspace as regular dataflows.

Actionable Advice:

1. When designing reports, consider the user's navigation experience. Place buttons in relevant and coherent locations within the report to guide users effectively.

2. Utilize tooltips to provide additional information or context for buttons. This can enhance the user's understanding of the actions associated with each button.

3. If using streaming dataflows, ensure that you have the necessary licenses and permissions in place. Streaming dataflows provide real-time insights but require specific configurations and capabilities.

In conclusion, designing reports for navigation is crucial for a seamless user experience. By strategically placing buttons and considering the design of the report, users can navigate through the information effectively. Additionally, configuring automatic page refresh and utilizing streaming dataflows can provide real-time insights, further enhancing the value of the reports. By implementing the actionable advice provided, you can create reports that are intuitive, informative, and user-friendly.