How to Create a Power BI Dashboard: A Complete Guide by Knowledge Excel

Published June 12, 2025

At Knowledge Excel, we specialize in building professional, customized Power BI Dashboards that help organizations turn raw data into actionable insights. Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, our expertise in Power BI empowers teams to make smarter, faster decisions with real-time visibility across key metrics.

In this in-depth guide, you'll learn how to create a Power BI Dashboard step by step—from data preparation to dashboard publishing—and how Knowledge Excel can help streamline the process for you.

3. Step-by-Step: How to Create a Power BI Dashboard

Creating a Power BI dashboard is not just a technical task—it's a strategic process. Each stage adds value to your data and contributes to the final insights you deliver. Below is a comprehensive, business-focused breakdown of each step:

Step 1: Connect and Prepare Your Data

Objective:

Identify and connect to the data sources that hold your most valuable business information.

Process:

1. Define which data sources are relevant: Excel files, SQL databases, APIs, SharePoint, cloud services like Google Analytics, Salesforce, etc.
2. Use Power BI's Get Data feature to make direct, live, or imported connections.
3. Perform data cleansing and shaping in Power Query—remove duplicates, standardize values, and filter irrelevant data.

Outcome:

A clean, reliable dataset that lays the foundation for accurate reporting and analysis.

At Knowledge Excel, we help organizations uncover hidden value by consolidating siloed data into a single source of truth.

Step 2: Import and Transform Data in Power BI Desktop

Objective:

Prepare your data for visual analysis.

Process:

1. Import data using Power BI Desktop.
2. Rename fields, apply formatting standards, and remove unused columns for performance optimization.
3. Apply data transformation logic such as pivoting, unpivoting, splitting columns, and creating new calculated fields.

Outcome:

An organized dataset that's consistent, user-friendly, and performance-read

Step 3: Build Your Data Model

Objective:

Create logical relationships and calculations that power dynamic dashboards.

Process:

1. Define relationships between tables: one-to-many, many-to-one, and bidirectional filtering.
2. Use DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) to create calculated columns, custom measures, and KPIs.
3. Set up role-based access (Row-Level Security) if different users need different views.

Outcome:

A robust semantic model that transforms raw data into meaningful, interconnected insights.

Step 4: Design Your Dashboard Visuals

Objective:

Build a compelling, intuitive dashboard that answers your business questions.

Process:

1. Choose the right visuals for each metric: line charts for trends, bar charts for comparisons, gauges for targets, and cards for high-level KPIs.
2. Incorporate interactivity with slicers, drill-throughs, and tooltips.
3. Apply your brand theme for fonts, colors, and layout consistency.
4. Organize the layout to reflect how stakeholders read data—KPIs on top, breakdowns below.

Outcome:

A dashboard that not only looks good but also drives clarity, focus, and action.

Step 5: Publish to Power BI Service

Objective:

Make your dashboard available to others in your organization securely and reliably.

Process:

1. Publish your Power BI file to the Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com).
2. Create dashboard tiles by pinning report visuals.
3. Organize dashboards in workspaces and apps for easy sharing and access control.
4. Add dashboards to Teams, SharePoint, or embed into your internal portal.

Outcome:

Your dashboard becomes a living, shareable asset available to stakeholders anytime, anywhere.

Step 6: Automate, Secure, and Share

Objective:

Keep your dashboards up to date, secure, and accessible to the right users.

Process:

1. Set automatic data refresh schedules—daily, hourly, or real-time using Power BI Gateway.
2. Implement row-level security (RLS) to control data visibility based on user roles.
3. Share via links, email, apps, or embed into websites with appropriate permissions.

Outcome:

An always-current, secure dashboard ecosystem that empowers real-time, data-driven decision-making.

4. Real Power BI Dashboard Examples (by Knowledge Excel)

We specialize in creating dashboards tailored to your industry, audience, and KPIs. Below are examples of dashboards we build for clients and their strategic applications.

4.1 Executive Dashboard

Overview:

Gives top-level decision-makers a concise overview of business performance across departments.

Features:

1. High-level KPIs: revenue, profit margin, customer churn, net promoter score (NPS)
2. Departmental drilldowns
3. YOY trends and variance indicators
4. Geographic mapping for regional performance

Use Cases:

1. Board presentations
2. C-suite weekly reviews
3. Strategic planning

Benefits:

Allows executives to monitor progress at a glance and pivot strategy in real-time.

4.2 Sales Dashboard

Overview:

Tracks the entire sales lifecycle from leads to closed deals.

Features:

1. Sales funnel visualization
2. Pipeline by rep, region, or product
3. Opportunity win/loss ratio
4. Sales cycle duration
5. Forecasting based on historical trends

Use Cases:

1. Daily performance checks by sales managers
2. Territory planning
3. Product focus shift based on pipeline strength

Benefits:

Increases visibility into sales performance and helps optimize conversion efforts.

4.3 Finance Dashboard

Overview:

Provides a snapshot of financial health and performance trends.

Features:

1. Real-time Profit & Loss
2. Cash flow forecasting
3. Budget vs. actual variance analysis
4. AR/AP status
5. KPI alert thresholds (e.g., low liquidity)

Use Cases:

1. Monthly/quarterly closing reviews
2. Budget planning sessions
3. CFO dashboard drill-downs

Benefits:

Improves financial transparency and enables proactive fiscal management.

4.4 HR Dashboard

Overview:

Monitors workforce health and HR effectiveness.

Features:

1. Headcount and hiring trends
2. Attrition and retention metrics
3. Gender & diversity ratios
4. Performance review tracking
5. Leave and attendance trends

Use Cases:

1. HR executive updates
2. DEI compliance reports
3. Hiring strategy alignment

Benefits:

Supports data-informed HR decisions that improve retention and culture.

4.5 Dashboard Design Best Practices

We follow proven principles:

1. Minimalism: Clean layout with purposeful visuals.
2. Mobile optimization: Responsive layout on all screens
3. Visual hierarchy: KPIs at the top, drilldowns below
4. Consistent colors & fonts: Aligned with your brand
5. Accessible design: High-contrast, alt text, and tooltip guidance

Good design increases dashboard adoption and reduces confusion.

6. Why Choose Knowledge Excel for Power BI Dashboards?