Summit EMEA 2017: Financial, sales data come alive with Power BI dashboards

"Many people are trying to figure out where to start" when they launch Microsoft Power BI, says Belinda Allen. 

With new-found BI and analytics capabilities, organizations are optimistic on the tools but still struggle to pinpoint exactly the information they need from their new systems, she says.

Allen is with Njevity, a Denver, Colo.-based Microsoft Certified Partner that offers integrated cloud and on-premise Dynamics GP and Dynamics CRM, and provides applications for small to mid-size and enterprise customers. She was on the ground floor of Power BI development as a member of an advisory group that consulted on the Power BI product prior to its release and will conduct a session at the Summit EMEA 2017 Power BI User Group (PBIUG) titled "Making your Financial Data Come Alive with Power BI Dashboards."

"I was able to play with it and have a head start," she says. Now, a growing number of partner firms, consultants and clients are learning about it as well. "It's a whole new concept," she says, "and there's so much to learn."

Power BI launched as an add-on to Office 365 a little more than four years ago, and then was re-engineered about two years ago, Allen says. The new Power BI uses Azure as its foundation for sharing data, reports, and dashboards. Users don't have to have a separate account or even know anything about Azure to use it, which "allows it to be an independent offering," Allen ...