Top 3 Ways to Create Dynamic Power BI Reports

Static reports are a thing of the past. This guide explores powerful techniques to transform your Power BI reports into dynamic, user-controlled experiences, revolutionising how your organisation interacts with data.

Here are the three powerful ways to enhance user engagement and drive better insights.

1. Switch between numbers and currency without using Bookmarks

What It Does

This method allows users to toggle between different values (e.g. Revenue vs. Profit, Year-to-Date vs. Month-to-Date) without using traditional buttons. Instead, slicers or selection fields dynamically update the visuals.

Benefits

• Saves space by eliminating unnecessary buttons.

• Provides a seamless user experience.

• Works well with multiple measures or categories.

Common Scenarios

• Switching between different financial metrics (e.g. Sales, Margin, Cost).

• Switching between different currencies or formats

• Displaying KPIs dynamically in a single visual.

  
  

How it works

• Create a Metrics Table with values like "Orders" and "Sales".

• Add a Slicer using the Metrics Table to toggle between values. This will acts as a button to switch between the count of orders and the sum of sales.

• Create a measure to calculate Orders and Sales. Change the measure Format to Dynamic.

• For the same measure, change the dropdown from Measure to Format and give the formatting condition.

  
  

  

  
  

• Dynamic formatting ensures that when "Orders" is selected, values are displayed as whole numbers, and when "Sales" is selected, they appear in currency (£) format.

  
  

2. User Input Parameters for Custom Analysis

   
   

What It Does

User-defined parameters allow users to enter custom values (e.g. target thresholds, discount rates) and see real-time changes in visuals.

Benefits

• Enhances personalisation, letting users control the analysis.

• Enables "what-if" scenario modelling.

• Helps in forecasting and sensitivity analysis.

Common Scenarios

• Adjusting sales targets to see projected performance.

• Testing different discount rates and their impact on revenue.

• Setting custom benchmarks for key metrics.

How it works

• Use New Parameter (Numeric range) in Power BI Desktop to create a threshold input.

• Create a measure to check if Sales exceed the threshold and categorise them accordingly.

  

  
  

• Apply a Conditional formatting on the "Sales Status" column.

  • Go to Format Visual >  Cell Elements, select the column required formatting and turn on the Background color

• Based on the user-defined threshold, the table dynamically updates to show whether the sales are Above Target (green) or Below Target (red).

3. Dynamic Titles for Contextual Insights

What It Does

Dynamic titles adjust automatically based on user selections, making reports more intuitive by reflecting the applied filters.

Benefits

• Improves readability and clarity.

• Helps users understand the current view without extra labels.

• Reduces confusion when multiple filters are applied.

  
  

Common Scenarios

• Showing the selected date range in a title (e.g. "Sales Report for Jan 2024").

• Indicating the chosen product category or region dynamically.

How it works

• Use a slicer for "Orders" and "Sales" and another slicer for Region to filter data by location.

• Create a measure for visual title that would dynamically updates based on the selected slicer selection, ensuring clear contextual insights.

 By incorporating these techniques, you can create Power BI reports that are not just visually appealing but also highly interactive. Try these techniques and elevate your reporting experience!