Power BI Explained

Power BI is Microsoft’s hosted business intelligence (BI) service and the focus for most of the company’s BI development. The service provides an Internet-based platform for sharing refreshable reports with users and includes access to on-premises data and several interactive features for self-service analysis. For most organizations, the service is likely less expensive than deploying an outwardly facing on-premises solution for sharing reports, and it is likely more secure and timely than distributing reports as e-mail attachments. However, the service only accepts Excel workbooks, and Power BI presents security challenges of its own.

Power BI was launched in Feb. 2014 and receives updates frequently (sometimes monthly). Consequently, the actual features and capabilities continue to change. This report takes a snapshot of the service at the beginning of 2015. (For details of expected changes to Power BI, see “Power BI Roadmap 2015“.)

Power BI Overview

The Microsoft-hosted Power BI service is a secure, Internet-based platform for sharing refreshable reports (Excel workbooks) with users. The service is an add-on for SharePoint Online available in Office 365 subscription services. Most organizations will find the service easier and less expensive to deploy than a comparable on-premises outwardly facing solution. Power BI also provides a more secure way to distribute reports and spreadsheets than e-mail, and the service’s report refresh capability also makes it more likely that the reports will be up to date.