How to start with Power BI in 5 steps
A practical guide for companies considering Power BI - from the first dashboard to self-service BI across the whole organisation.
Richard Böhmer, MSc
Power BI is today the most widely used business intelligence tool in Europe. It is affordable, powerful and integrates with most of the systems companies run. But how do you roll it out so that it works in the long term and doesn’t become yet another “stumbling block”?
1. Start from a concrete question, not from the tool
The most common mistake is “we want Power BI”. A better question is: “Which decision do we want to make better, and what data do we need for it?”
Pick one concrete use case - for example monthly financial reporting, sales tracking or an operational dashboard for production. Starting small is the right strategy.
2. Identify your data sources
In most companies, data lives in:
- the ERP system (SAP, Helios, Pohoda, Money S5, …)
- CRM (Salesforce, Dynamics, Pipedrive)
- Excel and SharePoint (which often shouldn’t be there, but is)
- external services (Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Stripe)
For the first report, 1-2 sources are usually enough. Don’t try to connect everything at once.
3. Build a data model - not a one-off report
Power BI delivers the most value when it is not meant to be a one-off PowerPoint presentation, but a living model that refreshes itself.
That means:
- Data loaded from a database or a data warehouse (not from an Excel file sent by e-mail).
- A star schema (fact + dimensions), not one big “flat” table query.
- DAX measures defined once, used everywhere.
4. Build trust gradually
The first dashboard always uncovers data problems - duplicates, missing values, inconsistent coding. This is good news: you finally see them.
Set aside 2-4 weeks at the start for data quality before you start sharing the report with a wider audience.
5. Don’t play the technical hero - automate
If every Friday you manually refresh the model and e-mail screenshots, you are doing something wrong. Power BI Service (cloud), a Gateway for access to on-premise data and scheduled refreshes take that work off your hands.
Bonus: the most common mistakes
- Excel as the only source. If the whole report is built on Excel files that someone prepares by hand once a month, the risk of failure is huge.
- Power BI without a data model. “I import everything as it is” works with 10,000 rows and breaks down at millions.
- No backups or versioning. PBIX files belong in Git or at least SharePoint versions.
If you’re wondering whether and where Power BI makes sense in your company, get in touch - we’ll help you get your bearings.