Business intelligence · Power BI

Decision-focused reporting with Power BI

Turn public data into understandable metrics, organise how they are read and provide several levels of analysis, from an executive overview to a detailed scenario.

01 Business framing

Define the decisions to support, the scope and calculation rules.

02 Preparation

Clean the sources, harmonise formats and document the checks.

03 Modelling

Structure the model and build measures consistent with business definitions.

04 Delivery

Prioritise KPIs, trends and scenarios to make the report easier to read.

Business context

The case examines changes in population, gross domestic product and unemployment in the Île-de-France region between 2011 and 2022. These indicators do not share the same unit or granularity, but must remain clear within a common report.

Challenge

How can separate statistical series be turned into a report that provides an overview, allows users to check the components of a metric and makes scenario assumptions explicit?

Approach

The approach favours stable definitions, a model that is easy to review and three levels of navigation. Each page answers a distinct question to avoid concentrating too much information on one screen.

Power QueryTyping, renaming and harmonisation of reporting years before use.

Semantic modelTime and geographic dimensions separated from observed measures.

DAX measuresMetrics, variances and scenario parameters grouped by business use.

Visual hierarchyKPIs at the top, trends in the centre and detail available at the next level.

What the demo shows

Three complementary views

Use the tabs to move from the overview to demographic detail and then to the scenario. Click a view to enlarge it. These static visuals were designed for this portfolio: they illustrate the intent of a report and are not an embedded Power BI report.

Question addressed

What is the situation in the latest available year?
How do the three indicators change over time?
Which geography and period are covered?

Demographic source: Insee, 2011, 2016 and 2022 censuses, geography as of 1 January 2024. The GDP and unemployment series reuse the illustrative values from the original prototype. Values are rounded and the 20% reduction scenario is an educational assumption, not an economic forecast.

Prototype deliverables

Decision-support viewAn overview of the latest KPIs and their evolution over the period.

Analysis viewA breakdown linking components to the displayed totals.

Scenario viewAn explicit comparison between observed values and an adjustable assumption.

Measurement foundationA preparation, modelling and calculation logic that can be documented.

Power BI Power Query DAX Semantic model KPI Scenarios

Business value

Immediate insightPriority metrics and their context are visible without overloading the page.

Shared definitionsEach measure can be linked to a calculation rule and an identified source.

Progressive analysisNavigation starts from the overview and leads to components or assumptions.

Traceable decisionSeparating observations from scenarios avoids confusing facts with projections.

From demo to enterprise use

Metric contractsFormalise the source, scope, granularity, formula and owner of each KPI.

Controlled refreshSchedule updates and, depending on the sources, configure the gateway and parameters.

Appropriate securityDefine workspaces, permissions and RLS rules where audiences require them.

Publication lifecycleSeparate development, testing and production with checks before release.

For a real deployment, these mechanisms are sized according to sources, volumes, refresh frequency and user profiles. Query folding, refresh times and access rights must be verified in the target context.

Going further

This approach can be adapted to financial, sales or operational reporting, with metrics defined together with business teams and an output designed for its users.

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