Create Engaging Power BI Dashboards in No Time

Firstly, you need to think about what question is the user trying to answer. Note, that I didn’t say questions – question is the key.

One dashboard one question, or one decision for the user to make. That’s where you start, you can add to that, but don’t start by trying to add too much data, charts or tables.

Never ever start with an executive dashboard. It’s been the kiss of death of many a BI project. The reason is that executives are often dealing with high level strategy and concepts. The data to support the decisions may not be available, or not in the format that you require.

Generally, start with a sales or revenue report or dashboard. Whatever you start with, make sure that you can verify the data against another report. The last thing you want is for a user to find that the data is wrong. You need to gain trust in the data.

Give the users the ability slice, dice and drill down. After a few days, ask them how often they have needed to export to Excel.

You want your operations and finance teams to actually use the reports you build, not just glance and scroll on. In this post, you’ll learn clear, practical tips to fast-track your dashboard design, keep performance smooth, and wow your audience—without draining your internal resources.

Let’s get a bit more detailed…

Engage your stakeholders 

You don’t build reports in a vacuum. Effective dashboards speak your audience’s language and answer their burning questions. This sound obvious, but not always simple. 

• Talk to your users first. Don’t ask what they want or need to see. If you do that, you might get ‘everything’ – that’s the last thing you want. 

• Ask the users what’s stopping them from making sound decisions, or what are sicking points during meetings, when they don’t have the data available to them. 

• Keep their workflow in mind. If your finance team exports data to Excel each month, include an easy “export” button in Power BI. 

• Tell a story with visuals. Arrange charts and KPIs in logical order so viewers follow the narrative, from high-level summaries down to drill-through details. In this blog post, we go over how to tell a story from the high-level summaries to the detailed transactions.  

Plan your layout

A well-structured canvas guides your audience’s eye and highlights the right insights. 

Define key metrics

• Ask yourself, do we need a graph or a table? Does a single number make sense? 

• Do we need to show a trend? Do we want to show a variance from a baseline, budget or previous period? 

• Place a limit on the number and types of visuals on your main page so you don’t overwhelm users. 

• Group related metrics—profit margins next to revenue growth, for example. 

• Use space wisely, leaving white space between visuals to reduce clutter. 

• Move from the summary to the detailed. 

• Create a new, separate dashboard with just transactions in a table and lots of filters. That way the user can see what data is being summarised and export to Excel if required. It’s also very helpful to you to validate and data discrepancies. 

Sketch before building

• Some people recommend starting by drawing a wireframe on paper or whiteboard. It depends on the situation. 

• Label each section with the metric and chart type. 

• Build the initial prototype in Power BI (or Qlik, Tableu etc) 

• Iterate quickly before users lose faith – it’s sad, but often true! 

Pro Tip: At Advance Business Consulting, we use Miro to plan and wireframe dashboards and report designs. 

Optimise filters and parameters 

Filters and “what if” parameters make your dashboard interactive, but they can also cause some confusion. 

Manage persistent filters 

Power BI’s persistent filters save users’ slicer choices automatically, which means different team members might start with different views. To keep everyone on the same page, disable persistent filters so all users see the original filter state you published. 

Handle what if parameters 

Power BI limits each “What if” parameter to 1,000 unique values. If you exceed that, values get sampled evenly, and you lose granularity. To work around it: 

• Break your parameter into smaller ranges (for example, 0–1000, 1001–2000). 

• Offer discrete options instead of full ranges when you don’t need every single point. 

Ensure consistent formatting 

Nothing undermines trust like mismatched units or wonky fonts. 

Lock display units 

By default, Power BI adjusts unit suffixes (K, M, B) based on regional settings. If U.S. and Australian colleagues share the same report, this can cause confusion. There’s no built-in lock, but you can manually set display units in the visual’s Format pane to keep everyone aligned. 

Tackle macOS font issues 

If your stakeholders on Mac aren’t seeing the same fonts, it’s because Microsoft fonts aren’t included by default on macOS. You can: 

• Install the missing Microsoft fonts on each Mac. 

• Choose cross-platform fonts like Arial or Helvetica so your layout stays consistent. 

Maintain smooth performance

A slow dashboard quickly loses engagement. 

• Trim your data model. Remove unused columns and reduce cardinality where possible. 

• Use summary tables or aggregations instead of full transaction tables for visuals. 

• Limit cross-filtering complexity. Too many bi-directional relationships can bog down refresh times. 

Next steps 

• Sketch out your dashboard wireframe today. 

• Review your filter and parameter settings before publishing. 

• Tidy up formatting so visuals render correctly across devices. 

Final Thoughts 

Designing effective Power BI dashboards is about understanding what the users need and how they will be used. Only then should you start considering the technical challenges. 
Taking a few minutes to talk with users, sketch out a sensible wireframe, and test your layout across different devices can save time later and ensure your efforts actually support decision-making.
Small touches like grouping related metrics or locking display units can eliminate confusion and help every viewer focus on what matters.
As you apply these practical techniques, remember that the pursuit of clarity never ends. Iterating on your dashboards, refining filter logic, and maintaining consistent formatting are ongoing parts of delivering value with business intelligence.
Stay attentive to feedback and be open to small tweaks that improve usability; that’s how dashboards move from just being attractive reports to becoming truly indispensable tools for your business.