Category Blog

Scope Creep: A Power BI Horror Tale

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

Let’s talk about scope creep. Or as I like to call it this time of year, the ghost that haunts your Power BI projects. You start with a sleek, elegant report, one goal, one purpose. It’s a thing of beauty. It…

Background Choices in Power BI: Let’s Talk About It

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

I’ve written quite a bit about colour contrast in data visualisation before, but today I want to zoom in on a topic I see overlooked a lot: dashboard background choices. Let me start with a simple truth: the background of…

Navigating  Northings and Eastings in Power BI

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

I first came across Northings and Eastings was years ago when I worked as a navigator, plotting courses and making sure we didn’t end up somewhere we shouldn’t! So, when I stumbled across them again while working in Power BI a few…

Tracking Month-over-Month Changes in Power BI

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

From my experience developing reporting solutions in Power BI, one of the most common requests, regardless of industry, is tracking changes over time. Whether it’s comparing this month’s costs to last month’s, monitoring budget fluctuations, or spotting delays in project…

The Curious Case of the 1930s Forecast Date

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

It all began when I refreshed a Power BI report using the usual data export from Primavera P6 into Excel. As I scanned through the forecast dates, something made me stop in my tracks, a task scheduled for the year…

The Date Dimension Awakens in Power BI

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked, “Why do we need a separate Date Table? Can’t we just use the date columns in our dataset?” And honestly, I get it. When you’re new to Power BI or…

Tracking Project Benefit in Power BI – Part 2

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

Welcome back to the second part of our series on Tracking Project Benefit in Power BI! In the first part, we laid the foundation by structuring our data model and establishing the necessary relationships. We discussed the importance of this…

Tracking Project Benefit in Power BI – Part 1

Promotional graphic titled “FRAMING DATA FOR SUCCESS” in bold lettering. Subtext reads “Learning Power BI & Accessible Design,” with a red play button icon and the handle “@AccessibleBI.” Juliana Smith, wearing a grey sweater, appears in the background. The image is framed with a yellow border.

In my years reporting on project controls, I’ve often been asked to visualise financial benefits over time. Tracking realised vs expected benefits is crucial for decision-making, but finding the right way to present this data can be tricky. At first,…