What is Microsoft Power BI?
Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence platform: semantic data modeling, interactive dashboards, paginated reports, and an increasingly AI-native experience via Copilot. As part of Microsoft Fabric, Power BI now sits inside a unified data + AI platform that spans ingestion, lakehouse, real-time analytics, and ML, making it more than just a visualization tool.
What does Decision Foundry's Power BI service include?
Discovery and metric definition; semantic model design and DAX optimization (the layer that determines whether dashboards perform); report and dashboard development; Microsoft Fabric integration; Copilot AI activation; embedded analytics inside customer-facing applications; deployment topology (workspaces, capacities, governance); and adoption: training, documentation, and rollout support.
How does Power BI compare to Tableau?
Power BI leads on cost (especially within Microsoft 365 estates), DAX-driven semantic modeling, and Fabric integration. Tableau leads on visual flexibility, exploratory analytics, and design polish. For Microsoft-centric organizations Power BI is usually the natural choice; for organizations where dashboard design is a strategic differentiator, Tableau often wins. Many enterprises run both.
How long does a Power BI implementation take, and what does it cost?
A focused single-use-case deployment (semantic model + 3-5 dashboards + governance) runs 6-10 weeks. A platform-level rollout (Fabric integration, multi-workspace governance, 20+ dashboards, embedded analytics) runs 4-7 months. Licensing depends on user count, dataset size, and embedding needs; options range from Pro to Premium Per User and Fabric capacity. Discovery call and license sizing first.
We have Power BI but dashboards are slow or not adopted, can you fix that?
Two of the most common engagements we see. Slow dashboards almost always trace to the semantic model: over-relational DAX, unnecessary granularity, or imported datasets that should be DirectQuery. Low adoption traces to design (built for the analyst, not the decision-maker). We run a 2-week diagnostic and produce a fixed-fee remediation plan.
Why Decision Foundry for Power BI?
Certified Power BI specialists across both classic Power BI and Fabric. Plus deep Snowflake, Databricks, and Salesforce expertise, so our Power BI work connects to the broader data stack, not just the Microsoft layer. 200+ data projects delivered. Our FDE engineers embed inside your team so the dashboards reflect real workflows.