What is Microsoft Power BI?
Power BI is Microsoft's business intelligence platform — semantic data modelling, 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 visualisation tool.
What does Decision Foundry's Power BI service include?
Discovery and metric definition; semantic model design and DAX optimisation (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 modelling, and Fabric integration. Tableau leads on visual flexibility, exploratory analytics, and design polish. For Microsoft-centric organisations Power BI is usually the natural choice; for organisations 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.