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In this “Create Power BI Report from SharePoint List” article, we will learn how to create a Power BI report from the SharePoint Online list using the Power BI Visualize the List integration tool in SharePoint Online, which will help you to visualize your data graphically, which will help you in decision-making.
In today’s data-driven world, making sense of large volumes of data is crucial for making informed decisions. SharePoint Online, a powerful collaboration and document management platform from Microsoft, is widely used to store and manage data within organizations. However, data stored in SharePoint lists can be overwhelming without proper tools to visualize and analyze it effectively. This is where Power BI, Microsoft’s flagship data visualization tool, comes into play. Power BI offers a robust solution to visualize the data in SharePoint Online, turning raw data into insightful reports and dashboards.
In this article, we’ll explore how to use the “Visualize the List” feature in SharePoint Online to create dynamic, interactive reports using Power BI. We’ll discuss the benefits of integrating SharePoint with Power BI, provide a step-by-step guide on how to visualize your SharePoint list data, and offer tips for customizing and enhancing your visualizations.
Create Power BI Report from SharePoint List Using the Power BI Visualize the List Feature
Before getting into the demo, let us understand what “Visualize the List” is in SharePoint Online and what it offers using the Power BI reporting tool.
What is the “Visualize the List” Feature?
The “Visualize the List” feature is an integration point between SharePoint Online and Power BI that allows users to quickly create Power BI reports from SharePoint list data. This feature is designed to provide an easy-to-use interface for users of all skill levels to analyze and present their data without leaving the SharePoint environment. With just a few clicks, users can transform their list data into visually appealing and insightful reports.
Benefits of Using “Visualize the List”
- Ease of Use: The feature is straightforward and user-friendly, making it accessible to users who may not have extensive experience with Power BI.
- Real-Time Data: Visualizations are connected to the SharePoint list in real-time, ensuring that the data displayed is always up to date.
- Customization: Users can easily modify the default visuals or create new ones to better suit their analysis needs.
- Integration: The feature is seamlessly integrated with SharePoint, allowing users to leverage the full power of Power BI without leaving the SharePoint platform.
Getting Started: How to Access “Visualize the List”
Before you can start visualizing your data, you need to access the “Visualize the List” feature in your SharePoint list. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get started:
Step 1: Open the SharePoint List
Log in to your SharePoint Online site and navigate to the list you want to visualize. Ensure that you have the necessary permissions to access the list and use the Power BI features.
Step 2: Access the “Integrate” Menu
Once you are in the list view, look for the command bar at the top of the page. Click on the “Integrate” dropdown menu.
Step 3: Select “Power BI”
In the Integrate menu, you will see an option labelled “Power BI.” Click on it to expand the submenu.
Step 4: Choose “Visualize the List”
From the Power BI submenu, select the option labelled “Visualize the List.” This will launch the Power BI visualization interface within SharePoint.
Step 5: Wait for the Report to Generate
Power BI will automatically connect to your SharePoint list and generate a default report with a set of visuals based on the list’s data. This process may take a few moments, depending on the size and complexity of your list.
Creating a Power BI Report from SharePoint List
Once the report is generated, you’ll see a Power BI report interface with several visuals already in place. These visuals are based on the columns and data in your SharePoint list. Here’s how to create and customize your Power BI report:
Overview of the Auto-Generated Report
The auto-generated report typically includes a few standard visuals, such as bar charts, line charts, or pie charts, depending on the type of data in your list. These visuals provide a basic overview of your data and can be modified or replaced as needed.
Modifying and Customizing the Report Visuals
Power BI offers a wide range of customization options to help you create the perfect report for your data analysis needs. Here are some ways you can customize your visuals:
- Change Chart Types: You can change the chart type for any visual by selecting it and choosing a new chart type from the visualization pane. For example, you can switch a bar chart to a line chart or a pie chart to a donut chart.
- Add Filters: Use the filter pane to add filters to your visuals. Filters allow you to focus on specific data points or ranges, making it easier to analyze your data.
- Format Visuals: Power BI provides a variety of formatting options to customize the appearance of your visuals. You can change colors, fonts, data labels, and more to match your organization’s branding or your personal preferences.
Customizing Visualizations
Customizing your visualizations is an important part of creating a meaningful and engaging report. Here are some tips for customizing your Power BI visuals effectively:
Selecting the Right Visualizations
Choosing the right visualizations for your data is crucial for effective analysis. Here are some tips for selecting the right visuals:
- Bar and Column Charts: Use bar and column charts to compare values across different categories or time periods.
- Line Charts: Line charts are ideal for showing trends over time or continuous data.
- Pie and Donut Charts: Use pie and donut charts to show the proportion of categories within a whole.
- Scatter and Bubble Charts: Scatter and bubble charts are great for analyzing relationships between two or more variables.
Tips for Effective Visualizations
- Keep it Simple: Avoid cluttering your visuals with too much information. Focus on the most important data points and keep your visuals clean and easy to read.
- Use Consistent Formatting: Maintain consistency in your visual formatting, such as colors, fonts, and data labels, to create a cohesive report.
- Highlight Key Insights: Use colors, data labels, or annotations to highlight key insights or trends in your data.
Advanced Features and Integration
While the “Visualize the List” feature provides a great starting point for creating Power BI reports, you can further enhance your reports by leveraging advanced features and integrations with other Power BI tools.
Exporting to Power BI Desktop
If you need more advanced customization options, you can export your report to Power BI Desktop. This allows you to take advantage of features like custom visuals, DAX formulas, and more complex data modelling. To export your report, click on the “Export” button in the Power BI interface and choose “Power BI Desktop.”
Integration with Other Power BI Features
Power BI offers a variety of features and integrations to enhance your data visualization and analysis capabilities. Here are some of the key features you can use:
- Dashboards: Create interactive dashboards that bring together multiple reports and visuals in a single view.
- Dataflows: Use dataflows to connect and transform data from multiple sources, including SharePoint lists, before visualizing it in Power BI.
- Custom Visuals: Power BI provides a wide range of custom visuals in the AppSource marketplace. You can add these visuals to your report to enhance its functionality and appearance.
Real-World Use Cases
The “Visualize the List” feature in SharePoint Online can be used in a variety of real-world scenarios to enhance data analysis and decision-making. Here are some examples of how organizations are using this feature:
Project Tracking
Organizations can use Power BI to visualize project data stored in SharePoint lists. For example, a project manager can create a dashboard that shows the status of different projects, the progress of tasks, and the allocation of resources. This helps the team stay on track and identify potential issues before they become critical.
HR and Recruitment
HR departments can use Power BI to analyze recruitment data, such as the number of applicants, the status of job openings, and the time to fill positions. By visualizing this data, HR professionals can identify trends and make data-driven decisions to improve their recruitment processes.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing teams can use Power BI to visualize customer data, sales performance, and marketing campaign results. This allows them to identify opportunities for growth, track the effectiveness of marketing efforts, and make informed decisions to drive business success.
Tips and Best Practices
To get the most out of the “Visualize the List” feature in SharePoint Online, here are some tips and best practices to follow:
Ensure Data Accuracy and Cleanliness
Before visualizing your data, make sure that your SharePoint list data is accurate and well-structured. Clean and organize your data to ensure that your visuals provide meaningful insights.
Maintain Consistency in Visual Design
Consistency in visual design is key to creating effective reports. Use consistent colors, fonts, and formatting throughout your report to create a cohesive look and feel.
Regularly Update Your Visuals
Keep your visuals up to date by regularly refreshing your data and updating your visuals to reflect any changes. This ensures that your reports always provide accurate and relevant information.
Limitations and Considerations
While the “Visualize the List” feature is a powerful tool for data visualization, there are some limitations and considerations to keep in mind:
Data Volume Limitations
The feature may have limitations on the amount of data it can handle effectively. For very large lists, performance may be impacted, and some visualizations may not display all the data.
Customization Limitations
While Power BI offers a wide range of customization options, some advanced features may only be available in Power BI Desktop. If you need more advanced customization, consider exporting your report to Power BI Desktop.
Data Privacy and Security
When visualizing sensitive data, it’s important to consider data privacy and security. Ensure that your data is properly secured and that only authorized users have access to your reports.
Demo: How to Create a Power BI Report from SharePoint Online List?
Let’s follow the below steps to create a Power BI report from the SharePoint Online list:
Open your desired list from where you want to generate a Power BI report, but one thing you need to keep in mind is that your list should have some data for the visualisation.
Follow the below navigation to get into the visualize the list menu:
Click on the three dots from the List ribbon menu -> Integrate -> Power BI -> Visualize the list
Click on “Visualize the list.”.
Then, the below page opens.
Create a Power BI report and semantic model from this SharePoint list?
If you continue, data you have access to in the report and associated semantic model will be visible to anyone who can view the list. This remains true for individual list items that have item-level permissions that only you have access to.
If a semantic model already exists for the SharePoint list, it will automatically be reused.
If you encounter this message without first selecting Visualize the list on a SharePoint list, select Cancel .
Create a Power BI report and semantic model from this SharePoint list
If we translate the above message in simple terms, it says that if you keep going, the data you see in the report and the related data model will be visible to everyone who can see the list. This also includes any list items with specific permissions that only you can access, so the item-level permission will be broken if you have any.
If there’s already a data model set up for the SharePoint list, it will be used again automatically.
If you see this message without first choosing ‘Visualise the list’ on a SharePoint list, click ‘Cancel.
Let’s click on the “Create a report” button.
Then, I got the below access denied error.
Something went wrong
I added my account to the list permission, then I followed the same steps; this time I didn’t get that access denied error, as shown below:
After a few seconds, you can see your Power BI automated report like below:
To see the data in the form of a data table, click on “Show data table.” accordingly, hide it as well.
Click on the “Edit” pencil icon to switch to edit mode. Be aware that before switching to edit mode, we will get the below warning message:
“When you switch to edit mode, you’ll lose access to “Your data” pane. Do you want to continue?”
If you are ok with the message, click on the “Continue” button.
The Power BI report opens in edit mode.
You can explore the various features of the report in edit mode.
Click on the “Publish to the list” button to publish this report to your SharePoint Online list.
Before publishing, you must name your report.
Read out the message that explains what happens when you publish a report.
“When you publish this report back to the list, everyone who has access to the list will be able to open it and see all the data you’ve shared in the report.”
Click on the “Publish” button.
Power BI report has successfully been published to SharePoint list.
Now, let us access this report from the SharePoint Online list.
I can see my published Power BI report from my SharePoint list as shown below:
If we click on this report, my report opens in Power BI as shown below:
Can Power BI’s ‘Visualize the List’ feature effectively bypass the 5,000-item threshold limit in SharePoint Online lists?
Yes, Power BI’s ‘Visualize the List’ feature can effectively bypass the 5,000-item threshold limit in SharePoint Online lists. Here’s a detailed explanation:
How Power BI Bypasses the Threshold Limit
- Direct Access to Data: Unlike SharePoint views, which are limited to displaying 5,000 items at a time due to performance considerations, Power BI can connect directly to the SharePoint list and retrieve all the data without restrictions. This allows users to analyze and visualize datasets that are much larger than what SharePoint can handle in a single view.
- Efficient Data Handling: Power BI is designed to manage and process large volumes of data efficiently. It can perform complex calculations and aggregations on the data, providing insights that might not be possible with SharePoint alone.
- Data Modelling: With Power BI, you can create sophisticated data models that combine data from multiple sources, including large SharePoint lists. This data modeling capability allows users to summarize, filter, and analyze the data more effectively.
- Advanced Filtering and Slicing: Power BI enables users to apply advanced filters and slicers to the data, allowing for more precise control over the data displayed and analyzed. This functionality is especially useful when dealing with large datasets that exceed SharePoint’s threshold limits.
- Customizable Visualizations: Power BI offers a wide range of customizable visualizations that can be used to represent large datasets visually. These visualizations help users to quickly identify patterns and trends in the data that might be difficult to discern in a tabular format.
- Real-Time Data Refresh: Power BI reports connected to SharePoint lists can be set to refresh automatically, ensuring that users always have access to the most up-to-date data without the limitations of SharePoint’s list view thresholds.
Benefits of Using Power BI with SharePoint Lists
- Enhanced Data Analysis: Power BI’s analytical and visualization capabilities allow for more in-depth analysis of data, leading to better insights and decision-making.
- Scalability: Power BI can handle the increasing data needs of an organization without compromising on performance, making it a scalable solution for large datasets.
- Seamless Integration: The integration between Power BI and SharePoint is seamless, allowing users to take advantage of the strengths of both platforms without complex data migrations or additional tools.
- Improved User Experience: By using Power BI, users can overcome the frustrations associated with SharePoint’s threshold limits and work with large datasets more efficiently.
How to Use Power BI to Overcome the Threshold Limit
- Connect to the SharePoint List: Use the “Visualize the List” feature or the Power BI Desktop to connect to your SharePoint list and import the data.
- Model the Data: Create a data model that organizes and summarizes the data for analysis. This might involve creating relationships between different datasets or using DAX formulas for advanced calculations.
- Create Visualizations: Design and customize visualizations to present the data in a meaningful way. Power BI’s wide range of visualization options can be tailored to suit the specific needs of your analysis.
- Publish and Share the Report: Once the report is complete, publish it to the Power BI service or embed it in SharePoint for easy access by team members.
- Set Up Data Refresh: Configure the report to refresh automatically to ensure that it always reflects the latest data from the SharePoint list.
Power BI’s ‘Visualize the List’ feature provides an effective solution to the 5,000-item threshold limit in SharePoint Online lists. By leveraging Power BI’s advanced data processing and visualization capabilities, users can analyze and visualize large datasets without encountering the limitations imposed by SharePoint. This makes Power BI a powerful tool for enhancing data analysis and reporting in organizations that rely on SharePoint for data management.
Conclusion: How to Create Power BI Report from SharePoint List
Thus, in this article, we have learnt about how to create a Power BI report from the SharePoint Online list using the visualize the list Power BI integration tool and also learnt how to publish this report back to the SharePoint Online list for the user usages.
Visualizing the data in SharePoint Online using Power BI is a powerful way to turn raw data into actionable insights. The “Visualize the List” feature provides an easy-to-use interface for creating dynamic, interactive reports that can help you make data-driven decisions. By following the steps and best practices outlined in this article, you can create compelling visualizations that enhance your data analysis capabilities and drive business success.
Whether you’re a project manager, HR professional, or sales and marketing expert, Power BI’s integration with SharePoint Online offers a flexible and powerful solution for visualizing your data. Start exploring the “Visualize the List” feature today and unlock the full potential of your SharePoint list data with Power BI.
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