1. Readying for production
Laying out great visuals is important for a successful Power BI dashboard, but there are a few more things you can do to enhance the user experience.
2. Automatic page refresh
Power BI offers automatic page refresh, which controls how often a Power BI report will query a source for new data.
This works with DirectQuery sources, not with Import sources. The best types of sources for this are relational databases like SQL Server and streaming services like Azure Stream Analytics.
You can set a fixed interval, down to 1 second per update.
3. Change detection
The other option for automated page refresh involves using change detection, which tracks the aggregated value of a given field, such as the maximum ID in a table, the latest date in a series, or the sum of values.
You can also use an existing calculated measure to perform change detection.
If the engine detects a change, Power BI will refresh the data source, as well as any visuals using it.
4. Performance considerations
To limit the performance impact of automatic page refresh, set the refresh interval to a value which is at least the same as your new data arrival interval. If you have data come in every 10 minutes, your refresh interval should be no less than 10 minutes.
You can see just how much impact change detection has by using the Performance Analyzer in Power BI. There is a section dedicated to change detection.
Every user with a report open runs an independent set of refresh operations, so if you have 50 concurrent users, you will have 50 independent queries to update the data.
5. Capacity requirements
Change detection is a premium-only feature, meaning that you must have the Power BI Premium or Premium Per User SKU, not just Professional. The term "SKU" means "stock keeping unit" and is the term Power BI uses to differentiate versions of the product. Automatic page refresh via scheduled interval will work on both the Pro and Premium SKUs.
If you are using a shared workspace rather than a dedicated tenant, you may schedule refreshes no more than once every 30 minutes.
With dedicated capacity, you can schedule things as frequently as once per second, although the minimum will depend on your storage mode. DirectQuery supports a refresh interval of 1 second, but if you are using Analysis Services for storage or accessing Power BI Push datasets, the minimum interval is 30 minutes.
You are also limited to a maximum of 10 models with a change detection measure, so if you are in a large enterprise with many report creators, you might wish to use scheduled intervals more frequently than change detection.
6. Configuring report pages
Power BI offers a variety of options for configuring report pages before deployment.
One set of features cover the page size, alignment, and layout. On these settings, you can control the aspect ratio of your report page, such as making a page 16:9, 4:3, or a custom ratio like 16:10 depending on your intended users' screen shapes.
You can also set a page background or wallpaper, separate from the visuals' backgrounds. The page background is the space on the canvas not covered by visuals, and the wallpaper includes the space between the canvas and page tabs, as well as the Filter pane. But do keep in mind the lessons we learned through this course about cognitive load and accessibility!
Speaking of the Filter pane, you also have some control over how it appears, including background colors and font sizes.
7. Let's practice!
Let's get these reports ready for production.