1. Paginated reports
In this last lesson, let's talk about paginated reports in Power BI.
2. What are paginated reports?
Power BI is a screen-centric medium, meaning that we use the product on screens. But what about times when we need to print something out?
This is where paginated reports come in. These are "pixel-perfect" reports, meaning that the printed copy of a report looks just like what you see on the screen.
You can create these in the Power BI Report Builder tool, a separate download and installation from Power BI Desktop.
3. The origin of paginated reports
Just from the screenshot on the prior slide, you can see that these reports do not look the same as what we have in Power BI Desktop.
The reason for this is that paginated reports actually originate in SQL Server Reporting Services, a reporting engine hosted on SQL Server. Historically, developers use tools like Visual Studio to create Reporting Services projects and develop reports.
There is also a tool called the SQL Server Reporting Services Report Builder, which is intended for business analysts and end users to access pre-created datasets and build their own custom reports without needing IT to develop them.
In Power BI, we have an analogous tool, the Power BI Report Builder.
4. Comparing against dashboards
You've probably already noticed that paginated reports are quite different from the dashboard reports that we've worked with so far. Let's lay out a few key differences between the two products.
Paginated reports are much better in cases where you need to print out reports. These requirements are a lot less common than a decade ago, but the need is still there.
Both report engines support dozens of visuals, and there's a lot of overlap between the two, but it's not a perfect match--there are some visuals in one but not the other. Also, note that the visuals will render differently, including different color schemes and different appearances.
One huge advantage of Power BI dashboards over paginated reports is that you can easily slice and filter on dashboards, but none of that functionality is easily available in paginated reports.
5. Important limitations
Now let's look at a few key limitations with paginated reports. First, you only need a Professional license to view a report, but if you want to save one, you'll need to save it in Premium capacity.
You cannot share data sources or datasets between paginated reports. If you're familiar with Reporting Services reports, this is a difference between the products.
Similarly, there is no drillthrough or click-through capability. In SSRS, you can build subreports, which allow developers to link together reports and give users the ability to click on a link in a report to learn more information about an entity. For example, an order summary report could have links to specific orders, which would open up the orders report for more details.
Finally, there is no real in-app interaction with paginated reports. Instead, the most common tactic is to export the report to a product like Excel, Word, or Powerpoint.
6. Let's practice!
Now that you have an understanding of where paginated reports fit into the story, let's see if you understand the difference with Power BI reports.