Power BI Architecture: A Guide for Efficient Data Management
The architecture of Microsoft Power BI consists of several components that work together to enable data connectivity, data transformation, data visualization, and collaboration.
The architecture of Power BI can be broken down into three main components:
- Power BI Desktop: This is a Windows application that allows users to connect to data sources, create and design visualizations, and publish reports to the Power BI service.
- Power BI Service: This is a cloud-based service that allows users for viewing and interacting with the reports and visualizations created in Power BI Desktop. It also allows users to share and collaborate on reports with others.
- Power BI Report Server: This is an on-premises solution that allows users to run Power BI reports on their own servers, rather than in the cloud. This is useful for organizations that have strict data security and compliance requirements.
Here is a high-level overview of the Power BI architecture:
- Data sources: Power BI allows you to connect to a huge range of data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, cloud services, and more. You can use the Power BI Desktop application to connect to and transform your data.
- Data model: The data model in Power BI is a logical representation of your data that is used to create relationships between tables and to define measures and calculated columns. You can use the data model to create a semantic layer that simplifies the data for analysis and visualization.
- Reports: Reports in Power BI are collections of interactive visualizations and widgets that are used to present and analyze data. You can create reports using the Power BI Desktop application and then publish them to the Power BI service.
- Dashboards: Dashboards in Power BI are collections of reports and other visualizations that are used to display key metrics and insights in a single, easy-to-use interface. You can create dashboards using the Power BI service and then share them with others.
- Power BI service: The Power BI service is a cloud-based platform that is used to publish, share, and collaborate on dashboards and reports. It includes features such as data refresh, data security, and collaboration tools.
- Power BI Mobile: Power BI Mobile is a suite of apps for iOS, Android, and Windows that allow you to access and interact with your dashboards and reports on the go.
Overall, the Power BI architecture is designed to enable users to connect to, transform, and visualize data from a huge range of sources, and to share and collaborate on insights and analysis with others.