Dashboards

A dashboard is a single canvas of tiles, pinned from one or more reports.

Report A ---+
            |
Report B ---+--- Tiles ---> Dashboard
            |
Report C ---+

Unlike a report, a dashboard is not interactive in the same way — it's a curated, at-a-glance summary.

Dashboards vs. Reports

A dashboard is built from reports. It doesn't replace them.

Pinning a Tile

Tiles are added to a dashboard by pinning a visual from a report.

Report visual
     |
     | Pin to dashboard
     |
Dashboard tile

Steps:

1. Open a report and hover over the visual to pin.
2. Select the pin icon.
3. Choose an existing dashboard, or create a new one.

The visual becomes a static tile that links back to the underlying report and visual state at the time it was pinned.

Live Tiles vs. Pinned Images

Most tiles stay live, refreshing whenever the underlying dataset refreshes.

Dataset refresh
     |
     | updates
     |
Dashboard tile

Clicking a live tile takes the user back into the source report, filtered to match the state that was pinned.

Pinning a Live Report Page

An entire report page can also be pinned as a single tile, preserving its own interactivity when clicked into.

Report Page
     |
     | Pin live page
     |
Dashboard tile (opens full page)

This is useful when a whole page — not just one visual — represents a meaningful summary.

Combining Multiple Sources

Because a dashboard is just a collection of tiles, it can combine visuals pinned from different reports and even different datasets.

Sales Report -----+
                   |
Inventory Report --+--- Dashboard
                   |
Finance Report ----+

This makes dashboards useful as an executive summary that spans multiple underlying models.

Q&A Tiles

Dashboards support natural-language Q&A tiles, letting users type a question and get a matching visual back automatically.

"total sales by region"
        |
        | Q&A
        |
   Auto-generated chart

Q&A quality depends heavily on clear field and table naming in the underlying dataset.

Setting Alerts

Numeric tiles (cards, KPIs) can trigger data alerts when a value crosses a threshold.

Tile value > threshold
        |
        | triggers
        |
   Email / notification

Alerts are useful for monitoring metrics like inventory levels or daily sales without needing to check the dashboard manually.

Best Practices

• Keep a dashboard focused on one audience or one decision, not everything at once.
• Pin only the tiles that matter for an at-a-glance view; leave exploration to the underlying reports.
• Use live report page tiles when a whole page tells the story better than one visual.
• Set alerts on the handful of metrics that actually need proactive monitoring.
• Revisit dashboards periodically — pinned tiles can become stale if the source report changes significantly.

Common Mistakes

Treating a Dashboard Like a Report

Dashboards intentionally have less interactivity than reports. Trying to replicate full slicer-driven exploration on a dashboard usually means the content should be a report page instead.

Pinning Too Many Tiles

A dashboard crowded with dozens of tiles stops being an at-a-glance summary. If it takes scrolling and searching to find the number that matters, it has grown too large.

Forgetting Tiles Are Snapshots of a Visual State

A pinned tile reflects the filters applied at the moment it was pinned. Changing the source report's default filters later does not automatically update tiles pinned earlier.

Dashboard Checklist

Before sharing a dashboard broadly:

• Every tile serves the dashboard's specific audience or purpose.
• Live tiles link back to the correct report and filtered state.
• Alerts are configured for metrics that need proactive monitoring.
• The dashboard isn't trying to replace full report exploration.
• Tile count stays small enough to scan at a glance.

Next Steps

Continue exploring the Power BI Service:

• Workspaces
• Refresh
• Row-Level Security