With Power BI, you conveniently have all your data in one place for boardroom presentations. But what happens when you need to share those insights beyond the meeting room and keep your entire team informed at a glance? The answer lies in your corporate digital signage.
Graphs, charts, and tables are already visually appealing and easy to understand. Digital signage helps employees keep these insights at the forefront of their minds by dynamically presenting them. With the Look DS solution, you have the tools to tailor these insights according to teams or departments, create transitions between key metrics, and update your dashboards in real-time
This article is a walkthrough of this integration's benefits and a step-by-step guide to displaying Power BI dashboards on Look DS.
Why Integrate Power BI with Digital Signage?
When you use Power BI to visualize data, it’s meant to be interactive, easily shareable, and insightful. But these insights are only helpful to the people with access to them.
Once you integrate Power BI with lobby digital signage, you broaden the reach of your data by making sure that real-time information is displayed where everyone can see it. This is especially useful in situations where teams across different locations or departments need to stay updated, track KPIs, or quickly monitor operational performance.
Understanding Power BI and Its Use Cases
What is Power BI?
Power BI is an interactive data analytics and business intelligence platform developed by Microsoft. It helps businesses make sense of their data by transforming raw information into insightful, easy-to-understand visuals and reports.
Power BI’s capabilities include everything from connecting to various data sources - like Excel, Salesforce, Google Analytics, and even IoT devices - to creating real-time, dynamic dashboards that provide a comprehensive 360-degree view of your business performance.
The platform offers several components, including Power BI Desktop for data preparation, Power BI Service for sharing reports online, and Power BI Mobile for accessing dashboards on the go.
Common Use Cases for Power BI Dashboards
Corporate environments: Businesses use Power BI dashboards to display performance metrics, sales figures, or operational KPIs to keep teams aligned with company goals. Using conference room digital signage software ensures that live dashboards update in real-time, so that decision-makers are never working with outdated numbers during a meeting.
Retail and sales: To show sales trends, customer behavior data, and stock levels across different stores or locations.
Manufacturing: They help manufacturers monitor real-time production metrics and supply chain performance to improve efficiency.
Education: Educators use these dashboards to share key metrics related to student performance or administrative operations.
Healthcare: Power BI dashboards help practitioners understand patient data, staff performance, and departmental KPIs to improve service delivery.
Read related article Top 12 Power BI Dashboard Examples to Improve Your Reports
Why Choose Look DS to Display Power BI Dashboards?
Seamless Integration with Power BI
Look is an all-in-one solution that gives you access to dozens of built-in apps including Power BI. That means that you don’t need to spend hours trying to set up third-party software. When you log in to your Look portal, you’ll find Power BI in the app section. With some easy steps that include connecting your Power BI account via Look and configuring some settings, your graphs, charts, and reports are ready to display across all the designated screens.
Scalability and Flexibility
Look DS is a cloud-based digital signage service that grows with your business, regardless of the number of locations or screens. You can scale with ease and still maintain total control over your display content. From a single interface, you can add more screens, and group them according to purpose so that it’s easier to assign playlists and schedule automatic updates. That means you cut down your content management time by half to focus on what matters.
User-Friendly Interface
The web interface is well organized with clearly labeled menus and options to easily locate and access various Look features. The drag-and-drop functionality lets you create and customize layouts in a visually logical and engaging way. Look also adapts to different screen orientations, whether vertical or landscape - to make sure your dashboards are displaying as intended, you can get a preview using the Demo Screen.
Step-by-Step Guide: Displaying Power BI Dashboards on Look DS
- Access the Power BI App:
- Navigate to the "Apps" section within your Look DS account.
- Locate and select the "Power BI" app from the available options.
- Connect Your Power BI Account:
- Within the app, go to the "Profile settings."
- Log in using your Power BI account credentials.
- Configure Your Dashboard Display:
- In the "Workspace" field, choose the specific workspace containing the dashboard you want to showcase.
- Select the type of data you want to display (e.g., reports, dashboards, datasets).
- Set the desired refresh/update interval to keep your data current.
- Enable Interactivity (Optional):
- If you want viewers to be able to interact with the dashboard directly on the screen, toggle the "Interactivity" option to "On."
- Add to Your Signage:
- Once you've configured everything, click the "Add Content" button to incorporate your Power BI dashboard into your Look DS signage playlist or layout.
Pro Tip: For the most dynamic and up-to-the-minute data display, set the refresh interval to as low as 1 second. Your digital signage will always reflect the latest information from your dashboards.
Best Practices for Displaying Power BI Dashboards on Digital Signage
Optimizing Dashboard Visibility
Font size: Depending on the viewing distance, use a visible font size without your audience straining too much.
Use contrasting colors: There should be a high contrast between the background and text to improve readability.
Simplify visuals: Avoid overloading the dashboard with too many charts or data points. Stick to key metrics.
Full-screen mode: Display dashboards in full-screen mode to maximize the use of space.
Dynamic content: Use animations or transitions to keep the content engaging and prevent screen fatigue.
Content rotation: Rotate dashboards if there are multiple KPIs to share, so viewers aren’t overwhelmed with too much data at once.
Data Security Considerations
Restricted access: Look’s user roles and permissions feature allows you to create different user roles with varying levels of access and permissions. You can restrict access to specific content libraries, playlists, or templates and control which users can add, remove, or configure your digital displays to prevent unauthorized changes.
Customizing Content for Different Audiences
Create different dashboards for different audiences: This segmentation allows you to address the unique needs and interests of different groups within your organization or customer base.
Use filters and slicers: These interactive elements enable viewers to focus on specific data points or timeframes that resonate with their individual roles or interests.
Use annotations: This will allow you to provide additional context and explanation for your data.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Connectivity Problems
One common issue is the loss of connection between Power BI and Look DS, which can disrupt data updates. To resolve this:
- Check network connections: Look DS and Power BI should be connected to a stable network. If the connection is lost, reauthenticate your Power BI account within Look DS to restore access.
Dashboard Display Issues
Problems with scaling, resolution, or lag can negatively impact the user experience. To address this:
- Adjust resolution settings: Make sure your Power BI dashboard is optimized for large-screen display by adjusting the resolution settings in Look DS.
- Test display performance: Run a test of your dashboard on your digital signs to identify any lag or visual issues, and adjust accordingly.
In case you encounter any errors or need additional support, Look’s customer support team is available 24/7. Use the live chat inside your personal account and an agent will reply with a solution.
Conclusion
We have looked at how integrating Power BI with Look DS transforms your data insights into a powerful communication tool. It’s a proven way to create a data-driven culture and improve decision-making across your organization.
The user-friendly interface, scalability, and flexibility of Look DS make it the perfect platform to showcase your Power BI dashboards effectively.
If you’re ready to elevate your workplace with data-driven insights? Sign up for a 14-day free trial or book a demo today!
