Power BI Services FAQ

The Power BI service is Microsoft’s secure cloud platform for publishing, sharing, and collaborating on interactive reports and dashboards. At AscenWork, we use it to deliver live, role‑based analytics portals to clients without the cost or maintenance of on‑premises BI infrastructure.

Build visuals in Power BI Desktop, publish the report to the Power BI service, then pin your most important visuals—or entire report pages—to a new dashboard. AscenWork accelerates the process with pre‑built templates, governed data models, and deployment pipelines for one‑click updates.

“Power BI in Excel” refers to Excel’s built‑in analytics stack—Power Query, Power Pivot, and live‑connected Power BI datasets—so teams can analyze governed data models without leaving spreadsheets. AscenWork enables finance and operations users to stay in familiar Excel while tapping enterprise‑grade Power BI models.

Both tools offer modern, self‑service analytics, but Power BI is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365, Azure, and Teams, giving organizations in the Microsoft ecosystem lower total cost of ownership and smoother collaboration. AscenWork typically recommends Power BI for clients who already rely on Microsoft platforms.

Power BI Desktop is free, and you can publish to a personal workspace at no charge. Sharing with colleagues requires a Power BI Pro licence (often bundled with Microsoft 365), or Premium capacity for large‑scale deployments. AscenWork audits usage to ensure you license only what you need.

Basic dashboards are entirely drag‑and‑drop. Advanced calculations use DAX and data‑prep steps use Power Query’s M language—both considered low‑code. Custom visuals or automation can involve Python, R, or .NET, which AscenWork’s developers handle when projects demand deeper customization.

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions, the formula language that powers measures, calculated columns, and tables in Power BI, Excel Power Pivot, and Analysis Services. AscenWork consultants write optimized DAX to deliver millisecond‑fast KPIs.

Look for a Microsoft Solutions Partner with real‑world projects, cross‑industry expertise, and strong customer references. AscenWork ticks those boxes—delivering hundreds of successful Power BI implementations and maintaining a 97 % client‑satisfaction rating.

Yes, we can connect Power BI with SAP, Dynamics 365, Oracle, and more.

Absolutely. Dashboards work seamlessly on phones, tablets, and desktops.

We support both Excel and Google Sheets integration for real-time sync and analysis.

Adoption is spread widely, but financial services, manufacturing, retail & e‑commerce, healthcare, and professional services lead the pack. These sectors need real‑time visibility into margins, inventory, and customer behaviour—exactly the type of insight AscenWork delivers with Power BI‑powered dashboards and governed data models.

Absolutely. With cloud costs dropping and Microsoft 365 already entrenched, Indian enterprises are fast‑tracking Power BI projects for everything from GST compliance to AI‑driven demand forecasting. AscenWork’s own Power BI engagements in India have grown over 60 % year‑on‑year since 2023.

Primarily for self‑service analytics and interactive dashboards that turn siloed data into business‑ready KPIs. Our clients tap Power BI for sales pipeline tracking, supply‑chain analytics, HR attrition dashboards, and executive scorecards—integration with Teams and SharePoint keeps insights in the flow of work.

A KPI visual compares an actual measure against a target, signaling performance with colour cues and trend arrows. AscenWork designs KPI tiles that refresh automatically, so leadership can spot variances—as small as 1 %—before they escalate.

They’re complementary, not competing. SQL stores and queries raw data; Power BI models, visualises, and shares that data. At AscenWork we pair robust SQL back ends (Azure SQL, Synapse, on‑prem databases) with Power BI to create a full analytics stack.

AscenWork Technologies where we recruit developers skilled in DAX, data modelling, and Azure DevOps pipelines.

• Model data in Power BI Desktop (relationships, DAX measures).

• Build visuals with slicers, drill‑through pages, and tooltips.

• Publish to the Power BI service.

• Pin visuals or pages to a dashboard and enable Q&A or natural‑language queries.
  AscenWork accelerates this with reusable templates and CI/CD pipelines for friction‑free updates.

Yes—use parameters, incremental refresh, real‑time push datasets, and on‑premises data‑gateway scheduling. We often add what‑if sliders and user‑role security so each stakeholder sees tailored, up‑to‑the‑minute metrics.

• Report: multi‑page, interactive canvas built in Desktop; offers drill‑down, filters, and bookmarks.

• Dashboard: single‑page pinboard in the Power BI service that aggregates visuals from multiple reports and datasets.
  AscenWork uses reports for deep analysis and dashboards for executive snapshots.