Scheduled data refresh in Power BI - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Scheduled data refresh

Business Question

How can we keep our sales dashboard data up-to-date automatically every day without manual updates?

Sample Data

Date	Region	Product	Sales Amount
2024-06-01	North	Widget A	100
2024-06-01	South	Widget B	150
2024-06-02	North	Widget A	200
2024-06-02	East	Widget C	300
2024-06-03	West	Widget B	250
2024-06-03	South	Widget A	180

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: Total Sales = SUM('Sales'[Sales Amount])
  Result: 1180
• Line Chart: Sales Over Time
  X-axis: Date
  Y-axis: Total Sales (SUM of Sales Amount)
  Shows sales trend by date
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  X-axis: Region
  Y-axis: Total Sales (SUM of Sales Amount)
  Shows sales distribution by region
• Table: Sales Details
  Columns: Date, Region, Product, Sales Amount
  Shows raw sales data rows
• Scheduled Refresh Setup: Data refresh set to daily at 2 AM to update data automatically

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|      Total Sales      |    Sales Over Time   |
|       (KPI Card)      |      (Line Chart)    |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|     Sales by Region   |    Sales Details     |
|      (Bar Chart)      |       (Table)        |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|          Scheduled Data Refresh Info          |
+-----------------------------------------------+
    

Interactivity

Filters for Date and Region allow users to select specific periods or regions. When a filter is applied:

• Total Sales updates to show sum for selected data.
• Sales Over Time line chart redraws to show filtered dates.
• Sales by Region bar chart updates to reflect selected regions.
• Sales Details table shows only rows matching filters.

The scheduled refresh ensures that the data behind all visuals is refreshed daily without manual intervention.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Region = 'North', which components update and what changes occur?

• Total Sales updates to sum sales only from the North region (100 + 200 = 300).
• Sales Over Time line chart shows sales trend only for North region dates.
• Sales by Region bar chart highlights North region sales and hides others.
• Sales Details table filters to show only rows where Region is North.

Key Result

A sales dashboard that updates daily with scheduled data refresh, showing total sales, sales trends, and regional sales breakdown.