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Last updated: 2025-07-17
Microsoft Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn your unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. Your data might be an Excel spreadsheet, or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data warehouses.
List of References (Click to expand)
- Data Visualization: Power BI is a data visualization platform used primarily for business intelligence purposes.
- Software Services: Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to help you create, share, and consume business insights in the way that serves you and your business most effectively.
- Power BI Service: The Microsoft Power BI service is the Software as a Service (SaaS) part of Power BI.
- Data Sources: Power BI lets you easily connect to your data sources, visualize and discover what's important, and share that with anyone or everyone you want.
Power BI consists of several elements that all work together, starting with these three basics:
- A Windows desktop application called Power BI Desktop.
- An online SaaS service called the Power BI service.
- Power BI Mobile apps for Windows, iOS, and Android devices.
Beyond those three, Power BI also features two other elements:
- Power BI Report Builder, for creating paginated reports to share in the Power BI service.
- Power BI Report Server, an on-premises report server where you can publish your Power BI reports, after creating them in Power BI Desktop.
Power BI is used differently by different roles in a project or team. You may view reports and dashboards in the Power BI service. Others may create reports in Power BI Desktop and publish them to the service. Some may use the Power BI Mobile app to track sales data. Developers may use Power BI APIs to integrate data and visuals into their apps.
Refresh Date: 2025-07-16