BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE OF A CONSTRUCTION

PROJECT USING POWER BI

BS CIVIL ENGINEERING BATCH 2019

SUBMITTED BY:
NAME ROLL NO

MUHAMMAD NASIR 2019-CV-052

FARAZ PANHWAR 2019-CV-082
SOHAIB AHMED SHAIKH 2019-CV-072
SAAD ANWAR 2019-CV-085
KHURSHED ALI SHAH 2019-CV-198

INTERNAL SUPERVISOR EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR

MISS AFSHAN SIDDIQUE SULTAN SALABAT AHMED

LECTURER PROJECT PLANNER

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

SIR SYED UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

UNIVERSITY ROAD KARACHI

 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that following students of Civil Engineering Department of Batch
2019 have successfully completed the Final Year Project in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Sir Syed University of
Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan.

NAME ROLL NO
MUHAMMAD NASIR 2019-CV-052
FARAZ PANHWAR 2019-CV-082
SOHAIB AHMED SHAIKH 2019-CV-072
SAAD ANWAR 2019-CV-085
KHURSHED ALI SHAH 2019-CV-198

UNDER SUPERVISION OF

______________________ _______________________
INTERNAL SUPERVISOR EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR
MISS AFSHAN SIDDIQUE SULTAN SALABAT AHMED
LECTURER PROJECT PLANNER

_______________________________________________________

CHAIRMAN DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All Praise to Almighty Allah, who gave us the vigor and strength to complete our project with
success. All acknowledgements are to Department of Civil Engineering, Sir Syed University of
engineering and Technology, Karachi, for the Support it provided and to those who guided us for the
completion of this project.

On the Occasion of completing our final year project we would like to express our deep sense of
gratitude to Mrs. Afshan Siddique, Engr. Sultan Salabat Ahmed for providing us platform of
management studies and their precious guidance throughout the project.

We are too glad to give our special thanks to our Internal supervisor Mrs. Afshan Siddique and
External Supervisor Engr. Sultan Salabat Ahmed for providing us an opportunity to carry out project
and for also there help and support whenever needed. Without their co-operation it was impossible to
reach up to this stage.

iii
 ABSTRACT
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE OF A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT USING POWER BI

Due to the rapid growth of new technologies, the Business Intelligence (BI) market is growing as well
that forces the corporations to adopt their offerings to the needs of the customer. Adoption of
Business Intelligence system has become one of the most important technological and organizational
innovations in modern organization that promote knowledge diffusion, and cornerstone of business
decision making processes. Since the way of BI integrated and implemented is quite different among
organizations, it is important to approach BI literature by adaption of BI application and its
implementation, BI architects, and enabling factors in BI projects. Furthermore, we are also going to
discuss how technological capabilities such as user access, data quality and the integration of BI with
other systems in the firm, as well as organizational capabilities such as flexibility and risk
management support, are essential for BI success, regardless of the decision environment. Last but
not least, this paper will also discuss how the idea of BI has been built on the school of thought. We
expect that results could create the value and input for enterprises that plan to implement a BI
application in their organization.

iv
 PREFACE
The goal of our project is to focus on the modern techniques adopted in construction management.
The project gives new skills, techniques, style and changing your way of thinking acquired from the
past practices adopted in construction management. This gives construction manager essential tool to
survive and prosper in a highly competitive environment. In consideration to the basic engineering
practice of economizing of construction process, every possible measure has been considered to the
economic effect of the construction process.

v
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................................................................... iv
PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................................................................. v
LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................................................................................ix
CHAPTER 01 BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE....................................................................................................................................1
Abstract 1
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................................................1
METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 02........................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
POWER BI............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
1.1.1 Power BI Tutorial........................................................................................................................................................................5

1.1.2 What is Power BI?.......................................................................................................................................................................5

1.1.3 Why Power BI?............................................................................................................................................................................6

1.1.4 History of Power BI.....................................................................................................................................................................6

1.1.5 Power BI Features........................................................................................................................................................................7

1.1.6 Power BI Components.................................................................................................................................................................7

1.1.7 Power BI Architecture.................................................................................................................................................................8

1.1.8 1. Data Integration.......................................................................................................................................................................8

1.1.9 2. Data Processing........................................................................................................................................................................8

1.1.10 3. Data Presentation....................................................................................................................................................................8

1.1.11 Users of Power BI.......................................................................................................................................................................8

1.1.12 1. Analysts....................................................................................................................................................................................8

1.1.13 2. Business Users.........................................................................................................................................................................9

1.1.14 3. IT professionals.......................................................................................................................................................................9

1.1.15 4. Developers................................................................................................................................................................................9

1.1.16 Data Connections in Power BI...................................................................................................................................................9

1.1.17 Power BI Pricing.........................................................................................................................................................................9

1.1.18 Companies using Power BI........................................................................................................................................................9

1.1.19 Power BI Case Study on Rolls-Royce.....................................................................................................................................10

1.1.20 Summary....................................................................................................................................................................................10

Reports in Power BI............................................................................................................................................................................ 10

1.1.21 The parts of a report.................................................................................................................................................................11

1.1.22 Advantages of reports...............................................................................................................................................................12

1.1.23 Safely interact with content.....................................................................................................................................................12

1.1.24 Save your changes or revert to the default settings...............................................................................................................12

1.1.25 Dashboards versus reports.......................................................................................................................................................12

1.1.26 View a report in the Power BI service for business users......................................................................................................13

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 1.1.27 Open a report from Power BI Home......................................................................................................................................13

1.1.28 Open a report that has been directly shared with you..........................................................................................................14

1.1.29 Open a report that is part of an app.......................................................................................................................................17

1.1.30 Prerequisites..............................................................................................................................................................................18
Open a report from a dashboard........................................................................................................................................................................................18

1.1.31 Change the display of a report page........................................................................................................................................19

1.1.32 Explore the View menu............................................................................................................................................................20

1.1.33 Use your browser to change page display...............................................................................................................................23

1.1.34 Zoom in on a visual...................................................................................................................................................................23

Project Identification.......................................................................................................................................................................... 24
1.1.35 1. Customer Churn Analysis....................................................................................................................................................25

1.1.36 2. Product Sales Data Analysis................................................................................................................................................25

1.1.37 3. Marketing Campaign Insights Analysis.............................................................................................................................25

1.1.38 4. Financial Performance Analysis..........................................................................................................................................25

1.1.39 5. Healthcare Sales Analysis....................................................................................................................................................26

1.1.40 Intermediate-Level Power BI Project Ideas...........................................................................................................................26

1.1.41 6. Anomaly Detection in Credit Card Transactions..............................................................................................................26

1.1.42 7. AutoML Cashflow Optimization for Insurance Company...............................................................................................27

1.1.43 8. Global Health Expenditure Analysis...................................................................................................................................27

1.1.44 9. Loan Application Analysis...................................................................................................................................................27

1.1.45 10. Movie Sales Visualization...................................................................................................................................................28

1.1.46 Advanced-Level Power BI Project Ideas................................................................................................................................28

1.1.47 11. Airport Authority Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................................28

1.1.48 12. Covid-19 Insights Analysis.................................................................................................................................................29

1.1.49 13. Construction Permit Data Analysis...................................................................................................................................29

1.1.50 14. Global Energy Trade Analysis...........................................................................................................................................30

1.1.51 15. Life Expectancy Data Analysis..........................................................................................................................................30

1.1.52 Power BI Projects Github........................................................................................................................................................30

1.1.53 16. Twitter Analysis Dashboard..............................................................................................................................................31

1.1.54 17. OTT Media Dashboard......................................................................................................................................................31

1.1.55 18. AdventureWorks Database Analysis................................................................................................................................32

1.1.56 Power BI Report Examples......................................................................................................................................................32

1.1.57 Retail Analysis Power BI Report Example.............................................................................................................................33

1.1.58 Global Covid-19 Analysis Power BI Report Example...........................................................................................................34

1.1.59 Inventory Stock Analysis Power BI Report Example...........................................................................................................34

1.1.60 Cancer Analytics Power BI Report Example.........................................................................................................................35

1.1.61 Customer Analysis Power BI Report Example......................................................................................................................35

1.1.62 Master Data Visualization With These Power BI Projects...................................................................................................36

1.2 Methodology......................................................................................................................................................................................................36
1.3 Research Approach...........................................................................................................................................................................................36

1.3.2 Qualitative Research..................................................................................................................................................................37

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 1.3.3 Research Process........................................................................................................................................................................38

1.3.4 Models of Steps in the Writing of the Literature Review (Maier, 2013)...............................................................................38

1.3.5 Literature Review......................................................................................................................................................................39

1.3.6 Research Design.........................................................................................................................................................................39

1.3.7 Sample Selection.........................................................................................................................................................................39

1.3.8 Linkoping University.................................................................................................................................................................40

1.3.9 Data Collection...........................................................................................................................................................................41

1.3.10 Data Collection Method............................................................................................................................................................41

1.3.11 Interviews..................................................................................................................................................................................41

1.3.12 Figure 17:Uses of Different Types of Interview in Each of the Main Research Categories (Saunders, 2007, p. 314)....42

1.3.13 Figure 18: Uses of Different Types of Interview in Each of the Main Research Categories (Saunders, 2007, p. 314). . .42
3.7.1 Data Collection Process....................................................................................................................................................................................44

1.3.14 Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................................................................45

1.1.1 Coding and Comparison...................................................................................................................................................................................45
1.2 Validity and Reliability.....................................................................................................................................................................................50
1.2.1 Internal Validity................................................................................................................................................................................................50
1.2.2 External Validity...............................................................................................................................................................................................50
1.2.3 Reliability..........................................................................................................................................................................................................51
1.2.4 Objectivity..........................................................................................................................................................................................................51
1.2.5 Ethical Considerations.....................................................................................................................................................................................51

Project Management & Schedule......................................................................................................................................................52

3.7.2 Decision-Making Review..................................................................................................................................................................................53
3.7.3 Decision-Making Process.................................................................................................................................................................................53
1.3 Business Intelligence........................................................................................................................................................................................56
3.7.4 The History of Business Intelligence...............................................................................................................................................................58
3.7.5 The Business Intelligence Architecture...........................................................................................................................................................60
1.4 The Business Intelligence Benefits..................................................................................................................................................................62
1.5 Business Intelligence in Higher Educational Institutions:.............................................................................................................................65
3.7.6 Qlikview.............................................................................................................................................................................................................66
1.6 Theoretical Framework....................................................................................................................................................................................68

Power BI Implementation..................................................................................................................................................................38
1.3.15 Professional Power BI deployment.........................................................................................................................................38

1.3.16 Power BI Architecture sample.................................................................................................................................................38

1.3.17 Implementation Project Duration...........................................................................................................................................39

1.3.18 Cost of Power BI reporting......................................................................................................................................................40

Each Business Intelligence project is quoted separately. The price is estimated individually and depends on many factors
like project complexity, number of data sources and data volume................................................................................40
1.1 Decisions Before the Implementation of the Business Intelligence...............................................................................................................40
1.2 Decisions After the Implementation of the Business Intelligence..................................................................................................................40
1.3 General Use of the Business Intelligence System............................................................................................................................................40
1. Discussion.........................................................................................................................................................................................................46
1.1 The Power of Business Intelligence Benefits Over Decision- Making Process........................................................................................46

RESULTS............................................................................................................................................................................................. 49
References:........................................................................................................................................................................................... 50

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1-1 LEVEL OF MANAGEMENT

viii
FIGURE 1-2 MANAGEMENT PROCESS ACTIVITIES

FIGURE 1-3 MANAGEMENT LEVEL AND FUNCTIONAL AREAS

FIGURE 1-4 DISTRIBUTION OF TIME PER ACTIVITY BY ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

ix
 CHAPTER 01 BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
INTRODUCTION
Abstract
Due to the rapid growth of new technologies, “the Business Intelligence (BI) market is growing as well
that forces the corporations to adopt their offerings to the needs of the customer. Adoption of Business
Intelligence system has become one of the most important technological and organizational innovations
in modern organization that promote knowledge diffusion, and cornerstone of business decision making
processes. Since the way of BI integrated and implemented is quite different among organizations, it is
important to approach BI literature by adaption of BI application and its implementation, BI architects,
and enabling factors in BI projects. Furthermore, we are also going to discuss how technological
capabilities such as user access, data quality and the integration of BI with other systems in the firm, as
well as organizational capabilities such as flexibility and risk management support, are essential for BI
success, regardless of the decision environment. Last but not least, this paper will also discuss how the
idea of BI has been built on the school of thought. We expect that results could create the value and
input
For enterprises that plan to implement a BI application in their organization.

INTRODUCTION
Present day association settings are very convoluted and continually evolving. Organizations, in both
public and private sector, are under extraordinary pressure for offering an explanation to the top
management about change condition and innovation. To do so, it requires an organization to possess
strategic, operational and tactical decisions; however, they are complicated and are taken rapidly. The
basic leadership requires a lot of data, information, and knowledge. One ought to process this data as
required basic leadership and fast, on time and ongoing preparing is expected to end up modernized
(Turban et al, 2010). Furthermore, nowadays business life cycle has turned out to be shorter.
Henceforth, to gain the competitive advantage organization must have quick and proper decision
making. Decision maker indeed needs good data, to make the right decision at the right time and place
(Farjami, 2015)

The concept of BI existed during the 1950s and it grew out from a technology called decision support.
Decision support is still used by many companies to come up with decisions that would
help them to gain competitive advantage amongst their competitors.
BI has grown strong during the recent years mainly due to increased data collection and better
technology with greater storage capacity. Due to the improvement of technology, the company
can use BI to store a large amount of data with cheaper rate. Companies have access to a lot of
data in the form of smartphone, internet records, and social media activities and so on. BI can sift
through these data to find patterns and trends (Raisinghani, 2004).
In any organization regardless its size, the business activities include the administration of
extensive amounts of data from both inner and outside business conditions; all these data
identified with interior operations, advertise, clients, providers, economic assets, and so forth.,
historically cumulated, on action times of the organization, shape the reason for some complex

1
and greatly helpful economic and money related problems in the organization's administration
decision making process (Mihaelia and Rozalia, 2012).”
METHODOLOGY
In this paper, “we are going to use secondary data from the previous literature review of the
Business Intelligence with dozens of article and secondary sources of data collection. The paper
is concluded with the literature review of Business Intelligence. Business Intelligence mainly
focuses how to collect, organize and interpret the data to relevant department to make an
effective decision under the uncertainty to obtain the organizational goal. In the discussion
session, we will try to draw a link between Business Intelligence aspect and Thematic School of
Thought under the theme of uncertainty, information and game theory which mainly related to
decision making. Furthermore, we will rationalize how Business Intelligence is related or has
been built on the School of Thought.

LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Business Intelligence

There is another issue with a great number of definitions; they tend to change after some time, in
light of the fact that the way of what they consider changes. This is the situation with BI for
instance. Initially, software business engaged with BI, BI used to be comprehended as private
insight, rather than state or open knowledge. Even after many years, BI is still used by engineers
and programmers (Solberg Søilen, 2015).

BI is characterized as frameworks that gather, change, and present organized information from
various sources lessening the required time to acquire significant business data and enable their
efficiency use in management decision making process (Den Hamer, 2004), permitting dynamic
enterprise information look, recovery, examination, and clarification of the necessities of
administrative choices (Nofal and Yusof, 2013). As indicated by Tyson (1986), BI concentrates
on gathering, process and present information concerning customers, contenders, the business
sectors, technology, and products. Pirttimäki (2007) depicts BI as a procedure that incorporates a
series of activities, being driven by the particular data needs of decision makers and the objective
of achieving competitive advantage.

BI is a framework that transforms information into data and afterward into learning,
consequently enhancing company's basic decision-making process (Singh and Samalia, 2014).
BI is characterized as a framework which gathers, changes and shows organized information
from various sources. BI is a system and an answer that helps decision makers to comprehend
the economic circumstance of the firm (Nofal et al., 2013).
BI is termed to as a set of numerical and methodological models for examination utilized for
extracting data and valuable information from raw information for utilizing confused basic
leadership prepare (Vercellis, 2013). Similarly, Wixom and Watson (2010, p.14) mention that
―Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of technologies, applications, and processes for
gathering, storing, accessing, and analyzing data to help its users make better decisions.‖ We can
upgrade the bits of knowledge gave by BI applications—particularly by utilizing information
2
mining procedures, through simulation and modeling of real world under a "systems thinking"
approach, enhancing forecasts, and adding to a superior comprehension of the business
progression of any organization (Raisinghani, 2004).

BI helps administrators by breaking down information from various resources in better basic
leadership at both tactical and strategic level, for customary utilization, conventional data
frameworks farewell, yet for hierarchical and functional planning; new tools are required for
business analysis (Rasoul and Mohammad, 2016).”

2. Data, Information, and Knowledge

In BI context, “we always see the word data, information, and knowledge which could lead us
getting confused on its use and implication. Carlo (2009) distinguishes their definition.
Data: It refers to a structured codification of single primary entities and as well as of transactions
involving two or more primary entities Carlo (2009). BI is popular among companies mainly
because of analysis of data that is of any form and formulate a strategy accordingly. Generally
data is classified into three types—structured data, semi-structured data, and unstructured data.
Structured data are information that is fixed form, the data may be a collection of forms of
websites, and detailed address that can be easily read by the computers since the data is already
standardized.
Unstructured data are information that cannot be easily read by computers, which may be text,
documents, video tapes, websites, and pictures (Jermol et al. 2003), or any other type of
information that cannot be clearly sorted or organized into rows and columns. Information is
used many times to Company data are found across different locations and places in the form of
Customer Relation Management (CRM) programs, marketing automation systems and social
media platforms.
Information: It refers to the result of extraction and processing activities carried out on data, and
it appears meaningful for those who receive it in a specific domain.

Knowledge: It is formed from information which is used to make decisions and develop the
corresponding actions. Hence, we could say that knowledge consists of information that puts to
work into a specific domain, and it is enhanced by the experience and competence of decision
makers in tackling and solving complex problems.

3. Business Intelligence Architectures

Carlo (2009) uses the following pyramid to describe how business intelligence system is constructed.
Data sources: The sources mostly consist of data belonging to operationalize systems, but may
also include unstructured data, such as emails, and data received from external providers.
4. Data warehouse/Data mart: Data warehouses are used to consolidate different kinds of data into
a central location using a process known as extract, transform and load (ETL) and standardize
these results across systems that are allowed to be queried. Data marts are generally small
warehouses that focus on information on a single department, instead of collecting data across a
3
company. They limit the complexity of databases and are cheaper to implement than full
warehouses.
Data exploration: Data exploration is a passive BI analysis consisting of query and reporting
systems, as well as statistical method.

Data mining: Data mining is active BI methodologies with the purpose of information and
knowledge extraction from data.

Optimization: Optimization model allows us to determine the best solution out of a set of
alternative actions, which is usually fairly extensive and sometimes even infinite.
Decisions: When business intelligence methodologies are available and successfully adopted, the
choice of a decision pertains to the decision makers, who may also take advantage of informal
and unstructured information available to adapt and modify the recommendations and the
conclusions achieved through the use of mathematical models.”

4
5
 CHAPTER 02

POWER BI
In today’s world, “where data is the Robin of every business and organization. And, without this Robin,
there is no Batman! Data is a treasure of knowledge and valuable information which is used by the ones
helming a business to make lucrative and effective decisions at the right time.”

“BI is about providing the right data at the right time to the right people so that they can take the
right decisions”
– Nic Smith with Microsoft BI Solutions Marketing
1.1.1 Power BI Tutorial
Before diving into “the Power BI introduction, let’s have a quick look at Business intelligence (BI). It
refers to taking raw data from a data source, transforming it into usable data and utilizing it to make
reports and informative graphics for data analysis.

Graphically representing tabular data is known as data visualization. It enables a user to visualize
important information through charts, graphs, KPIs, maps, etc. to attain valuable insights just by
looking at them. Well Microsoft Power BI is a tool having business intelligence and data visualization
capabilities.
Before we begin with this journey of learning a new BI technology called Microsoft Power BI, we must
learn some basics about it. We request you to take some time out and explore this Power BI tutorial
thoroughly as it will act as a building block for learning Power BI technology.

1.1.2 What is Power BI?

Power BI is a cloud-based business analysis and intelligence service by Microsoft. It is a collection of
business intelligence and data visualization tools such as software services, apps and data connectors.
We can use the datasets imported in Power BI for data visualization and analysis by making sharable
reports, dashboards, and apps. Power BI is a user-friendly tool offering impressive drag-and-drop
features and self-service capabilities.

Microsoft offers three types of Power BI platforms:

 Power BI Desktop (A desktop application)

 Power BI Service (SaaS i.e., Software as a Service)
 Power BI Mobile (For iOS and Android devices)
Also, we can deploy Power BI on both on-premise and on-cloud platforms.”

6
In the image given below, have a look at the process flow in Power BI.

1.1.3 Why Power BI?

As we learned in the previous section of Power BI tutorial that, “Power BI is an umbrella term having
several different kinds of services under its tutelage.

1. There is a cloud-based BI service called Power BI Services used to view and share dashboards.
2. A desktop-based reporting interface known as Power BI Desktop.
3. Another useful service is Power BI Embedded that runs on an Azure cloud platform and we can
use it for report creation, ETL and data analysis.

Further, let us discuss a few points regarding why Power BI is an important tool in today’s time and
why do we need it.

 Real-time analysis in Power BI can be done by establishing direct connections to the data sources.
Also, it keeps data updated to the latest second by data refreshing.
 You can use custom visualizations from a custom visuals gallery. Custom visuals are divided into
many options and categories.
 You can quickly search for important insights and datasets within your data by using the Quick
Insights option.
 Establish a live or non-live connection to on-premises data sources like SQL Server, and use a
secure channel to access data through data gateways. This makes Power BI enterprise-ready as on-
premises connections make data transfer secure and the technology scalable and reliable.
 You can connect to other services through Power BI such as SQL Server Analysis Services
(SSAS), Microsoft Excel, etc.
 Power BI is a new age software using the latest technologies such as HTML 5.0, column
store databases, cloud computing, mobile apps, etc. This helps in keeping Power BI on the top and
popular as it is constantly getting updated with the latest features.
1.1.4 History of Power BI
Power BI is a Microsoft’s product initially released on 11th July 2011. It was originally designed and
created by Ron George in 2010, who released it with the name “Project Crescent”. Later in September
of 2013, Microsoft changed the name to Power BI and launched it for the public.
7
This release was a Power BI for Office 365 and had Microsoft Excel add-ins, Power Pivot, Power View,
Power Query in it. In later versions, Microsoft added advanced features like natural language Q&A,
enterprise-level data security and connectivity, Power data gateways, etc.
Power BI’s first general public release was on July 24th, 2015. As of 2019, Power BI has been officially
declared as one of the leading BI tools by 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business
Intelligence Platform.”
1.1.5 Power BI Features
There are some of the most important and interesting features of Power BI:

 Attractive Visualizations/ custom visualizations

 GetData (Data sources)/data connections
 Datasets
 Dashboards
 Filters
 Ad hoc analysis
 Reports/ ad hoc reporting
 Trend indicators
 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
 Navigation pane
 Natural language Q & A box
 DAX functions and formula
 Office 365 app launcher
 Content packs
 Authoring interactive reports
You must learn about these features in detail from our separate tutorial on features of Power BI
1.1.6 Power BI Components
Power “BI is a business intelligence and data mining software suite which is a collection of different
kinds of services by Microsoft. These services play a specific role and work in coordination with each
other, to make Power BI function as a whole. In this section of the Power BI tutorial, we will learn
about each of these Power BI services or components and their roles.

 Power Query: We use this service to access, search and transform data from public or local/internal
data sources.
 Power Pivot: This service provides tools to model data taken from the in-memory data source to
use it for analytics.
 Power View: This service has many tools to graphically represent data using visuals and use them
for analysis.
 Power Map: It comes with tools and capabilities to visualize Geo-spatial data or information in the
3D model in a map. You can use these maps in a Power BI report.
 Power BI Desktop: It is a companion development tool for Power View, Power Query, and Power
Pivot. You can import data from a data source, prepare and transform it and use it in visualizations
to create reports in Power BI Desktop.
 Power BI Website: It is a web platform to view and share Power BI apps or solutions. Using Power
BI Website, you can create dashboards from reports, share the dashboards with other Power BI users
and slice and dice data within a report.
 Power Service: The Power Service enables the sharing of workbooks and data views with other
users. The data gets refreshed at regular intervals from the on-premises or/and cloud-based data
sources.

8
 Power Q&A: Using the Power Q&A option, you can search for your data or discover insights by
entering queries in natural language. It instantly understands your query and returns relevant results.
 Power BI Mobile apps: Business users view and interact with the reports and dashboards published
on a cloud service through mobile hosted Power BI instances. Android, Windows and iOS mobile
devices support the Power BI mobile apps.
 Data Catalog: The Data Catalog option offers the capability to search and reuse queries.
 Data Management Gateway: This component manages the periodic data refreshes, data feed
viewing and table exposing.”
1.1.7 Power BI Architecture
To have a better understanding of Power BI, we can divide the architecture into three parts or phases:

1.1.8 1. Data Integration

In Power BI, “we can import data from different kinds of data sources in different formats. In the data
integration step, Power BI brings data together (extracted) from different data sources and converts it
into a standard format. After data is integrated into Power BI, it is stored in a common storage area
known as the staging area.
1.1.9 2. Data Processing
Once Power BI integrates and stores data at a secure place, the raw data requires some processing.
Several processing or cleansing operations transform the raw data such as removing redundant values,
etc. Later, we apply relevant business rules on the processed data that transforms it according to our
business needs. This transformed data is loaded into the data warehouses. This completes a full process
of ETL.

1.1.10 3. Data Presentation

In this final phase, the processed data moves from the warehouse and goes into the Power BI platforms
like Power BI Desktop to create reports, dashboards, and scorecards. Power BI offers a wide range of
visualizations. We can also import custom visualization from the marketplace. From the report
development platforms, we can publish the reports on the web or mobile apps to share it with other
business users.
Get a thorough understanding of Power BI Architecture
1.1.11 Users of Power BI
Power BI users are categorized into four sections according to the purpose of the usage of Power BI.
These four types of users are Analysts, Business users, IT professionals and Developers. Let’s learn
some more about them.

9
1.1.12 1. Analysts
Analysts use Power BI to develop reports, dashboards, data models and study them to discover valuable
insights in the data. Power BI offers a wide range of data sources from which an analyst can extract
data, make a common dataset, cleanse and prepare that data to make reports and conduct analysis.
1.1.13 2. Business Users
The business users are the common users who study the reports and dashboards available to share with
them on the Power BI website or mobile app. Business users remain updated with the latest information
which helps in taking important decisions in time. They can also set an alert notification for any change
or abnormality in data (if occurs).
1.1.14 3. IT professionals
The IT professionals are mainly concerned with the scalability, availability, and security of data. They
also centrally manage all the Power BI services and users.
1.1.15 4. Developers
Developers are responsible for all the technical work. Their key roles are to create custom visuals to be
used in Power BI, embedding Power BI into other applications, creating reports, etc.
1.1.16 Data Connections in Power BI
There are a plethora of data sources from which you can extract data into Power BI. You can connect to
data files on your local system, Excel files, Azure SQL Database, Facebook, Google Analytics, Power
BI datasets, etc.

You can connect to cloud-based sources, on-premises data sources using gateways, online services,
direct connections, etc. We have listed some commonly used data sources below.”

File: Excel, Text/CSV, XML, PDF, JSON, Folder, SharePoint.

Database: SQL Server database, Access database, Oracle database, SAP HANA database, IBM, MySQL,
Teradata, Impala, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, etc.
Power BI: Power BI datasets and Power BI dataflows.
Azure: Azure SQL, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Lake, Azure Cosmos DB, etc.
Online Services: Salesforce, Azure DevOps, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Dynamics 365, Facebook,
GitHub, etc.
Others: Python script, R script, Web, Spark, Hadoop File (HDFS), ODBC, OLE DB, Active Directory, etc.
1.1.17 Power BI Pricing
Now, “we are sure you must have started liking Power BI after learning what all it has to offer. And so,
you would also want to know its pricing and licensing costs. We will let you know about the prices of
different versions with their features in this Power BI tutorial. Microsoft has put out three pricing plans
for Power BI:

 The basic version, Power BI Desktop is free of cost and includes tools for data visualization, data
preparation, data modeling, data cleansing and publishing reports to Power BI Service.
 Power BI Pro is available at a subscription price of $9.99 per user per month. You can try a 60 days
free trial before purchasing the subscription. This plan for Power BI Pro includes tools for data
collaboration, a 360 real-time view for dashboards, data governance, and the freedom to publish
reports anywhere.
 The Power BI Premium is available at a price of $4,995 per month for one dedicated storage
resource and cloud computing facility.

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1.1.18 Companies using Power BI
Power BI is a relatively new business analytics software in the market and is gaining popularity very
fast. It has gathered a huge customer base worldwide already and is rapidly expanding. Here is a list of a
few big names that use Power BI as their business analysis software:

 DELL
 Capgemini
 Nuevora
 Accenture
 Agile BI
 Data Bear
 Acuity Training
1.1.19 Power BI Case Study on Rolls-Royce
In this section, we will briefly walk through a case study of Power BI. This will help us understand the
role of Power BI in a real-life scenario. The case in the spotlight here is Rolls-Royce. This 20-year-old
company needs no introduction.

As of this year, it is making more than 13,000 engines for commercial aircraft used around the world.
This speaks for its massive and ever-increasing customer base. Now let us move further and see the
challenges the company faced and how Power BI proved to be useful.”

The problem
The most fundamental “challenge of the company was to optimize maintenance costs, operational costs,
fuel expenses, etc. This is only possible when the company can record, access, and analyze the data
produced by all the systems and equipment of the aircraft.

With the advancing technology, the systems can record more and more signals which are the data from
different aircraft sensors. This has resulted in a constant increase in data volumes. So, the company
needed a good data management and analysis system that filter important signals or data and use them
to generate insights.

In addition to this, Rolls-Royce launched a customer service and maintenance model known as
“TotalCare Services”. It was a very successful initiative that involved engine maintenance services for
the customer. For this also, the company needed proper insights into data so that they can establish a
bond with their customers.”

The change
Rolls-Royce chose the “Microsoft Azure platform and Power BI to manage and analyze terabytes of
data coming from the engines and maintenance systems. With the help of Microsoft Azure, the company
was able to aggregate data from varied locations and sources. And with the help of Microsoft Power BI,
they were able to carry out analysis on the extracted data.

With Power BI, they designed and created dashboards and reports having informative visuals and
charts. Earlier, creating informative reports to gain insights into data was time-consuming. But with
Power BI, it is the easiest step in the entire process. Thus, Power BI plays a crucial role in providing
valuable insights into data so that the company can focus on improving operational efficiencies and
establish long-lasting relationships with their customers.

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1.1.20 Summary
This brings our introductory tutorial on Microsoft Power BI to an end. We hope it helped you lay a solid
foundation about the technology. In the tutorials to come, we will expand on more interesting topics and
tools of Power BI.”

Reports in Power BI

A Power BI report is a multi-perspective view into a dataset, “with visuals that represent findings and
insights from that dataset. A report can have a single visual or many pages full of visuals. Depending on
your job role, you might be someone who designs reports, or you might be a business user who
consumes reports. This article is for business users.

A Power BI report is a multi-perspective view into a dataset, with visuals that represent findings and
insights from that dataset. A report can have a single visual or many pages full of visuals. Depending on
your job role, you might be someone who designs reports, or you might be a business user who
consumes reports. This article is for business users.”

1.1.21 The parts of a report

 This report has four pages (or tabs). The example shows the Sentiment page.
 This page has five visuals and a page title.
 The Filters pane shows any applied filters. To collapse the Filters pane, select the arrow (>).
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  The Power BI banner shows the name of the report and the last updated date. Select the arrow to open
a menu that shows the name of the report owner.
 The action bar contains actions to take on this report. For example, you can add a comment, view a
bookmark, or export data from the report. Select More options (...) to see a list of report functions.

If you're new to Power BI, read Basic concepts for the Power BI service business users to get a good
foundation. You can view, share, and annotate reports on mobile devices. For more information, see
Explore reports in the Power BI mobile apps.

1.1.22 Advantages of reports

Power BI bases a report on a single dataset. “Report designers create the visuals in a report to represent
pieces of information. The visuals aren't static. They update as the underlying data changes. You
interact with the visuals and filters as you dig into the data to discover insights and find answers. Like a
dashboard, a report is interactive and customizable. The extent of what you can do with a report depends
on your role and the permissions the report designer assigns to you.

1.1.23 Safely interact with content

As you explore and interact with your content by filtering, slicing, subscribing, and exporting, you can't
corrupt the reports. Your work doesn't affect the underlying dataset or the original shared dashboards,
reports, and apps.

Note

You can't damage your data. The Power BI service is a great place for you to explore and experiment
without worrying about breaking something.

1.1.24 Save your changes or revert to the default settings

Your changes won't affect underlying data, but that doesn't mean you can't save your changes. You can,
but those changes only affect your view of the content. To revert to the default view of the report, select
the Reset icon.”

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1.1.25 Dashboards versus reports

Dashboards can be confused with reports because they're both canvases filled with visualizations, but
there are major differences. The following table shows an overview of the different capabilities of
dashboards and reports:

1.1.26 View a report in the Power BI service for business users

A report is one or more pages of visuals. “Reports are created by Power BI designers and shared with
business users directly or as part of an app. To open a report, you'll need either a Power BI Pro license,
or for the report to be part of a workspace that is stored in a Premium capacity. Learn about licenses and
subscriptions.”

There are many different ways to open a report and we'll show you two of them: open from Home and
open from a dashboard.

1.1.27 Open a report from Power BI Home

Let's open a report that's been shared with you directly and then open a report that was shared as part of
an app.

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 1.1.28 Open a report that has been directly shared with you

Power BI designers can share an individual report directly with you via a link in email or by adding it
automatically to your Power BI content. Reports that are shared this way show up in the Shared with
me container on your nav pane and in the Shared with me section of your Home canvas.

 Open the Power BI service (app.powerbi.com).

 From the nav pane, select Home to display your Home canvas.

1. Scroll down until you see Shared with me. Look for the report icon . In this screenshot we have
one dashboard and one report. The report is named Sales and Marketing Sample.

15
2. Simply select the report name to open the report.

3. Notice the tabs along the left side. Each tab represents a report page. We currently have the Growth
Opportunity page open. Select the YTD Category tab to open that report page instead.

16
4. Expand the Filters pane along the right side. Filters that have been applied to this report page, or to the
entire report, are displayed here. You can change these filters to see the impact on your visuals and
report.

5. Display the actions menu for a visual. Hovering over a report visual reveals actions you can take on that
visual. To see the filters applied to a specific visual, select the filter icon. Here we've selected the filter
icon for the Total units by month and manufacturer line chart.

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6. You can also change the display of the report page. Right now, we're displaying the entire report page.
To change the display (zoom) of the page, select the View dropdown from the upper right corner and
choose Actual size and then switch to Fit to width. Notice the differences each view option makes to
the display of your report.

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There are many ways for you to interact with a report to discover insights and make business decisions.
Use the table of contents on the left to read through other articles about Power BI reports.

1.1.29 Open a report that is part of an app

If you've received apps from colleagues or from AppSource, those apps are available from Home, and
from the Apps and Shared with me containers on your nav pane. An app is a collection of dashboards
and reports that have been bundled together for you by a Power BI designer.

1.1.30 Prerequisites

Opening an app requires a Power BI Pro license, or for the app workspace to be stored in Power BI
Premium capacity.

To follow along, download the Sales and Marketing app.

 In your browser, navigate to appsource.microsoft.com.

 Search for "Sales & Marketing" and select Microsoft sample - Sales & Marketing. Scroll
down to see the search results.
 Select Get it now > Continue > Install to install the app in your Apps container.

You can now open the app from your Apps container or from Home.

 Go back to Home by selecting Home from the nav pane.

 Scroll down and select My Apps.

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  Select your new Sales and marketing app to open it. Depending on the options set by the app
designer, the app will open either a dashboard or a report. This app opens to a dashboard.

Open a report from a dashboard

Reports can be opened from a dashboard. Most dashboard tiles are pinned from reports. Selecting a tile
opens the report that was used to create the tile.

 From the dashboard, select a tile. In this example we've selected the Total Units YTD Var %
column chart tile.

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 The associated report opens. Notice that we're on the YTD Category page. This is the report page that
contains the column chart we selected from the dashboard.

1.1.31 Change the display of a report page

You can view reports on many devices with varying screen sizes and aspect ratios. Learn how to change
the display of a report page, so it fits your needs.
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1.1.32 Explore the View menu

The options in the View menu give you flexibility to display report pages at the size and width you
choose.

If you view a report on a small device, it might be hard to see titles and legends. Select View > Actual
size to increase the size of the report page. Use the scroll bars to move around the report.

22
Fit the report to your screen width by selecting Fit to width from the View menu. Because it adjusts the
width and not the height, you might need to use the vertical scroll bar.

If you don't want any scroll bars, but you want to make the best use of your screen size, select Fit to
Page from the View menu.

23
Change your display colors by selecting High contrast colors in the View menu. Select one of the
options, such as High-contrast #1, High-contrast #2, High-contrast black, or High-contrast white. This
feature gives people with impaired vision options to see the reports better. The example below is the
High-contrast #1 option.

Select Full screen in the View menu to display your report page without menu bars and headers. Full
screen is a good choice for small screens where the details might be hard to see. Full screen can also be
a good choice when projecting report pages on a large screen for people to view but not interact with.

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When you exit the report, your View settings aren't saved. The changes revert to the default view
settings. If you want to save these settings, you can preserve them as a bookmark.

1.1.33 Use your browser to change page display

Use the zoom controls in your browser to increase or decrease the available canvas area. Decreasing the
zoom expands the available canvas area, and increasing the zoom decreases the available canvas area.

1.1.34 Zoom in on a visual

Sometimes it's difficult to see the details in a visual. You can focus on one visual by itself to make it
bigger by using Focus mode. For more information, see Focus mode and Full screen mode.

The following example shows a visual in Focus mode.

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The next example shows a visual in Full screen mode.

Project Identification

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In this section, we have included some Power BI projects for students. These simple Power BI projects
will enable you to understand business intelligence applications and build a successful career as a data
scientist.

1.1.35 1. Customer Churn Analysis

The customer churn analysis “project is one of the easiest and most popular Power BI sample projects.
Customer Churn Analysis reveals regional customers' product sales and profits. Analytical users can use
it to analyze regional business growth across geographies to gain valuable insights and distribute profits
among customers. They can receive extensive data by using the right visualizations and data structure.
The project includes regional cash inflows and product-specific customer churn over time.

For this beginner-friendly project, use the customer segmentation dataset available on Kaggle. In the
analysis overview page, you could use Combo Charts, Cards, Bar Charts, Tables, or Line Charts; for the
customer segmentation page, you could employ Column Charts, Bubble Charts, Point Maps, Tables, etc.

1.1.36 2. Product Sales Data Analysis

Businesses must keep detailed records of their sales for a variety of reasons. However, if there is too
much data, it often becomes difficult to keep track of everything. Analyzing sales data allows
companies to keep track of their sales and answer all critical questions regarding their performance.

This sales data analysis project entails analyzing a company's sales data and indicating profit by
product, sales, and other significant factors that might influence the company's performance. You can
use Microsoft's sample dataset. The data set must be connected to Power BI Desktop to remove
irrelevant data before visualizing and exporting the filtered data as dashboards. The dashboard could
leverage Power BI visualization types such as Pie Charts, Bar Charts, Doughnut Charts, Funnel Charts,
etc.

1.1.37 3. Marketing Campaign Insights Analysis

The project idea is to showcase the efficacy of various marketing campaigns and the performance of
product groups and platforms using any marketing analytics dataset. This project is an excellent
approach for a marketing manager to assess the success of marketing campaigns.

Use the Marketing Analytics dataset available on Kaggle for this beginner-level project. For the data
visualization dashboard, you can explore many of the Power BI visualization types, such as Bar Charts
for category-wise expenditures, Column Charts for campaign success rate, Smart Narratives for
displaying the key highlights of the campaign, Bubble Charts for customer-wise spending, Cards for
showing individual data insights, etc.

1.1.38 4. Financial Performance Analysis

Financial performance analysis is one of the most intriguing Power BI project ideas for beginners. This
business intelligence project approach is based on optimizing financial analysis for a firm that provides
accounting services to clients who seek timely delivery of critical financial reports. You can set up the
analysis to quickly access reliable financial data. The project might be used to: migrate traditional

27
financial reporting from Excel to current BI dashboards and provide customers with an effective tool to
track their financial health and productivity.”

Refer to the multi-company financial dataset available on Kaggle. You can leverage Power BI data
visualization in this project for three different cases-

 for the summary/overview page, you can use Funnel Charts, Combo Charts (Column Charts, Line Charts,
Waterfall Charts);
 -for the income statement page, you can use Cards, Funnel Charts, and Combo Charts (Line Charts and
Column Charts); and
 for the balance sheet page, you can use Cards and Tables.
1.1.39 5. Healthcare Sales Analysis

This business “intelligence project idea enables those in the Animal Healthcare sector to efficiently
track the sale of products dedicated to treating minor animal species. Businesses may instantly compare
product sales in top-ranking and bottom-ranking cities. The project could generate a thorough report on
therapeutic group-wise sales and the sales trends for any specified period.

You can refer to the pharma sales dataset available on Kaggle. For the data visualization on Power BI,
you might use Tables for displaying the therapeutic group-wise sales, Column Charts for monthly sales
trends; Bar charts for top and bottom-ranking cities; and also, you can include Treemaps, Cards, Smart
Narratives, etc.”

1.1.40 Intermediate-Level Power BI Project Ideas

If you’re already “well-versed with the Power BI data visualization tool and are willing to strengthen
your data analytics skills further as a Data Scientist, here are some power bi projects for resume-

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1.1.41 6. Anomaly Detection in Credit Card Transactions

The first Power BI project idea we have come up with is Anomaly Detection in Credit Card
Transactions. Anomaly Detection is a machine learning technique for detecting unusual things, events,
or observations that differ considerably from the rest of the data and look suspicious. You can
implement this machine learning method in three ways- supervised (for labeled datasets), semi-
supervised (for normally trained datasets), and unsupervised (for datasets without any labels).

For this project, you can use the credit card dataset by Delaware available on their open data platform
itself or the credit card fraud detection dataset from Kaggle. You must first import the dataset into the
Power BI desktop, maybe via a web connector. You can then leverage Power BI to train your anomaly
detector or use a pre-trained model. To label outliers in Power BI, you'll need to run a Python script in
the Power Query Editor and use the get_outliers() method. Finally, Power BI Dashboard can be used to
visualize it. You could also train your anomaly detection model in any IDE or Notebook and then pass it
to Power BI for labeling. You can do the data visualization in the Power BI dashboard with the help of
Line Charts, Bubble Charts, TreeMaps, etc.”

1.1.42 7. AutoML Cashflow Optimization for Insurance Company

Automated machine learning (AutoML) is the technique of automating “machine learning's time-
consuming, iterative processes. It enables data scientists and analysts to rapidly create machine learning
models while retaining model quality. Any AutoML solution's ultimate goal is to identify the optimal
model based on performance metrics.

In this business intelligence project, you can work with the medical cost personal dataset from Kaggle.
The business problem involves an insurance company that wishes to improve its cash flow projections
by precisely estimating patient charges through demographic and primary patient health risk variables at
the time of hospitalization. The first step is accessing Power BI Desktop, loading the dataset, and
replicating it. The Python script may then be executed in Power Query, where the compare_models()
method can be used to train different models, compare them, and evaluate their performance data. You
may also use the automl() function to find the best-performing model out of all of them. For the
resulting dashboard, you can leverage Power BI dashboard features such as Bar Charts, Bubble Charts,
Tables, etc.

1.1.43 8. Global Health Expenditure Analysis

One of the most helpful Power BI project ideas is the Global Health Expenditure Analysis. This project
idea is based on implementing clustering analysis in Power BI using PyCaret. Clustering is a method for
bringing data items together that have similar features. These classifications help study a dataset, detect
patterns, analyze data, and data clustering help in identifying underlying data structures.

In this case, use the current health expenditure dataset from the WHO Global Health Expenditure
database. From 2000 to 2018, the dataset includes health expenditure as a percentage of national GDP
for over 200 nations. Also, you could use the K-Means clustering algorithm for the clustering analysis.
Visualize the cluster labels in Power BI Dashboard to gain insights after you have loaded the dataset in
Power BI Desktop and trained your clustering model in Power BI. For the summary page dashboard,
you might choose visualization chart types such as Filled Maps, Bar Charts, etc., while for the detailed
visualization, you can use Point Maps.”

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1.1.44 9. Loan Application Analysis

This project concept entails “evaluating loan application data to find abstract 'topics,' which are then
used to assess the impact of specific topics (loan types) on the default rate. It is based on implementing
the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model in Power BI. Topic modeling aims to automatically
analyze a collection of documents and determine their abstract ‘topics’.

For this project, you can use the Kiva dataset on GitHub, which covers loan data for 6,818 accepted
potential borrowers. The loan amount, nationality, gender, and some text data from the borrower's
application are included in the dataset. Once you have loaded the dataset in Power Bi desktop, trained
your model, and the topic weights are added to the original dataset in Power BI, you can visualize it in
the Power BI dashboard by employing the Word Cloud feature, Pie Charts on basic maps, Bar Charts,
Scatter Charts, etc.”

1.1.45 10. Movie Sales Visualization

The movie sales “visualization project is one of the most exciting Power BI project ideas. This project
aims to take a dataset that shows movie sales over time and turn it into an interactive visual experience.
You can use the IMDb dataset for 2006 to 2016, available on both IMDb and Kaggle. The dataset
includes a list of movies having an IMDb score of 6 or higher and the parameters Budget, Gross, Genre,
and Scores.

You can create a custom Radial Bar Chart and use Slicers to pick Genre, Country, and score range to be
integrated directly into PowerBI. This would display parameters such as Average Score and Gross
Collections for the selected set. Plotting a Histogram on the score variable using year and genre as
slicers will show the frequency distribution of the IMDb scores. A KDE plot can provide a density
graph and insights into the average rating for a specific genre and distribution for a given timeframe.

1.1.46 Advanced-Level Power BI Project Ideas

Lastly, we have listed some of the best power bi projects for professionals who need some interesting
power BI projects with dataset to try their hands on.

1.1.47 11. Airport Authority Data Analysis

The Airport Authority Data Analysis project aims to provide a clear picture of all the significant airport
data. The total number of flights (incoming and departing flights), the total number of flight delays
(arrivals and departures), ground processing time, and the passenger feedback section can all be
included in the summary page of this project’s dashboard. In case of flight changes, emergencies, or
delays, this analysis could assist airport management authorities in making timely data-driven choices.

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For this project idea, you can use the Airline delays and cancellation dataset available on Kaggle. The
dataset includes multi-year airline data from 2009 to 2018 to provide more time-series insights. For
flight analysis, you can use Power BI visualization options like Cards, Bar Charts, Flow Maps,
TreeMaps, and Tornado Charts. For passenger feedback, you might prefer to use Bar Charts, Column
Charts, or Cards.”

1.1.48 12. Covid-19 Insights Analysis

Covid-19 Insights “Analysis is one of the most popular Power BI project ideas among individuals. The
project aims to thoroughly overview the Covid-19 pandemic's essential parameters, the latest situation,
and detailed country-level evaluations. You can create a dashboard that gives valuable information
regarding cases (active, deceased, or recovered), mortality, and recovery rates by nation and timeframe.
Also, the dashboard might even include a management summary of the most important KPIs and a
thorough analysis of individual report pages.

Refer to the Covid-19 dataset available on Kaggle for this project idea. As for the Power BI data
visualization features, you can use- Bar Charts, Point Maps, Line Charts, and Column Charts for the
overview page; Doughnut Charts for category-wise case analysis; and Decomposition Trees for country-
wise case analysis. You might also use Heat Maps to enhance your project’s dashboard visualization.

1.1.49 13. Construction Permit Data Analysis

The project idea is to help construction firms better understand the industry by allowing them to dig
deeper into the specifics and research relevant incidents. You can focus your project on details such as
investment growth over time, investment concentrations in specific areas if the investment is impacted
by Category, Contractor, or Individual, market status, and which categories, individuals, and permits are
driving the market.

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For this project idea, use the Seattle building permits dataset from Kaggle. You can perform Power BI
data visualization with the help of Regional Maps, Pie Charts, Bar Charts, Tables, Cards for the main
page, Bar Charts, and Line Charts for depicting contractor competitions and category-wise growth, etc.

1.1.50 14. Global Energy Trade Analysis

One of the most unique power bi projects ideas is the Global Energy Trade Analysis. This project
concept includes various topics concerning global energy exchange and production. It addresses several
topics, such as the expansion of wind energy, energy consumption as a different basis for comparing
national economies, etc.

For this unique project idea, use the international energy statistics dataset from Kaggle. The resulting
dashboard could display total energy statistics on production, exchange, and usage of primary and
secondary energy, conventional and non-conventional energy sources, and new and renewable energy
sources. For the dashboard, you can use Power BI visualization types such as Bar Charts, Flow Maps,
Cards for the overview page, Ribbon Charts, Treemaps, Bar Charts for the energy production and
exchange pages, etc.

1.1.51 15. Life Expectancy Data Analysis

This project will analyze life expectancy data by looking at factors such as immunizations, mortality,
finances, social factors, and other health-related issues. It will make it easier for a country to identify the
predicting factor contributing to a lower life expectancy value. This will also aid in recommending to a
country which areas should be prioritized to effectively raise the population's life expectancy.

Use the life expectancy dataset by WHO on Kaggle for Life Expectancy Data Analysis. Power BI
visualization types such as Gauge Charts, Pie Charts, Line Charts, and Point Maps can be used for the
overview page, while Tornado Charts, Doughnut Charts, Treemaps can be used for depicting country-
wise data, etc.
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1.1.52 Power BI Projects Github

Here are a few unique project ideas from GitHub that will help you better understand the various
applications of Power BI.”

1.1.53 16. Twitter Analysis Dashboard

This project entails implementing an end-to-end Twitter data analysis/ETL pipeline. For this Power Bi
project idea, use the Twitter “data from Github. After extracting the data, you will transform it from
JSON to CSV and create all the necessary derived attributes. You will then use NLP analysis to classify
the tweets' content and determine their sentiment score. Once you finish the ETL process, you can move
on to visualize your data using Power Bi reports. For creating the dashboard, you will use pie charts, bar
graphs, line charts, tree maps, doughnut Charts, etc.”

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1.1.54 17. OTT Media Dashboard

This unique Power BI project entails visualizing various information related to multiple OTT platforms
such as Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, etc. You can access this project's entire OTT media platform
dataset from Github. Use the Query Editor in Power BI for data cleaning and preparation. Once your
data is ready for visualization, you can display the visuals using various plots, graphs, cards, etc.

1.1.55 18. AdventureWorks Database Analysis

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You can work with the AdventureWorks data available on GitHub for analysis & visualization. Perform
the query editing in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and use Power BI for the visualization
part. Also, use MS Excel and Power BI's query editor for analysis.

1.1.56 Power BI Report Examples

Below are a few interesting Power Bi report examples to help you understand the power of data
visualization using Power BI.

1.1.57 Retail Analysis Power BI Report Example

The retail analysis report presents a dashboard that analyzes product sales data from various retailers
across various regions. The metrics include new-store analysis and a comparison of this year's
performance to last year's in terms of sales, units, gross margin, and variation.

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1.1.58 Global Covid-19 Analysis Power BI Report Example

With interactive visualizations based on readily accessible data, the Global Covid-19 Analysis Report
contributes to fully disclosing COVID-19 trends worldwide. The report includes maps showing
Vaccinations, Progress to Zero, Rt, Spread Analysis, Testing, and Risk Levels.

1.1.59 Inventory Stock Analysis Power BI Report Example

The inventory stock analysis report contains additional details on stock inventory and represents an
analysis of stock inventory for 2018. Using this dashboard, you can forecast "Availability of Stock" and
"Time to Replenish Stock" using information from the fulfillment cycle and markdown variance.
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1.1.60 Cancer Analytics Power BI Report Example

The Cancer Analytics report offers a brief overview and a thorough analysis of cancer patients in the
US. It enables you to evaluate the mortality rates of each type of cancer, divided according to several
factors. You can use the Cancer Analytics Dashboard to make well-informed decisions about the
growing number of cancer patients in America.

1.1.61 Customer Analysis Power BI Report Example

The Customer Analysis Report highlights product sales and profit for local customers. It can be helpful
for analytical users to gain valuable information on customer profit distribution and business growth

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across areas. The main highlights of the Customer Analysis report dashboard are the region-specific
cash inflow and the clients' product-specific turnover.

1.1.62 Master Data Visualization With These Power BI Projects

These real-time power bi projects will help beginners “and professionals upskill and master the ability
to integrate business intelligence into Data Science. By working on these project ideas, you will gain a
deeper understanding of leveraging Power BI for a data-driven approach to various data science
industries and becoming job-ready. In case you are looking for some free Power BI projects for practice
with solutions, you can head to open-source platforms like GitHub or Kaggle. ProjectPro offers more
than 250 end-to-end project solutions around Data Science and Big Data, including some interesting
data visualizations.”

1.2 Methodology

This chapter represents the research methodology that this thesis follows. It describes the research
approach and the research process. Furthermore, this chapter explains how the data was collected, and
analyzed. It shows the sampling methodology that was followed.

1.3 Research Approach

The term “research approach” is an “umbrella term that refers to identical research methods (Järvinen,
2008). We adapted a qualitative method as a research approach for various reasons. First, it helps
develop a theory after we study the real world (Järvinen, 2008). According to Rahman (2016), “A
qualitative research is not statistical and it incorporates multiple realities” (p. 102). Second, with
qualitative research, it is easy to interpret the participants’ points of view and experiences (Denzin,
1989). As a result, researchers can use the qualitative approach to describe a phenomenon (Flick, 2014).

Following Järvinen (2008), in the research paper, we empirically study the past and present using
theory-developing methods, as we have a theoretical framework that guides our research paper. Using
the theory developing method, the research approach ends with a theory- developing study where we
rely on one case study.

38
Figure 14 illustrates how we use this research approach based on Järvinen (2008).

Figure 14: The Approach of the Research Study Based on the Taxonomy of Different Studies
(Järvinen 2008, p. 37)

The grey boxes represent the selected areas in our research approach.”

1.3.2 Qualitative Research

According to Kneebone and Fry (2010), “qualitative research uses words to show how people act
and answer without using numbers. Accordingly, in this thesis, a qualitative research method is
adapted because it is suitable for our case study.

According to Rahman (2016), using qualitative research has some benefits: First, qualitative
research enables researchers to detect the participant’s feelings and interpret them. Second, it
allows for the study and understanding of the human experience. Third, it provides a clear view of
events and meanings. Fourth, “the studies using qualitative approach can help us to understand the
markers’ working assumption about what is to be assessed and the meaning of the score or grade”
(Rahman 2016, p. 104). Fifth, through the use of qualitative research, researchers directly interact
with the participants in interviews. Last, with qualitative research design’s flexible structure,
complex issues can be understood without difficulty (Rahman, 2016).

Oates (2006) writes about the strategy as an approach to answer the research question. He
goes on to write about the six strategies: survey, design and creation, experiment, case study,
action research, and ethnography. Furthermore, Oates (2006) defines the case study single study of
an organization to investigate its complexity and gain insight about it.

39
As a result, in the research paper, we adapted a qualitative method using a deductive approach.
We used a single case study that included interviews. This choice of case study was based on Yin’s
(2009) argument that case studies are the best choice when “how” and “why” questions arise and
when the focus is on a contemporary subject.”

Regarding time, case studies took various approaches (Yin, 2009). Yin (2009) identified three
types of studies: historical, contemporary and long-term. The thesis discussed a contemporary case
study as it was related to something that is happening in the moment not historically.
1.3.3 Research Process

The process began with a literature review, “in which we first analyzed articles and then discussed
the use of a BI system from organizational and academic perspectives. The purpose of the research
was to discover something new and useful, which we did by studying the current state of
knowledge (Maier, 2013). Maier (2013) developed a conceptual framework of the steps in writing
a literature review.”

1.3.3.1 Figure 15:Conceptual “inverted pyramid”

1.3.4 Models of Steps in the Writing of the Literature Review (Maier, 2013)
The first step “was identifying the problem domain. The second step was searching for what
previous researchers had accomplished. The third step was identifying the research gap and,
finally, setting the paper’s objectives.

We believe that we covered the five steps. First, we had thorough knowledge about the area of our
study and the problem domain. Second, we read about the history of the BI’s and DMP’s previous
benefits and the use of Qlikview and BI in HEI. Third, we explored the gaps in the literature
concerning BI’s uses, its DMP and its uses in HEI. Finally, we set the research paper’s objectives

40
by developing a theoretical framework through which we would answer the research question.
1.3.5 Literature Review
In the research, we included the literature review concerning the BI system, DMP, BI benefits, BI
tool, Qlikview and use of BI in HEI. After developing the theoretical framework, we contacted
LIU staff members that were using the BI system for semi-structured interviews. Next, results
were coded and analyzed. Lastly, we used the theoretical framework to answer the research
question. The results show how BI benefits have changed with BI tools. The four factors were
internal processes, staff productivity, costs of decision making and costs of operations
1.3.6 Research Design

Because the research paper’s aim was to extract meaningful results from the data, a qualitative
method was adapted using a deductive approach. Moreover, we used a single case study and
conducted semi- structured interviews.
1.3.7 Sample Selection
In the research paper, we followed a purposeful sampling approach and snowball sampling.
According to Patton (1990), “The logic and power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting
information-rich cases for study in depth. Information-rich cases are those from which one can
learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research, thus the term
purposeful sampling” (p. 169).

41
 Moreover, we used homogenous sampling as a technique of the purposeful sampling approach
(Lund Research Ltd, 2012). The selected sample in our study should have some homogenous
criteria:”

- First, the organization had to be one of the BI technology users.

- Second, because our aim was to discover the changes resulting from use of the BI system, the
organization should have used the BI system for many years to enable studies before and after
the implementation of the BI system.
- To get a homogenous sample, the interviewee should know about the DMP and the BI system.

Moreover, “in a qualitative study and to get a homogenous sample, we used a snowball
sampling methodology to gather data from the interviewees. The snowball method “uses a
small pool of initial informants to nominate other participants who meet the eligibility criteria
for a study. The name reflects an analogy to a snowball increasing in size as it rolls downhill”
(Given, 2008).
1.3.8 Linkoping University
Linkoping University (LIU) is situated in Sweden. It gained its status in 1975 (LIU A, 2017).
According to the annual report (2017), in 2016, the university had 27,000 students and 4,000
employees with a total revenue of 3,700 M SEK (LIU A, 2017).
Linköping University has four faculties: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of
Educational Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Faculty of Science
and Engineering (LIU B, 2017). Each faculty has its own function. Moreover, it has four
campuses. The first campus is situated in Valla, Linkoping. The second campus is situated at
the university hospital. The third campus is in Norrkoping, and the fourth is in Lidingo,
Stockholm (LIU B, 2017).

As an international university, many students all over the world choose it as a place of study. In
this context, LIU has an Internationalization Plan for 2013-2020 that includes measures to
ensure the quality of the university services (LIU C, 2017). This plan has two aims, the first of
which is to increase educational quality and the second is to boost itself competitively at the
national and international levels (LIU, C 2017).

42
1.3.9 Data Collection

In the following chapter, we present the method and process used to collect data
1.3.10 Data Collection Method

Documents and interviews are the primary data sources used in qualitative research (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2015). Moreover, interviews are beneficial because they yield data quickly in
quantity (Marshall & Rossman 1999). Accordingly, in this research paper, some documents
from LIU on BI tools and seven semi-structured interviews are used as data sources.

The number of interviews to be conducted must be defined. The saturation strategy is the one
that we use to show an end to data collection. Saunders et al. (2017) define saturation as the
criteria for stopping or discontinuing data collection.

We stopped conducting interviews when we noticed repetition. As a result, we may not reach
the estimated number of interviews planned.”
1.3.11 Interviews

The two types of interviews are standardized and nonstandardized (Saunders, 2007). In our
thesis, we conducted nonstandarized semi-structured interviews. Figures 16 and 17 show how
we selected interviewees.

43
 1.3.11.1 Figure 16:Forms of Interviews (Saunders, 2007, p. 313)

1.3.12 Figure 17:Uses of Different Types of Interview in Each of the Main Research Categories
(Saunders, 2007, p. 314)

Doyle “ (2017) defined a semi-structured interview as a meeting where the interviewer does not
strictly follow a formalized list of questions but instead asks open-ended questions. With open-ended
questions, the respondent feels free to express his or her full point of view because the questions always
start with “how” or “what” rather than limiting the answers to “yes” or “no.”

In our interviews, we record the discussion to avoid missing any important points.

Respondent selection:

44
1.3.13 Figure 18: Uses of Different Types of Interview in Each of the Main Research Categories (Saunders,
2007, p. 314)

45
After investigating the university’s BI system users, I was guided to meet the interviewee 1 in the
planning division of the dean’s office in the Faculty of Arts and Human sciences. For the other
respondents, according to the snowball sampling methodology, I was guided to whom we should meet
next. We stopped the interviews when we felt that the information was repeated and we did not need to
conduct anymore interviews—in other words, when we reached the saturation point. Figure 18 includes
an explanation of how the interviews were conducted. Furthermore, Table 4 contains the interviewees’
information.

Table 4: Details of interviews

46
3.7.1.1 Internal Documents

According to Oates (2006), documents are not only written material but include other sources of
data. In our case study, we used multimedia documents for the BI tool, Qlikview. According to
Oates (2006), multimedia documents include visual data sources, such as the BI models and
pictures.

We used a private internal document and the Qlikview vendor website for a general presentation of
the product.”
3.7.1 Data Collection Process
Regarding “the data collection process, the first step was getting permission to conduct the study.
We received permission in our first informal interview. After the informal interview, we created
a questionnaire, which contained general and specific questions. Based on the theoretical
framework, the specific questions were elaborated.

The objectives of the questions were to receive more information about the topic discussed in the
research paper develop the framework and answer the research question. The specific questions
concerned BI benefits, the DMP and its five phases. Its aim was to determine how, with the
presence of BI benefits, the DMP has changed. Other questions concerned the organization and
use of the BI system with the BI tool, Qlikview. Its aim was to describe DMP before and after
the BI system’s implementation.

The semi-structured interviews were based on open-ended questions. Seven interviews were
conducted, six face-to-face and one via email. The interviews were recorded and transcribed with
the help of the Nvivo software to make the codification. To make the research more valid, we
used secondary data, which included internal documents that described the use of the BI system
at the university. The document was prepared with one of the BI experts in the university’s
administration office and was reviewed by the financial manager. Because the document was in
Swedish, the BI expert translated its key elements, allowing us to begin our data analysis.

47
 1.3.14 Data Analysis

Data analysis is defined as the process of reducing a large amount of collected data to make sense
of it (Kawulich, 2004). In the same context, LeCompte and Schensul (1999) argue that data
analysis includes inscription, description and transcription of the collected data. From the
documents that we got and from the interviews that we conducted, the first step in our research
paper to analyze the data was transcribing the interviews and translating some of the document’s
important elements.
1.1.1 Coding and Comparison

In the thesis, we developed a theoretical framework to answer the research question. In the
theoretical framework, we had four BI benefits that were placed with DMP phases. To analyze
data, we presented our findings and then compared the interview answers to the documents LIU
provided.

According to Bernard and Russell (2012), the theory includes three steps: coding texts, linking
coded texts into theoretical models and then validating the models.

First, coding involves naming the themes with the help of NVIVO (Bernard & Russell, 2012). In
the same context, Strauss and Corbin (1990) talks about three types of coding: open coding, axial
coding, and selective coding. Based on Strauss and Corbin (1990), open coding is where data is
broken down analytically, and axial coding entails connecting these categories with their
subcategories. Finally, “selective coding is when the categories are gathered into one core
category while all the other categories that need explanation are filled with detailed description”
(Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p. 14).

As a result, we followed the data analysis process based on the work of Hasa (2017). The first step
was the collection of data through interviews. Second was the review of the records and extraction
of ideas and concepts that were classified by codes. Third, these codes were turned into concepts,
then into categories and finally, these categories were the sources on which a theory was based
(Hasa, 2017).
“

48
 1.3.14.1 Figure 19: Data Approach Analysis (Lahbi, 2018)

In this research paper, we will present our findings to reach the conclusion. The next part, an
analysis of the data gathered from interviews and documents we received from LIU, will be
presented.

49
Name Description

Choice Reliable facts

Reliable information

Implementation - Easy spread of information

Monitoring Easy access to information

Easy checkup, extraction and monitoring of information

Reduced Operational
Costs Benefit

Intelligence - Accessibility to information

- Manage much more data

Design - Costs are reduced due to the information provided

Choice - Information is increasing

Implementation - Information is spread very quickly

Monitoring - Easy access to decisions

Reduction of Costs
Benefit

Intelligence - Much cheaper to have electronic information

Design - Decreases costs of searching for alternatives

Choice - DMP has sped up

Implementation - Easy to spread the information with reduced costs

Monitoring - More informative decisions

Staff Productivity Benefit

Intelligence Increases productivity in the information searching

Short time in gathering information
Advanced jobs for the staff

Design - More alternatives to choose from

Choice - Fast and flexible reporting

Name Description

49
 Implementation Easy access to decisions
More flexibility and adaptability

Monitoring Easy access to information

Self-monitoring
Figure 20: Coding Table

1.2 Validity and Reliability

Strategies that are implemented to evaluate utility and trustworthiness are important in a qualitative
research paper (Morse et al., 2002), which means that both are important criteria to attain rigor in a
qualitative study (Morse et al., 2002). Moreover, Lincoln & Guba (1985) wrote about
trustworthiness that is composed of four elements: internal validity, external validity, reliability and
objectivity. The four components are used to assess the qualitative data.
1.2.1 Internal Validity

Credibility or internal validity is the first element of trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Credibility “requires the researcher to connect the research findings with reality to show the
findings’ truth (Statisticssolution, 2018). Moreover, it shows the consistency between the
participants’ views and the researcher’s presentation of the findings (Ryan et al., 2007). To have
internal validity and credibility, we used a triangulation method. Triangulation methodology is the
use of various data sources to understand the issue well (Patton, 1999 cited in Carter et al., 2014).
Moreover, we used triangulation of data sources (Carter et al., 2014). In the research paper, first we
collected data through interviews until we reached a saturation point, and we used some internal
documents. In that way, we relied on multiple resources rather than a single data source.
1.2.2 External Validity

Transferability or external validity means the results can fit outside the study field (Lincoln &
Guba, 1985). According to Kalu and Bwayla (2017), the results of all good research can be applied
generally and easily. Therefore, if research has external validity, its context should be described
properly so the reader can generalize the findings and apply them externally (Cirt, 2018).

50
In our research paper, we applied “rich, thick description,” which entails providing a rich
description of the participants, setting and themes (Creswell & Miller, 2009). The aim of the “rich,
thick description” was to provide readers with a detailed description of events and people involved
to establish credibility from the reader’s perspective (Creswell & Miller, 2009).

As a result, we provided detailed descriptions of the interviewees. Moreover, we provided deep

descriptions of the findings. Additionally, in our analysis, we provided some quotes from the
interviews to make our work rich.
1.2.3 Reliability

Reliability means the consistency with which the findings could be repeated or replicated (Cirt,
2018). Reliability, or dependability, also refers to the information’s stability over time (Lincoln &
Guba, 1985). However, Silverman (2016 cited in Kalu & Bwayla, 2017) argued that reliability is
difficult to predict in a changing world. This was also true in our case. The study was replicable but
the findings were different due to changing technology.

As a result, to make our findings reliable, we used “audit trails.” According to Creswell and Miller
(2009), “In establishing an audit trail, researchers provide clear documentation of all research
decisions and activities. Through this process of documenting a study and a review of the
documentation by an external auditor, the narrative account becomes credible” (p. 128). In our
research paper, we made a chronological order of the data collection and analysis processes.
1.2.4 Objectivity

Objectivity means how research findings were supported by data collection when examined by
others (Cirt, 2008). Moreover, to show the research paper’s conformability, a detailed description
of the research process should be provided (Kalu & Bwayla, 2017). Therefore, in our research
paper, we used “rich, thick description,” as previously explained. We provided a detailed
description of the research approach, research process, research design, sampling methodology and
data collection and analysis. In doing so, we provided a clear vision of the process we followed.”

1.2.5 Ethical Considerations

Some ethical issues must be considered throughout the research process such as respect for

51
persons (Scott, 2017). In a qualitative research study, the researcher should consider transparency
in the way the research is conducted, especially when dealing with participants (Kalu & Bwayla,
2017). Therefore, in our thesis, we informed every interviewee about the interview’s purpose via
email and then again during the interview. “We also asked all interviewees whether they preferred
that we use their full names or just their first names. Moreover, we asked for permission to record
the entire interview.

By showing respect for the participants, we made our research more credible and ethical.

Chapter summaryThe aim of the research paper was to answer the research problem. For this
reason a theoretical framework was developed. The research method was composed of qualitative
data using a single case study which was LIU. Moreover, the interviews and internal documents
were the means through which the data was collected. The analyzed data was coded with the help
of Nvivo software. After the codification, we will fill in the theoretical framework as an answer to
our research paper.”

Project Management & Schedule

Decisions play an “ important role in an organization’s existence. Thus, “Decision making is
the study of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the
decision maker” (Govindarajan, 2014, p. 690). According to Govindarajan, (2014), making a
decision implies having many choices at hand.
According to Parkin (1996), the literature on decision-making is divided into three categories. The
first category is the body of knowledge that describes the decision theories that help in the DMP.
The second category is derived from psychological research, which includes models of decision-
based behavior. Thus, it describes the limitation of the human mind in the DMP. The third
category describes the DMP in organizations.”

52
3.7.2 Decision-Making Review
Historically speaking, decision-making dates back “to 1910 and Dowery: “Since 1910, when John
Dewey first introduced the five‐stage decision process, it has been a widely accepted concept”
(Bruner & Pomazal, 1988). They classify the five stages as follows: the problem recognition, the
information search, the alternative evaluation, the choice and the outcome (Bruner & Pomazal,
1988). Moreover, in 1938, “Chester Barnard, a retired telephone executive and author of The
Functions of the Executive, imported the term ‘decision-making’ from the lexicon of public
administration into the business world” (Buchanan & O’ Connell 2006, p. 33).
In the same context, and according to Buchanan and O’ Connell (2006), theorists such as James
March, Herbert Simon and Henry Mintzberg continue the foundation for the study of decision-
making.

3.7.3 Decision-Making Process

Throughout history, decision-making has been considered an act that has been influenced by past
experiences, cognitive biases, commitment, age, believe in personal relevance and individual
differences (Dietrich, 2010). Turban et al. (2011), on the other hand, explained the business
pressures that make competition very high in such a globalized and digitalized world. They go
further by arguing how organizations take advantage of their external environment and the
information technology support for their decision-making, as illustrated in Figure 3.

1.3.14.2 Figure 3:The Business Pressures Responses

Support Model (Turban et al., 2011, p. 5)

53
According to Turban et al., (2011), decisions should be more analytical, methodical and
thoughtful. In the same context, Harris (1998) defines decision-making as a study-based process to
identify and choose between existing alternatives and a process by which to reduce uncertainty
about those alternatives to make better choices. Based on Simon’s (1977) work, there are two types
of decisions: programmed and non-programmed (cited in Asemi et al., 2011).
The programmed or structured decisions are made when routines and repetitive problems occur,
and thus standard solutions exist (Turban et al., 2011). For this reason, decisions are made
according to the organization’s guidelines (Asemi et al., 2011). On the other hand, unstructured or
non-programmed decisions are made with fuzzy, complex problems and when there are no cut-
and-dry solutions (Certo, 1997, cited in Asemi et al., 2011). Thus, one-shot unstructured decisions
are made (Certo, 1997, cited in Asemi et al., 2011).”

Simon (1977) discusses the “DMP as a process with three phases: intelligence, design, and choice
(Turban et al., 2011). Later, a fourth phase was added the implementation phase. This phase is
shown in Figure 4.

1.3.14.3 Figure 4: The Steps of Decision Support, (Turban

et al., 2011, p. 12)

After Simon’s (1997) model, in Huber’s (1980) DMP model, we found the implementation and the
monitoring phases, which are shown in Figure 5 (Asemi et al., 2011)

54
 1.3.14.4 Figure 5:Huber’s Model (Huber, 1980, cited in Asemi et al., 2011, p. 169)

The five phases are defined as follows:

 Intelligence: This phase contains searching for conditions that make the call for decisions
(Turban et al., 2011). It means that decision makers in this phase examine the existing realities
to precisely identify and investigate problems (Markoviće, 2018). As a result, the intelligence
phase includes defining the objectives of the organization, collecting data and then identifying
and classifying problems (Markoviće, 2018).
 Design: This phase is the invention, development and analysis alternatives for solutions
(Turban et al., 2011). Moreover, during the design phase, a model should be constructed
based on defining the relationship between the variables that are found thus making possible
choice for potential solutions (Markoviće, 2018).
 Choice: This phase contains the selection of solutions from the alternatives that are available
(Turban et al., 2011). As a result, decisions are made.
 Implementation: During this stage and after decisions are made, the implementation phase
involves adapting the selected solution to a decision-based situation (Turban et al., 2011). As
a result, the implementation can be successful or unsuccessful ( Markoviće, 2018).
 Monitoring: According to Cambridge (2018) dictionary, monitoring means to check
something carefully. It means that after decisions are implemented, monitoring is important. To
monitor decisions means to do the follow-up and check its efficiency.”

To compare decision making between private and public organizations, “Kim et al, (2014) stated
that both sectors have different goals and values. The differentiation lies in that private

55
organizations are looking for profit while public organizations are looking for development and
sustainability (Kim et al., 2014). Moreover, in the private sector, decisions are short term, while in
the public sector, decisions are long term (Kim et al., 2014).

1.3 Business Intelligence

Decision-making can be properly done through the appropriate decision support systems (Dillon et
al., 2010) and with the information provided (Watson & Wixom, 2007; Hočevar & Jaklič, 2008).
As a result, using the information system will function as a competitive advantage for
organizations (Rezaei et al., 2011). In the same context, Turban et al., (2011) argue that the use of
information technology is vital for organizations in the way that it possesses capabilities that
facilitate DMPs. Turban et al., (2011) went further by emphasizing the importance of
computerized decision support systems, such as the BI tools.
In literature, BI has multiple definitions. According to Azvine et al, (2006), BI is not well defined;
this means that some consider it to be data reporting while others talk about business performance
management. Furthermore database analysts emphasize data extraction while analytics highlight
the analysis of statistics and data mining (Azvine et al., 2006). In the same context, since decision-
makers no longer trust the KPI nor the dashboards (Azvine et al., 2006), BI is changing the way
companies are managed, decisions are made and employees perform their jobs (Watson & Wixom,
2007).
As a result, BI is “All about how to capture, access, understand, analyze and turn one of the most
valuable assets of an enterprise—raw data—into actionable information in order to improve
business performance” (Azvine et al., 2006, p.2).

1.3.14.5 Figure 6: BI Turning Data into Information (Azvine et al., 2006, p. 2)

56
The various definitions of BI, according to Singh and Samalia (2014), are
listed in Table 1.

Definition Author (s)

The process of gathering and analyzing Okkonen et al., 2012
internal and external business information.
BI is an architecture and a collection of Moss & Atre, 2003;
integrated operational and decision-based Papdopoulos & Kanellis 2010
support applications and databases that
provide the business community easy access
to business data.
Information to better understand business to Raisinghani, 2004
make more informed real-time business
decisions
An organized and systematic process by Lonnqvist & Pirttimaki, 2006
which organizations acquire, analyze and
disseminate from both internal and external
sources that are significant for their business
activities and for decision-
making
BI includes technologies and applications Hari, 2007
employed in the use of several financial and
non financial metrics, key performance
indicators to assess the present
state and the method of deciding future
course of action for a business.
BI means leveraging information assets within William & William, 2007
key business processes to achieve improved
business performance.
BI refers to the various solutions for Wang & Wang, 2008
enhancing the overall business performance
BI is the conscious methodical transformation Ranjan, 2008
of data into new forms to provide information
that is business-driven and results oriented.
BI is a set of business information and Popvic, Turk & Jaklic, 2010
business analyses within the context of key
business processes that lead to decisions and
actions
1.3.14.6 Table 1: Different Definitions of BI (Singh & Samalia, 2014, p. 52 )

57
 The definition that explains the concept of BI follows:
“Business intelligence consists of the processes, tools, and technologies required to turn data into
information and information into knowledge and plans that drive effective business
activity” (Eckerson, 2003, p. 49).
As a result and according to Eckerson (2003), BI is like an oil refinery that converts raw material
—crude oil—into the refined material—gas oil. This means that BI converts data into knowledge
and this is done through a process cycle (Eckerson, 2003).

3.7.4 The History of Business Intelligence

Based on Davies (2018) and shown in Table 2, from 1856 to 2018, there is a tremendous
change in the meaning of BI.
The Year The Events
1856 Richard Miller Devens talks about BI in his
Encyclopedia of Commercial & Business
Anecdotes. He looks for how to obtain
intelligence that will lead to a successful
business. Thus, he knows about the market
issues before his competitors.
1958 Hans Peter Luhn published an article called
“A Business Intelligence System,” in which
he outlined the basics of a BI system in a

58
 sketchy diagram. When documents entered to
the system, it undergoes a process before
actions took place

1960 The data increased and became difficult to

manage and to get knowledge from. Thus
something new needed to be developed.

1970: Enter the Big Boy Siebel and IBM entered the world of modern
BI. At that time, BI became a must have for
many organizations.

1990–2000: Business Intelligence During these years BI became big money but
1.0 unfortunately it needed to extract the most
valuable knowledge from the big data.

2000 Onward: Business Intelligence 2.0 BI users extracted the valuable information
from data. Moreover, more technologies were
used that supported decision-making.

2018: The Tools of Today BI nowadays represents a powerful tool that

organizations have. BI has many functions and
provides the organizations different benefits.
As a result, BI information and knowledge are
used for sales, marketing, finance, planning
and decision making.

1.3.14.7 Table 2: BI History from 1856 to 2018 (Davies, 2018)

As a result, these definitions show how BI has a special architecture.

59
3.7.5 The Business Intelligence Architecture
Turban et al (2011) define BI as “an umbrella term that combines architectures, tools, databases,
analytical tools, applications, and methodologies” (p. 19). Rouse (2018), however, defines BI
architecture as a framework by which the data, information management and the components of
technology are organized for building BI systems. Moreover, Ong et al., (2011) argue that BI
architecture includes the types of data that need to be collected and the method used to analyze
those data to present the information needed. According to Ong et al., (2011), the layer of metadata
should be included in BI architecture, as it is shown in Figure 7. A good BI architecture should
include a layer of metadata which is important to storing and monitoring data (Ong et al., 2011).
Moreover, Table 3 presents the BI architecture according to Ong et al., (2011)”

1.3.14.8 Figure 7:BI Architecture (Ong et al., 2011, p. 4)

60
Layers Definition

Data Source Data can come from internal or external sources. An internal data source
Layers
means that the data come from inside the organization. These data are
related to information concerning customers, sales and products.
External data sources are related to competitors, the market and the
external environment of the organization.

Extract– Extract means taking the most relevant data that support decision
Transform–Load making.
(ETL) Layer Transform means to convert data into a special format that is suitable for
reporting. Load is the final phase. The data are loaded into the target
repository.

Data Warehouse This layer contains three components: operational data store, data
Layer warehouse, and data marts.
Operational data store integrates all data that come from the ETL and
put it in a data warehouse.
The data warehouse represents the central storage of data from internal
and external resources. The data are stored for between 5 and 10 years
and is updated regularly.
Data marts play the support role for the data warehouse and provides
specific departments with the needed information, which the data
warehouse cannot do.

Metadata Layer This layer describes the data. This means that it shows how data are
stored, from where they were extracted, the changes that happen to the
data and so on. examples of metadata layers include the following:
OLAP: This describes the structure, level and dimension of the data that
Enable
Table 3: Table 3: BI Architecture and Layers (Ong et al., 2011)

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 the user to extract the needed data.
Data mining: Its role is to analyze the data to extract the most useful
information from it (Witten &Frank, 2000)
Reporting metadata: It is used to store reports names and
reports description.

End User Layer This layer shows the tools that are used to represent the information
needed by the users. It describes the level where such tools are used. In
each level, specific BI tools are used to extract information.

1.4 The Business Intelligence Benefits

Since BI aims at focusing on creating value “by looking for knowledge (Sabherwal & Fernandez,
2010), organizations use BI to achieve a variety of benefits such as profitability, reduced costs, and
efficiency (Isık et al., 2013). In the same context, Sabherwal & Becerra- Fernandez (2010) grouped
BI benefits into 3 major categories: improvement of operational performance, improvement in
customer relations and the identification of new opportunities in contemporary organizations.
Moreover, Eckerson (2003) discussed tangible and intangible benefits as is shown in Figure 8.
According to Eckerson (2003), the majority of the benefits of BI are intangible.
1.3.14.9 Figure 8:Tangible and Intangible BI Benefits (Eckerson, 2003, p. 11)

62
Moreover, Turban et al, (2011) argue that the BI benefits of an organization lie in its ability to
provide the suitable information that is the basics of decision-making. Accordingly, El Bashir et
al, (2008) explore 22 BI benefits which are grouped under four factors. Each factor is related
to specific benefits as illustrated in Figure 9.

1.3.14.10 Figure 9: BI Benefits (El Bashir et al., 2008, p.

144)

However, for the purpose of this research, only factor number 3 with its 4 benefits is used. Based
on the interviews that were done, only the internal processes’ efficiency benefits are present at
LIU. Finally, only internal process’s efficiency was used in the research paper and it is presented
in Figure 9 and based on El Bashir et al.’s (2008) work.

Internal Process Efficiency:

According to El Bashir et al., (2008), internal process efficiency benefits represent the benefits
that arise from the development of internal processes, such as increased productivity and cost
reduction.

- The improved efficiency of internal processes:

“Key benefits that business intelligence aims to create are the increased efficiency and

63
 effectiveness of the organization”

(Hočevar & Jaklič, 2008, p. 94). This means that BI enables

the organization to improve its internal processes to have a competitive advantage and to thus meet
the needs of the market.

- Increased staff productivity:

BI enables the staff to work independently and with more autonomy. In that context, Carver and
Ritacco (2006) argue that BI allows its users to access databases wherever it is stored and to have
the ability to prepare reports to get to know the organization’s situation.

- Reduction in costs of effective decision-making:

“With business intelligence, we can find the causes of certain problems as well as to identify and
to analyze the key success factors” (Hočevar & Jaklič, 2008, p. 95). They go further by arguing
that with the use of BI, effective decisions can be made (Hočevar & Jaklič, 2008).
In the same context, Carver and Ritacco (2006) state that the quality of decisions has a direct
relationship with the costs. As a result and to improve decision quality, organizations should
provide their staff the appropriate means to make decisions (Carver & Ritacco, 2006).

- Reduced operational costs

Williams and Williams (2003) state that “The business value of BI lies in its use within
management processes that impact operational processes that drive revenue or reduce costs, and/or
in its use within those operational processes themselves” (p. 3).

64
1.5 Business Intelligence in Higher Educational Institutions:

The main objective of organizations is to convert their global presence into a global competitive
advantage (Gupta et al., 2008). Thus “Becoming a more knowledgeable, companies must be
accompanied by developing the ability to make and implement smart decisions faster than
competitors” (Gupta et al., 2008, p. 148). As any organization does, universities should maintain
their position within a market in which information technology is spreading fast. In the same
context and according to Verjel and Schmid (2015), to develop a sustainable business, some
economical, social and environmental dimensions should be considered to get optimal solutions
for the organization Barett (2010) state that “Universities were now using mechanisms such as
marketplace analysis, managerial capacity, part time faculty, copyright, and information
technology to create profit centers that linked them to a network of actors that included both other
universities and corporations” (p. 26).

Thus, to be successful within the higher educational market, universities should extract power
from the existing forces that can be relevant to their future (Barett, 2010).

Nowadays and due to the availability of solid information technologies, universities are collecting
large amounts of data from their students, staff, and lectures. (Kabakchieva, 2015). Kabakchieva
(2015) go further by arguing that for universities to remain competitive and to look for new
opportunities, they need to be updated and to make efficient decisions via the use of advanced
analytical technologies, such as data mining tools and BI systems.

However, Green et al (2009) say that “We recognize that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to
implementing business intelligence strategy within universities” (p. 52). Despite this,
implementing and using a BI system has many advantages. First, it provides a better quality of the
needed information (Wieder & Ossimitz, 2015). Second, it enhances the staff’s efficiency (El
Bashir et al., 2008). Regarding time, BI facilitates searching for and gaining access to information
for its users (El Bashir et al., 2008).

65
3.7.6 Qlikview

Qlikteck is a Swedish international company (Kabakchieva, 2015). After settling in the United
States, the company offered a BI software solution called Qlikview (Kabakchieva, 2015).
According to Qlik (2018), data are only one source of information; however, BI provides efficient
solutions.

BI has many characteristics. The software is easy to manipulate and understand (Kabakchieva,
2015). Solutions and information are provided through graphics (Kabakchieva, 2015).

Before talking about the tool, it is important to talk about the history of the product.
Based on a blog written by Cronström (2012), in 1994, the first version of Qlikview was
introduced. Qlikview bridges the gap between the human brain and the machine as is shown in
Figure 10 by Cronström (2012).

1.3.14.11 Figure 10: The Gap Between the Human Brain and the Machine (Cronström, 2012).

After that, Qlikview was called “the associative info mart program” because it became a tool with
a subset of data (compared to the data warehouse). Many words are said to describe Qlikview; it is
said to be intuitive data exploration and a revolution in BI, and now, it is described as business
discovery. Moreover, Qlikview’s function supports the process of coming from a blank mind to
attain knowledge. Qlikview’s functions include its ability to

66
explore new data, discover facts and answer questions related to a decision (Cronström,
2012). Furthermore, the software enables its users to access the data history and to develop
applications (Qlik 2018). As a result, it enables users to create KPI reports and make decisions
(Datawarehouse4u, 2009).

Qlikview is composed of three dashboards where the information is extracted and then presented
using graphics (Kabakchieva 2015). The three dashboards are bar and pie charts, performance
indicators and tables and list boxes (Kabakchieva, 2015).
According to Visual Intelligence (2018), Qlikview is a BI platform that converts data into
information. Moreover, Underwood (2017) discussed Gartner’s (2017) quadrant results. As is
shown in Figure 11, Qlik, the vendor of Qlikview, is a leader in the market.

67
 Figure 11: Magic Quadrant (Gartner, 2017 cited in Underwood, J. 2017)

1.6 Theoretical Framework

The framework used is based on Simon’s (1997) and Huber’s (1980) DMP models, as well as El
Bashir et al.’s (2008) BI benefits.

The choice to combine the three components is based on specific reasons. First, as the founder of
research in decision-making, Simon is the key researcher in the area of decision-making (Pomerol
& Adam, 2004). Pomerol and Adam (2004) go further by arguing about Simon’s (1977)
contribution to decision-making and how the intelligent systems changed due to his influence.
Second, El Bashir et al (2008) use 22 BI benefits in their research, which touched the most
important elements of an organization. These elements are the external environment, which deals
with customers and suppliers and the internal environment, which includes the business’s
processes and the internal efficiency.

Furthermore, the models will be mixed to investigate the changes that happen in the DMP.
Figure 5 illustrates the models by Simon (1977) and Huber (1980).

68
 1.3.14.12 Figure 12:BI Benefits (El Bashir et al., 2008)

Figure 13: The Theoretical Framework

69
Research on BI’s impact on organizations showed that the use of BI systems had many benefits.
Thompson (2004), cited in Turban et al (2011), stated that among BI’s benefits, it facilitates
reporting, improves decision-making, improves customer service and increases revenues.
Moreover, El Bashir et al. (2008), discuss 22 BI benefits, which they grouped into four factor
categories. The categories are the organizational benefits, supplier relation benefits, internal
efficiency benefits and customer relation benefits.”
Qlikview, as a BI tool, is easy to manipulate and understand (Kabakchieva, 2015). The BI tool
provides its users access to the data history and allows them to develop applications (Qlik 2018).
Consequently, it enables the creation of KPI and reports and thus allows for decision- making
(Datawarehouse4u, 2009). It enables its users to create very useful, accurate KPI, measurement
reports and performance dashboards and make accurate, strategic decisions (Datawarehouse4u,
2009).
On the other hand, universities are collecting large amounts of data on their students, staff
members, lecturers and other groups (Kabakchieva, 2015). As a result, for universities to remain
competitive and look for new opportunities, they need to be updated and to make efficient
decisions via the use of advanced analytical technologies such as data mining tools and BI systems
(Kabakchieva, 2015)

37
 Implementing and using a BI system has many advantages. First, it provides higher-quality information
(Wieder & Ossimitz, 2015). Second, it enhances staff efficiency (El Bashir et al., 2008). Regarding time,
BI facilitates searching and access to information for all users (El Bashir et al., 2008).

Power BI Implementation

It always starts with a call. “You neither have to have a specific idea in mind, nor you need to be an
expert in the field. We will schedule a meeting and try to understand your needs and current data
landscape. We will quickly try to define the potential scope of the implementation, identify the data
sources, and conduct a feasibility study. And yes, we will need to see your data and that is OK. Very strict
NDA will make you comfortable and data security is our top priority.

1.3.15 Professional Power BI deployment

Each implementation project is as unique as your business.

However, each successful implementation is based on four pillars:

 Data preparation, including access and security

 Data processing, including data model creation
 Report creation
 Report deployment (RLS sharing included)

3.16 Power BI Architecture sample

The creation of the BI-class data architecture serves as a bridge connecting and integrating data from
multiple sources.
The below example shows an automated solution based on integration with the ERP system and data
coming from it. (

38
 Automated Power BI data architecture

Efficient and productive implementation may be very well conducted for companies and/or
departments that need to use flat files (excel, .txt, or .csv files are perfect examples). This may take
place for a variety of reasons, from security to data diversity or the way the data is gathered.

Semi-automated Power BI data architecture

1.3.17 Implementation Project Duration

It depends on multiple variables and always is subject to thorough investigation and agreement with the
customer. We however may assume, that the typical project lasts between 2 and 6 months.
39
 1.3.18 Cost of Power BI reporting

Each Business Intelligence project is quoted separately. The price is estimated individually
and depends on many factors like project complexity, number of data sources and data
volume.

In summary, and regarding decision making, the BI system helps the university speed up data
collection for decisions. Moreover, the quality of decisions is improved due to the quality of
information that is provided. It is a system that provides users access to necessary information,
wherever they are.”
1.1 Decisions Before the Implementation of the Business Intelligence

Decisions were made before the BI system’s implementation by the university board (interviewee
6), and according to interviewees 3 and 6, the information provided was based on the data that
was saved in computers as everybody has his or her own way to save data. Finally, decisions were
made without any detailed data (interviewee 1) and were based on previous decisions (interviewee
2).
1.2 Decisions After the Implementation of the Business Intelligence

After the BI system’s implementation, the information provided was more reliable (interviewee 7).
Second, decisions were driven from the system (interviewee 1). Moreover, the information provided
for decisions was gathered and summarized in the BI system (interviewees 3 & 4). However according
to interviewee 2, relying on history is the basis of decision making and the BI system is a tool that
facilitates gathering the needed data. Moreover, interviewee 6 said that “decision making is not
changing at the university because decisions take time.”
In summary, some controllers stated that the BI system initiates change regarding decision - making,
data reliability and the method of gathering and summarizing information in the BI system. The dean of
the Faculty of Arts and the controller of the Faculty of Medicines stated that BI facilitates information
gathering for decisions.
1.3 General Use of the Business Intelligence System

The BI system has many uses at LIU. It is used in multiple departments and at multiple decision-making
levels. First, it is used to collect and gather data for reporting (interviewee 1). Second, it is used to
follow up on decisions according to interviewees 3 and 7. Moreover, interviewee 2 said that as a
decision maker, she is not using the BI system but she is receiving the information from controllers.
40
Consequently, the BI is an important system at LIU that is used to collect and gather data for decision
makers and a follow up system that provides decision makers the needed information from the
controllers.

41
3.9.5 The Use of Qlikview

Based on the interviews that were conducted, Qlikview is the BI tool that is used at LIU. It has many
uses at the university. First, it is used to develop applications regarding the department’s needs
(interviewee 1). Second, the HR department and the administration use it to follow up the number of
students (interviewee 4).Third, it generates various reports combines data from various sources and
generates one report, as interviewee 6 stated.

According to the BI management plan at LiU (2018), Qlikview is a supporting tool of the BI systems
that is used for planning and follows up. It consists of Qlikview Server and Qlikview Publisher. It is also
a decision support tool that is used to simplify research and complete follow-up in various departments.
LIU uses Qlikview to take data from the information system. In the same context, Qlikview contains
many applications its users can develop.

42
 Between 2016 and 2017, the number of Qlikview users increased, as shown in figure 20.

Figure 21: Number of Users in 2015, 2016 and 2017 until November15

As a decision support tool, one of Qlikview’s functions is to provide decision makers with
needed information and knowledge. As a result, the BI tool is used first in research and
education. Second, it is present in the process of supporting activities where statistics are
required for decisions. Moreover, it is used in the planification department. Figure 21
explains further where Qlikview is used.

1.3.18.1 Figure 22: The Use of Qlikview as a Decision Support (Internal Document LIU, 2018)

As an operations support system, Qlikview is a BI tool that contains various applications

developed by its users, which means that it can be developed into applications according
to decision-making needs Moreover, with Qlikview, one can choose to view data either as
a set of statistics or as graphs.
43
Other BI tools further support decision-making at LIU. Figure 22 shows a
 clear picture of the
applications used with Qlikview and other BI tools.

44
 .

1.3.18.2 Figure 23: Qlikview and Other BI Tools at LiU and Some Examples of Their Applications (
Internal document from Liu).

The Information Technology Support System

1.3.18.3 Figure 24: Current Data Sources for Qlikview and the Sources for Rapport.liu.se.

45
 The Information Technology department at the university manages operations in Qlikview’s two
servers. Qlikview’s management and development take place in the finance and planification
department. Ladok sources are managed externally. Moreover, the sources that are managed
internally are HR Primula and Raindance. Consequently, support from data sources administrators
is required in the development of new Qlikview applications.

1. Discussion
This chapter presents a discussion about the findings results and theoretical framework. It also
presents a summary of the interviews.
1.1 The Power of Business Intelligence Benefits Over Decision- Making Process

According to Simon (1997) and Huber (1980), the DMP includes five steps: the search for
information, the choice between alternatives, the choice of decisions, the implementation of
decisions and the monitoring of decisions.

- Faculty of Arts and Human Science: Interviewee 1

Internal proficiency benefits and DMP:

In the phase of searching for and gathering information, the BI tools speed up the process of
gathering data. It is more flexible and it saves time. For the choice of alternatives, there is a general
understanding of the process. In the decision-making phase, the BI system provides models and
graphs for decision makers. In the implementation phase, the BI system clarifies why decisions are
made and their possible consequences.

46
Staff productivity:

For staff productivity, the BI system speeds up the process of searching for information and
makes the reporting more flexible.

Reduction in the cost of effective decision-making:

The process of decision making is sped up, and in DMP all users are more informed about
decision making.

Reduced operational costs:

Costs of operation are not greatly reduced because they are not measurable.

- Faculty of Physics Biology and Chemistry: Interviewee 5

Internal proficiency benefits and DMP:

Regarding the DMP’s internal proficiency, the BI system is used to gather information and
compare periods to make a choice. The BI system is also used to make information more accessible
to everybody and to monitor decisions.

Staff productivity

For staff productivity regarding the DMP, the BI system changed the staff’s productivity regarding
their ability to search for information, and produce many options. Furthermore, the combination of
many applications, enables users to make a choice and search for suitable decisions. The
monitoring of decisions is much more efficient as the system provides its users access to the
necessary information.

Reduction in the cost of effective decision-making:

The cost of decision-making was reduced due the availability of various electronic data. It becomes
easy for everybody to implement decisions and to follow up on decisions.

Reduced operational costs:

With the presence of the BI system, operational costs were reduced due to data’s accessibility.
Therefore, the user can manage more data. Second, because of the open accessibility, the user can
have various data in one file, making it easier to make a decision that leads to reduced costs.

47
Staff productivity:

The BI system has made the staff more efficient in data gathering in a short time and allows
staff members to present a monthly report on decision follow-ups.

Reduction in the cost of effective decision-making:

The BI system reduces time costs in gathering information and presenting to decision makers.

Reduced operational costs

The BI system does not change operation costs.

48
 RESULTS

49
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