Power BI Templates

Microsoft released today (29 April, 2016) a new update of Power BI Desktop with some new cool features here. In particular, I find the new Power BI templates as one of the more powerful tools, as it allows me to easily reuse my dashboards in the most easier way 🙂

Update: 15 months have passed since I wrote this article. And I now have an improved version of the Facebook Page Template. You can get it here.

Let’s see an example using one of the dashboards that analyzes a specific Facebook Page:

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I opened the .PBIX file and clicked Edit Queries.

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There is a new button – Manage Parameters.

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After I clicked the Manage Parameters button, a new Parameters dialog appeared.

I clicked on New.

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I added a new parameter. Name: FacebookPage. Then I added a description (“The Facebook Page object name or ID”)

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I change the Type from Any to Text.

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I added the current value for the FacebookPage parameter by editing Current Value. Then I clicked OK.

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That’s cool. A new item was added at the bottom of the Queries pane. That is my new parameter. I can also edit it from the main pane.

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Now is the tricky part. I edited the query which connects to Facebook and modify the M expression to use the new parameter instead of the static Facebook page name that was previously used.

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The new parameter FacebookPage can be used on other queries. Simply refer to it in the code.

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I could also apply dynamic filtering of specific columns with the new parameter. To do it I clicked on the new ABC drop down menu, and selected Parameter.

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Then I could select my parameter.

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After using my new parameter, I closed the Query Editor.

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Power BI Desktop performed a refresh which was based on the new Current Value that I used for my parameter.

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After I saved my Power Bi Desktop file, I clicked File –> Export –> Power BI Desktop.

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I clicked OK in the new Export Template window (Here you can also describe your template).

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The Save As window appeared. I saved my template as a .pbit file.

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Now, whenever I need to create a new Facebook dashboard for a different Facebook Page, I can use this template. I click File –> Import –> Power BI Template.

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After I select my .pbit file, the Enter Parameters window appears.

Here I can enter the new Facebook Page, and click OK.

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Then, the new dashboard gets refreshed with the new Facebook Page.

An awesome feature!!!

5 comments

  1. Pingback: BI-NSIGHT – Power BI (Service Update, Desktop Update, Dynamic Security in Service, Content Pack Dynamics AX Cost Management Pack) – SQL Server 2016 (RTM Release 01 June 2016) – Gilbert Quevauvilliers – BI blog

  2. fwatsonatwork Reply

    This is awesome – thank you! Question… is there a way to edit the template after it has been exported? I would like to change a color here, a font there, etc. and I can’t figure out how to change the actual template.

    • Gil Raviv Post authorReply

      Thank you. You can load the template with your values as parameters, change the visuals and export it again as PBIT

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