While Microsoft Power BI is an effective tool for business intelligence and data visualization, it can cause a few concerns. Here, we’ll discuss the reasons for slow Power BI dashboards and proven ways to fix the issues as provided by a certified developer.
Microsoft Power BI is a business intelligence and data visualization platform with a global client base. Statistics show that around 54,978 companies use Power BI. It enjoys 13.28% of the global market share in the data visualization market, with Tableau, D3js, and Heap Analytics as its competitors.
Many startups, SMBs, and multinational organizations use Power BI for various purposes. From the sales teams to finance departments, everyone in the enterprise uses the platform to analyze business data and generate reports to make data-driven decisions. The visualizations on the dashboards are attractive, interactive, and informative. However, some businesses have issues with slow Power BI dashboards. The reports are not generated in real-time, or take too many resources to deliver the output.
This leads to questions like, Why is my Power BI dashboard loading so slowly? How can I fix this issue? And so on!
Is there an answer to these questions? Absolutely!
Slow dashboards can be due to various reasons. It can be resolved by identifying the core problem. Sometimes, it’s a combination of reasons. In such instances, you will get better results by hiring a Power BI consulting company to resolve the issue.
Here, we’ll look at the causes of slow Power BI dashboards as well as how to improve report performance in Power BI by making a few strategic and technical changes to the process.
Power BI performance depends on various factors like the existing IT infrastructure, internet network, hardware, third-party software, employee efficiency, and much more. That’s why it’s recommended to work with a Power BI service provider to perform an audit of your systems and create a comprehensive plan to revamp the entire data architecture and infrastructure if required. Even if it sounds like an expensive and complex project, it ensures seamless performance and fast results. It also provides high ROI and makes it a worthy investment.
A few common reasons for slow Power BI dashboards are as follows:
Data architecture refers to the blueprint of how you manage your business data. It includes data collection, cleaning, storing, transformation, etc., as well as how the data is used to derive meaningful insights. Having a robust data architecture will ensure seamless data flow within the organizations. However, when you use outdated department silos and older software with Power BI, the platform cannot work effectively. For example, connecting Power BI with SQL Server databases might be easy but the results will be greater if you connect it to Amazon Redshift or Azure. This requires technical expertise.
Though many third-party tools can be integrated using APIs or other means, it is important to choose the ones that are more compatible with each other and don’t cause glitches. Moreover, using older technology with the latest ones can reduce overall efficiency. Power BI can have a few issues working with the distributed nature of the cloud. So, dealing with large datasets can be a concern if the connections are not set up properly. This slows the Power BI dashboard and limits real-time decision-making. You can improve Power BI speed by choosing supporting tools and technologies with care.
There’s no lack of data in today’s times. If anything, it’s the opposite. Businesses often have too much data, with more being generated every hour. However, not all of it is useful. Additionally, creating data relationships can be complex and confusing. When such highly complex datasets are connected to Power BI, the tool can take extra time to analyze the data and provide an output. It results in computational overheads while reducing responsiveness. Knowing how to store complex data and use it for analytics can resolve the issue.
Data modeling is the creation of a visual representation of data and its relationship within the database. It streamlines the ETL (extract, transform, load) process by reducing uncertainties. However, if your data modeling and management processes are not clearly defined or optimized, you will end up with poor data quality and glitches, which ultimately slow down the entire system. Power BI dashboards will be less efficient in analyzing the data to deliver insights. On the other hand, robust data modeling makes it easier to automate the process using AI tools and speeds up the Power BI dashboards.
Data visualization is the graphical representation of data and insights using charts, graphs, diagrams, infographics, and animations. These reports are interactive and unique, and make it easy to understand complex insights. Power BI dashboards are used to create dynamic visualizations. However, you should be careful not to overdo this. Adding multiple visuals to the same page can overload it and slow down the dashboard. This results in lower efficiency and delayed insights. Think about whether you really need a dozen visuals on the same page or if you can use only a few to share the same information. Power BI dashboard optimization includes personalization of the visuals to balance efficiency and speed with user-friendliness.
DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions and is used for queries and calculations. It is different from SQL, which works seamlessly with Power BI. Translating DAX to SQL queries can result in slow processing and inefficiencies. When the data operations become more complex, it further affects the platform and causes a lag. Optimizing the report architecture instead of overloading it is a comprehensive solution to overcome the challenge. This can be done by certified Power BI experts. Hire reputed Power BI services to rewrite the formulas, remove unwanted high-cardinality fields, and optimize the process.
Power BI optimization can speed up slow dashboards. This is done in a combination of several methods, depending on which aspects are responsible for the sluggishness and glitches. The fixes below are best handled by experts, as they know how to improve overall system efficiency and not just provide temporary solutions.
Data is the core of a business and is an essential component of the data-driven decision-making model. Power BI is connected to data sources to convert raw data into useful insights. However, the type of data sources used can affect the tool’s performance. To speed up the dashboards, you should move away from truncated departmental silos and build a vast central repository. This is called a data warehouse. It can be hosted on the cloud or on-premises and is connected to several input sources as well as analytical tools and visualization dashboards like Power BI.
While on-premises data architecture has its advantages, cloud-based digital technologies and hosting services offer greater scalability and flexibility. Cloud services can also be cost-effective and provide greater data security. Microsoft Azure has many tools and technologies that can be seamlessly integrated with Power BI to deliver instant and real-time insights through visualization dashboards. Additionally, this is a part of the digital transformation journey that helps you adopt a digital-first approach.
As read earlier, too many visuals on the dashboard can overload the page and slow it down. Limit the number of graphics you add to each page/ report. Choose the ones that best convey the insights and provide a clear picture of the details. You can also use Power BI’s new card visual that can display several cards in a single container. This improves the dashboard performance while reducing the number of queries by consolidating them into a single query. It also cuts down the need for more computational resources.
One of the Power BI best practices to speed up the dashboards is to use the on-premises data gateway instead of personal mode to import data. The standard mode in the on-premises data gateway retains data in its original location. It doesn’t import data into Power BI and can deliver quicker results. That’s because few resources will be consumed when accessing large datasets. Moreover, memory usage will also be reduced. It prevents lags and bottlenecks.
Power BI offers different ways to derive insights. You can schedule data updates for specific hours and receive real-time insights as needed. However, using the same connection for live and scheduled updates can overload the network and cause lag. For example, in scheduled updates, the data is imported at fixed times. In a live update, you can ask for an update at any time. Since both processes are different, using separate connections for them will prevent overload and keep the tool efficient. That way, one process won’t affect/ influence the other.
Another reason for slow Power BI dashboards is the use of complex measures and aggregations in data models. This makes the querying process slow and delays the results. If you switch to calculated measures, you can speed up the query execution and add filters during the process. It is a part of DAX and can give quicker results than complex measures.
Power BI allows users to set cache updates on a timely basis. The default setting for Power BI cache update frequency is one hour. This can be changed as required. By aligning this frequency with the data refresh frequency, you can optimize the reports and use only real-time or up-to-date data for insights. Syncing both cache updates to happen at the same time will remove outdated data from the memory and replace it with the latest set, which can be used to derive accurate insights.
It’s not just about the number of visuals you add to the dashboard. The type of visuals can also determine the platform’s speed. By using Power BI-certified visuals, you can ensure that the elements chosen are compatible with the dashboard. Microsoft assigns certification only for rigorous testing to confirm that these visuals can deliver efficient performance without slowing down the process. Moreover, the certified visuals can also be viewed in email subscriptions and exported to PowerPoint mode.
The more data the system has to load, the longer it can take. This isn’t rocket science, right? Going by this theory, you should reduce the amount of data loaded into Power BI for queries and reports. Hire Power BI consulting services from reputed companies to sort out all the problems related to slow dashboards. They can address the data loading concern by adding bookmarks, tooltips, and drill-through pages to directly access required data without repeating the same action every time.
Automation saves time. However, it can also cause a few issues in certain situations. For example, the auto-generated tables in Power BI can bloat the system and weigh it down with excess data. These create a separate table for each data column. By switching to custom tables, you can determine how many tables will be created, how the data will be split, etc. You not only have more control over the process but can also limit the resources spent and speed up the queries.
Large datasets are not uncommon in businesses. However, loading or importing an entire dataset, even for simple queries, can consume extensive computational power and slow down the dashboards. This issue can be resolved by creating partitions. Partitioning is a technique used to divide large tables into smaller subsets. Each subset has a specific criterion. Since Power BI uses columnar indexes, having leaner tables gives better results. When you send a query, only the relevant table is imported, thus increasing the speed and efficiency.
To tackle slow Power BI dashboards, you can take advantage of the query reduction settings, which minimize the frequency of sending queries and generating reports. This can be done through filters and slicers. In filters, you can add an ‘apply’ button to the filter pane to make changes at once. This reduces the query volume. In slicers, you add the ‘apply’ button to make changes whenever you are ready. Here, the changes are applied only when you manually click the ‘apply’ button.
Personalization is where you allow employees to make changes to the elements/ visuals in the dashboard to create dynamic reports. This gives them the freedom to choose the best visuals for the query, set filters to remove unwanted information, add bookmarks to datasets/ tables they frequently access, and so on. Essentially, you empower them to use self-service Power BI, which can deliver faster results as each dashboard is personalized for the employees’ needs.
Power BI Performance Analyzer is a part of Power BI Desktop. It is used to find how various elements of the platform (like DAX, visuals, reports, etc.) are performing. It helps monitor the tool to identify bottlenecks and optimize the elements to increase efficiency and speed. The logs shared by Performance Analyzer can be exported for further analysis. Power BI experts use this feature to audit the tool and optimize it.
As you can see in this blog, slow Power BI dashboards are pretty common. Luckily, they can be fixed by identifying the root causes and optimizing the platform. It is recommended to monitor Power BI’s performance and make periodic changes to increase efficiency. Hire a Microsoft-certified Power BI consulting company to avail of its end-to-end services for building, deploying, integrating, and personalizing the dashboards. The companies also provide long-term maintenance and support services for cost-effective prices.
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Yes, Power BI developers can speed up your dashboards by identifying the exact reasons for the problem and providing solutions to resolve the issues. They address the bottlenecks and come up with a long-term solution. They also use tools and techniques like DAX optimization or Performance Analyzer.
You can optimize the performance of Power BI reports by simplifying the data model, streamlining the queries, and identifying the right visuals for the page. There are many more ways to optimize Power BI dashboards. Talk to our certified experts to know more.
The most common causes that slow down Power BI are network latency, outdated IT infrastructure, poor data modeling, and complex calculations. Every issue can be resolved by understanding the root cause and eliminating it.
Here are a few technical fixes to speed up a slow Power BI dashboard:
Usually, it’s a combination of fixes that increases the speed and efficiency of the Power BI dashboards rather than a single solution.
Fact checked by –
Akansha Rani ~ Content Creator & Copy Writer
