💁 About this article
This article is part of Fugo’s Power BI knowledge base: a collection of resources answering common Power BI questions. We include notes throughout where Fugo’s integration may be helpful for displaying dashboards on digital signage.
Table of contents
Overview
Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence and data visualization platform. It allows you to connect to datasets, transform and model them, and create interactive reports and dashboards.
It’s commonly used by:
Analysts and data teams for building reports and metrics
Business users for exploring dashboards and KPIs
Developers for embedding reports into apps and websites
Power BI is made up of several tools and services that work together, including a desktop app, a cloud-based service, mobile apps, and embedded analytics capabilities.
Power BI and Microsoft Fabric
Power BI is now part of Microsoft Fabric - a unified platform that brings together analytics, data engineering, real-time eventing, and more.
Shared features
As part of Fabric, Power BI shares several capabilities with other workloads:
OneLake for centralized data access
Direct Lake Mode to query OneLake without import
Notebooks, Dataflows Gen2, and real-time triggers
Security and governance through Microsoft Purview
Copilot for AI-powered insights and report generation
Power BI-specific capabilities
While Power BI shares infrastructure with Fabric, it still has its own core features:
Power BI Desktop for report development
Power BI Service for publishing and collaboration
Custom visuals, paginated reports, mobile apps, and KPI tools
No migration is required. Existing Power BI content continues to work as expected.
Feature | Fabric | Power BI |
OneLake data integration | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Direct Lake mode | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Shared dataflows & notebooks | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Power BI Desktop |
| ✔️ |
Power BI Service |
| ✔️ |
Q&A natural language query |
| ✔️ |
Report sharing and publishing |
| ✔️ |
Key components of Power BI
Power BI Desktop
A Windows-based app for building reports. It offers:
Data connections to 100+ sources
Power Query Editor for transforming data
Modeling with DAX, relationships, and calculated columns
Rich drag-and-drop visuals
External tools like Tabular Editor, ALM Toolkit, etc.
Best for: Analysts or power users building reports from scratch.
Power BI Service
A cloud-based platform for sharing and publishing content. It supports:
Collaborative workspaces
Dataset reuse
Dataflows and scheduled refresh
Real-time dashboards
Governance, access control, and audit logs
Best for: Teams managing live reports, distributing dashboards, and collaborating.
Power BI Mobile
Mobile apps for iOS and Android allow users to view and interact with dashboards on the go. It also supports push notifications and biometric authentication.
How to get started with Power BI
You can begin using Power BI with a Microsoft account (or a work/school account tied to Microsoft 365). The basic flow looks like this:
Install Power BI Desktop
Download here or use the Power BI service.
Connect to data
Pull in sources like Excel, SQL Server, SharePoint, Google Analytics, Salesforce, and many more.
Clean and model your data
Use Power Query to transform data, create relationships, and define measures.
Design reports
Drag and drop visuals, apply filters, and configure interactivity.
Publish and share
Upload to the Power BI service to share dashboards, configure refreshes, and collaborate.
Secure and monitor
Set row-level security, audit access, and monitor report usage.
Power BI Desktop vs Power BI Service
Need | Use this | Why |
Create reports | Power BI Desktop | Advanced modeling and design tools |
Share with team | Power BI Service | Built-in publishing and collaboration tools |
View on mobile | Power BI Mobile | Optimized layout for phones and tablets |
Specialized capabilities
Paginated Reports
Power BI supports pixel-perfect, print-friendly reports - especially useful for things like invoices or regulatory docs. These are built using Power BI Report Builder.
On-premises reporting
Power BI Report Server lets you keep data and reports behind your firewall. It’s typically used by organizations with strict compliance needs.
Display Power BI reports & dashboards on TV screens
Power BI is powerful when used interactively, but what if you want to display a dashboard on a TV screen, in a lobby, a sales floor, or a warehouse?
That’s where digital signage software comes in. These platforms help you display reports passively, without relying on user interaction, a logged-in browser tab, or manual refresh.
If you're looking to do this, Fugo's Power BI integration is one option that lets you:
Select and display Power BI dashboards on any supported screen
Inherit existing Power BI permissions and security
Use fallback screenshot mode on low-powered devices
Manage screens remotely - including refresh scheduling and offline fallback
You can also learn more by booking a demo with our team or trial it directly via Fugo's Power BI app .