The September update of PBI brings to us a slew of features, but the most notable has to be Drill Through Reporting capabilities. This has been one of the most sought after features among the PBI Community for quite some time, and I for one am beyond excited!
For those that are not familiar with this functionality, drill through reporting allows users to navigate from one report page to another, while passing through filters to the target page. Microsoft has also incorporated a “back” button, making navigating to the previous report page extremely simple. Having the ability to pass filter options from one page to another and quickly navigate back is a massive step in the right, and efficient, direction.
Here’s a quick little demo and some instructions on how to set up your own reports:
Sector Comparison Report Page:
Focus view of Sector Market Cap visualization:
- Right click Technology > Drillthrough > Company Comparison Report
Company Comparison Report (Filtered to Technology Sector):
“Back” button on Company Comparison Report (Filtered to Technology Sector) used to navigate back to Sector Comparison Report:
Focus view of Company Market Cap visualization:
- Right click Microsoft > Drillthrough > Market Details and Close Price ForecastCompany Market Cap 5
Market Details and Close Price Forecast (Filtered to Microsoft Company):
- Select the “back” button to navigate back to the previous report page, and again until you arrive at the starting page.
Setting up your reports for Drill Through is quite simple. Follow the steps below and you’re off and running.
- You’ll notice a new option under the “Filters” section of your report field called “Drillthrough filters”. On the first target report page (the page you want to drill through to), place the field that you’re going to be using to drill. In my case, I will be using Company Sector as my first pass-through field.
- A “back” button will automatically be created for you. Position the button wherever you feel most appropriate. To navigate using the back button while in Desktop, hold CTRL and click. In Service, this is not necessary as you can simply click for navigation.
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 for all consecutive pages in the drill path. For example, to drill through to the 2nd target page in my path, I placed Company Name on the 3rd page in my path.
- That’s it. You’re all set.
To view the full list of features in this month’s release and to download Power BI, check out the official Microsoft notes here. For more insight into implementing Power BI into your business, contact us today.
