Frequently Asked Questions

We specialise in end-to-end Power BI development — from initial data modelling and DAX measure creation through to polished report and dashboard delivery. This includes building new reports from scratch, enhancing or migrating existing ones, optimising slow or resource-heavy models, and providing ongoing consultancy to help your team get the most from your data.

For organisations already using the Power BI service, we work through a dedicated service account or a temporary set of credentials provisioned by your IT team — these can be revoked as soon as the project is complete. If you don't yet have a Power BI licence, we develop directly in Power BI Desktop and share the completed .pbix file for you to publish whenever you're ready.

We take data protection seriously and operate in accordance with UK GDPR. Any data shared with us during a project is used solely for the purpose of delivering the agreed work. We retain project data for a maximum of 12 months after project completion, after which it is securely deleted. If you would like your data removed sooner, simply contact us at Contact@arcolite.co.uk and we will action the deletion within 5 business days.

Timescales vary depending on the complexity of the data model, the number of pages and visuals, and the current state of the source data. A focused single-report build can be completed in a matter of days; larger multi-report solutions with complex modelling requirements may take several weeks. Using our Builder tool before development begins helps scope the work accurately and keeps delivery on track.

Not necessarily — Power BI includes Power Query, a built-in transformation tool that can handle a wide range of raw or inconsistent data. That said, cleaner source data means less transformation work, faster refresh times, and a more reliable end result. We'll assess your data during scoping and advise on any preparation that would meaningfully improve the outcome.

Power BI connects to a broad range of sources, including Excel, SharePoint, SQL Server, Azure, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Google Analytics, REST APIs, and many more. If your data lives in a specific system, let us know and we can confirm compatibility.

A star schema is the recommended way to structure a data model in Power BI. It separates data into fact tables — which hold measurable events or transactions such as sales or orders — and dimension tables, which hold descriptive context such as products, customers, or dates. The fact table sits at the centre, with dimension tables surrounding it. This structure makes models easier to understand, faster to query, and more reliable for DAX calculations.

The right chart depends on the question you're trying to answer. Common visuals in Power BI and when to use them:

• KPI Card — surfaces a single headline number at a glance, ideal for key metrics at the top of a page.
• Bar & Column Chart — compares values across categories; column charts work well for time periods, bar charts for longer category labels.
• Line Chart — shows how a value changes over time, making trends and patterns easy to spot.
• Table — presents detailed row-level data where exact figures matter more than visual shape.
• Area Chart — similar to a line chart but with the area beneath filled in, useful for emphasising volume or cumulative change.
• Pie & Donut Chart — shows proportions of a whole; best kept to a small number of categories.
• Scatter Chart — plots two measures against each other to reveal correlations or outliers across a dataset.
• Map — visualises data geographically, useful for regional comparisons or location-based metrics.
• Gauge — displays a single value within a defined range against a target, useful for performance tracking.
• Waterfall Chart — breaks down how a starting value increases and decreases across a series of steps to reach a final total.
• Funnel Chart — shows progression or drop-off through a sequential process, such as a sales or conversion pipeline.
• Treemap — displays proportions as sized rectangles, offering an alternative layout to pie and donut charts when there are many categories.

Our Builder tool can help you plan your report layout and visual choices before any development begins.

Reports published to the Power BI service can be shared directly with individuals, distributed through a workspace, or packaged into a Power BI App for wider internal distribution. Row-Level Security (RLS) can be applied to control what each user sees within the same report — ensuring different teams or regions only access the data relevant to them — without needing separate reports for each audience.

Yes — the Power BI service supports report subscriptions, which automatically send a snapshot of a report page or dashboard by email on a schedule you define. Subscriptions can be set up for yourself or on behalf of others, and can run daily, weekly, or at specific times. Each email includes a screenshot of the report at the time of delivery along with a link to the live version. This is a straightforward way to keep stakeholders informed without them needing to log in to the service.

Yes — Power BI Embedded allows reports and dashboards to be integrated directly into external applications or websites, with full control over appearance and access. This is typically used by organisations that want to surface analytics within a product or internal portal without requiring end users to have their own Power BI licence.

To publish and share reports through the Power BI service, users generally need a Power BI Pro licence or access via a Premium capacity workspace. Power BI Desktop — used for building and developing reports — is free to download and use without a licence. We can advise on the right licensing approach for your organisation during the scoping phase.

A Power BI report is an interactive, multi-page document built from one or more datasets. Each page can contain a variety of visuals — charts, tables, maps, and KPI cards — that users can filter and cross-highlight to explore the data. Reports are the primary way insights are communicated through Power BI.

A dataset (also referred to as a semantic model) is the data layer that underpins your reports. It defines which tables are loaded, how they relate to one another, and what calculations are available. A single dataset can power multiple reports, ensuring consistency across your organisation's reporting without duplicating effort.

A workspace is a collaborative environment within the Power BI service where reports, dashboards, datasets, and dataflows are stored and managed. Team members with appropriate permissions can view, edit, or publish content within a workspace. Workspaces form the foundation for organising and sharing Power BI content across an organisation.

A Power BI App is a curated, read-only package of reports and dashboards that can be shared with a broad audience inside your organisation. Apps provide a polished, consumer-friendly view of your content without exposing the underlying workspace, and can be updated centrally without users needing to reconfigure their access.

A dataflow is a cloud-based data preparation layer within the Power BI service. It uses Power Query to extract, transform, and load data from source systems, storing the result in Azure Data Lake. Multiple datasets can connect to a single dataflow, making it easier to maintain consistent, reusable transformation logic across your organisation rather than duplicating the same steps in each report.

Relationships define how tables in your data model connect to one another — typically through a shared key column. They allow you to filter and aggregate data across multiple tables without duplicating data. A well-designed relationship structure is fundamental to accurate reporting and good model performance, and forms the backbone of a star schema.

DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is the formula language used in Power BI to create measures, calculated columns, and tables. Measures are the primary way to define KPIs and aggregations — such as total sales, year-on-year growth, or rolling averages — and they evaluate dynamically based on the filters applied in a report. Well-written DAX is central to a fast, accurate, and maintainable Power BI solution.

There are two main approaches. In Power BI Desktop, you can trigger a manual refresh at any time to pull the latest data from your sources. In the Power BI service, you can configure a scheduled refresh to run automatically — up to eight times per day on a Pro licence, or up to 48 times on Premium capacity.