Are you just getting started with Power BI and looking for some project ideas to practice?

In this blog post, we will discuss the top 17 power BI project ideas you should try! For each of the ideas, we will provide an explanation and who should undertake the project.

By the end of this post, you will have a good understanding of what power BI projects you can work on to improve your skills!

Let’s have a look!

What Are The Best Power BI Projects for Beginners?

Read on to find out more details about each of these Power BI project ideas!

1. Online Retail Dashboard

First up in our list of the best Power BI project ideas involves tracking retail sales from E-commerce data.

This power BI project is ideal for those interested in learning data analysis, as it requires leveraging a large dataset to analyze customer behavior and sales trends.

The dashboard can include all the key metrics related to online retail, such as:

  • product sales volume
  • return/retention rate
  • conversion rate

I’d recommend fully utilizing all the features within Microsoft Power BI Desktop, which is free for all Windows computers. For example, use this project to explore the data structure of your data set using Power BI or experiment with the different data visualizations available.

Who Should Create This Project:

This project is best for people who understand e-commerce, retail, and marketing analytics.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

This dashboard can be used by e-commerce businesses that want to gain insight into their customers, sales trends, and other metrics related to online retail.

In a real-world setting, a project like this can provide good business intelligence that can be used to make decisions on how to better market products or adjust pricing strategies.

You’ll be able to share your work through Power BI reports on the Power BI Service, an online sharing platform used within an organization.

2. Customer Churn Analysis Project

Customers are the backbone of any business, so understanding them and their behavior is key to success.

This next power BI project idea is ideal for those interested in understanding the customer better and finding ways to improve their experience.

The dashboard should include all key customer metrics, such as:

  • demographics
  • purchase frequency
  • customer lifetime value

Who Should Create This Project:

This project best suits those working in customer analytics. It’s also suitable for beginners with an interest in customer insights.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

This dashboard would be used by product managers who require feedback on how customers use products. This information might also be useful for marketing teams.

3. KPI Monitoring Dashboard

This power BI project is perfect for those who want to learn how to create an interactive dashboard that tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) or key financial indicators.

The dashboard should include all the essential KPIs, such as:

  • sales volume
  • revenue
  • number of units sold
  • conversion rates

You can provide a simple and effective KPI tracking report using the Power BI dashboard feature.

You should limit the number of Power BI visualization types in a KPI dashboard to keep things focused for your users.

Who Should Create This Project:

This Power BI project best suits most Power BI enthusiasts. It’s also suitable for beginners who want to learn Power BI.

Since you won’t be doing any complex data modeling, most data analytics beginners can try this out!

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Different departments would use this dashboard in a business, such as marketing, sales, finance, and operations. It’s also really useful for executives who need an overall view of the organization’s performance.

In my personal work experience, KPI dashboards were mostly used by management for a quick overview. For example, KPI dashboards can be used to analyze regional business growth.

4. Sales Performance Dashboard

sales project

This next Power BI project focuses on tracking sales performance and providing insights into how sales are progressing. This sales data analysis project can be used to monitor how each sales rep is performing.

The dashboard should include raw business data such as:

  • sales volume by product/customer segment
  • revenue growth rate
  • number of units sold per month
  • conversion rates

Who Should Create This Project:

This project is best suited for power BI users with an understanding of sales data analysis. For those who enjoy creating interactive reports, this idea is also for you.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Sales executives and managers would greatly benefit from a project like this. Product teams can also use it to understand the impact of new product launches on sales performance.

5. Financial Dashboard

Finance projects are also an ideal option for Power BI projects because they can complement and improve traditional financial reporting methods.

The power BI dashboard should be able to track key financial metrics, such as:

  • profit and loss
  • cash flow
  • account receivable aging

All businesses require some form of financial analysis. Therefore, a project on financial reports would be highly sought after by hiring managers.

Who Should Create This Project:

This project best suits power BI users with interest in exploring financial analysis. This includes investment analysts, accountants, finance managers, and even CFOs.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

This dashboard can be used by financial teams to track the company’s performance. It would also be helpful for CFOs and executives who need a quick overview of the organization’s finances.

Power BI dashboards like these should also include visualizations to compare budget vs. actual expenditure and revenue. This comparison helps quickly spot any deviations in performance.

This project idea is excellent for learning power BI data visualization. It’s also a good starting point for beginners who want to get acquainted with Power BI in the financial domain.

Ideally, such dashboards should be put into mobile-friendly formats, so they can be compatible with Power BI mobile applications. This will allow CFOs to view their critical financial reports on the go.

6. Customer Segmentation Dashboard

phone screen analysis

This power BI project is ideal for those who want to learn how to use power BI visuals and features to create customer segments.

The power BI dashboard should be able to track customer segments, such as:

  • demographics
  • geographic location
  • purchase behavior

For segmentation, you might want to try out clustering visualizations to aid in better understanding.

Who Should Create This Project:

This project is best suited for power BI users with an understanding of customer segmentation and an interest in marketing analytics.

It’s also suitable for power BI beginners who want to explore the capabilities of Power BI visuals through customer segmentation clustering.

Aspiring data scientists and business intelligence analysts can also work on such Power BI projects since they involve some data science.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Marketing teams can use this dashboard to understand customers better. It would also be helpful for product managers who need to identify different customer segments and target them with specific campaigns.

7. Social Media Analytics Dashboard

A social media analytics dashboard is the perfect way to track how your organization’s social media accounts are performing. This makes for a good Power BI project idea too!

For example, you will likely need to learn how to load a social media marketing analytics dataset to your Power BI Desktop application.

You’ll also need to learn how to filter out irrelevant data from all the noise on social media platforms.

Your Power BI dashboard should be able to track metrics such as:

  • engagement rate
  • number of followers/subscribers
  • number of comments and likes

You can get datasets from these platforms:

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Who Should Create This Project:

Social media marketers or beginners who want a unique project should try this out.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Social media managers can use this dashboard to constantly track their organization’s social media channels for social listening. It would also be helpful for content marketers who want to understand the success of their campaigns.

8. Sales Funnel Report

Sales funnel reports are vital for any company looking to maximize its sales. Go ahead and try creating a project like this if you’re interested in sales analysis.

A Power BI report should be able to track the different stages of a sales process, such as:

  • leads generated
  • conversion rate from lead to customer
  • average revenue per sale

Who Should Create This Project:

This project is ideal for most beginners. Sales reps can also do a simple project as well.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Sales teams would benefit from such a power BI dashboard, as it allows them to track their performance and better understand the sales process. It would also be helpful for business owners and marketers who want to track their sales funnel performance.

9. Inventory Management Dashboard

Inventory management is essential in any organization, so why not create a power BI project to help power your inventory tracking?

Your power BI dashboard should be able to track key metrics such as:

  • inventory levels
  • stock-outs
  • inventory turnover rate

Who Should Create This Project:

This power BI project is best suited for power BI beginners and those with some experience in inventory management. A data analytics project like this will help gain some relevant background in the logistics field.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Business owners and operations managers would benefit from such a power BI dashboard, as it allows them to track their inventory performance.

It would help warehouse managers manage the day-to-day operations of their warehouses.

10. Manufacturing Analytics Dashboard

Manufacturing analytics dashboards can provide insights into how a manufacturing plant performs and what changes could improve its performance.

These power BI projects should be able to track key metrics such as:

  • cost of production
  • production efficiency
  • number of products produced

Who Should Create This Project:

Anyone with interest in manufacturing efficiency. Manufacturing engineers and plant managers can work on projects like these. Although not the simplest to understand, beginners can also try this project for a unique dashboard.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Manufacturing teams, business owners, and operations managers.

It would also be helpful for quality control teams to ensure that products are made as per specifications.

11. Budget Forecasting Dashboard

Creating a power BI budget forecasting dashboard is another great project idea that many can benefit from. The Power BI dashboards created can help track and manage the budget for any organization.

Your power BI dashboard should be able to track key metrics such as:

  • total revenue
  • cost of goods sold (COGS)
  • research & development costs
  • gross margin

Who Should Create This Project:

Financial planning and analysis managers.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

This dashboard is essential for business owners, finance teams, and anyone who needs to track their budget performance.

Financial analysts could also use such Power BI dashboards to forecast future budgets and plan accordingly.

12. Stock Market Visualization and Analysis

This power BI project is a great way to learn Power BI Desktop, analyze stocks, and visualize stock market data. Through the use of Power BI, you can explore the nature of stock data and their data models.

Your power BI dashboard should include the following:

  • stock prices
  • market capitalization
  • volume of trading

Who Should Create This Project:

Anyone interested in tracking the stock market. Experienced power BI users can create more detailed Power BI projects related to stocks as well.

Who Would Use This Dashboard:

Traders and investors, business owners, market analysts, and finance teams.

13. Web Traffic Analysis and Visualization

For businesses that rely on their website for marketing and sales, having a Power BI dashboard to track web traffic trends can provide invaluable insights.

Power BI projects like these are simple use cases where raw business data is used for data analytics and business intelligence.

This project will teach you how to connect integrations from Power BI Desktop to Google Analytics.

Your power BI dashboard should include the following:

  • number of visitors
  • page views
  • bounce rates

14. HR Analytics and Visualization

HR business departments need power BI projects that help them understand employee performance, team performance, and other important metrics.

Power BI projects like these can help track key metrics such as:

  • employee retention
  • turnover rate
  • time to hire
  • diversity of the workforce

In this project, you can consider doing a statistical analysis to measure turnover rate, and presenting it in an index on your dashboard.

15. Healthcare Analytics Dashboard

Analyzing healthcare data is another interesting project, as it helps medical teams make more informed decisions. You can analyze life expectancy data, electronic health records, and hospital operations data.

Your dashboard should include the following:

  • patient satisfaction ratings
  • hospital readmissions
  • cost of care per patient
  • length of hospital stay

If you’re looking to do a deeper analysis of the entire healthcare industry, you can consider doing a global health expenditure analysis. You should also get data from the Global Health Expenditure Database. Access their data here.

Another common dashboard you can consider doing that’s related to the healthcare industry is a COVID insight analysis project. You can use the many databases available online in Kaggle to create a simple cases tracker.

16. Geospatial Data Visualization and Analysis

Geospatial Power BI projects can help visualize data with a geographical component, such as population density and climate trends.

This means that you’ll have to learn more advanced features for overlaying your data onto map layers. Since geospatial data is more complicated, you might need to process your data to uncover underlying data structures before creating any charts.

Your Power BI report should include the following:

  • maps
  • charts
  • geographical coordinates

17. Project Management Analytics Dashboard

Project managers and executives need power BI projects to track key performance metrics. You can consider starting a simple that can give an overview of the progress of a company-wide project.

Your power BI dashboard should include the following:

  • costs per project
  • time between milestones
  • quality of deliverables
  • total number of projects completed successfully

18. Email Marketing Campaign Insights Analysis

This power BI dashboard will track the performance of email campaigns by measuring opens and clicks per campaign and customer engagement.

You’ll likely need to connect your email client with Power BI desktop to access your data.

If you’re looking for power BI projects to learn how to connect integrations from Power BI Desktop, then you can consider this power BI project.

Your power BI report should include the following:

  • number of emails sent
  • number of opens
  • number of clicks
  • customer engagement rate

I would say that this is a beginner-level Power BI project, since not much cleaning would be require before crafting a dashboard.

Related Questions

How long does it take to complete a Power BI project?

Power BI projects can take a few hours to several weeks or even months. The amount of time needed to complete a power BI project will depend on the project’s complexity and the user’s skillset. Generally, power BI projects can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks or even months.

What is Power BI mostly used for?

Power BI is mainly used for creating visually appealing data analyses and visualizations. It’s a powerful business analytics tool that can be used to develop reports, dashboards, and other insights.

Power BI can also analyze large data sets, create predictive models, and automate processes. Additionally, Power BI is often used to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and build data-driven decisions.

Is Power BI easier than Python?

Power BI is a powerful business intelligence tool that is easier to learn than Python. However, Power BI does come with a learning curve and requires knowledge of SQL queries and other data manipulation techniques.

On the other hand, Python is a more flexible tool that can be used for various tasks, including data visualization, web development, and data cleaning.

Can Power BI learn in 2 days?

Although it is possible to learn the basics of power BI in 2 days, it may take longer to become an expert power BI user. It is important to understand that power BI projects require knowledge of SQL queries and data manipulation techniques. Therefore, learning power BI will require practice and dedication.

Final Thoughts

That’s all the Power BI project examples I have!

If you want to become an expert power BI user, then these projects will provide the perfect starting point.

I hope these ideas inspire you to create beautiful, comprehensive dashboards.

Thanks for reading!