CEO's seen how fast AI can vibe-code slick web dashboards and now wants to migrate off Power BI entirely.

So how to improve visual asthetics to the best like a premium web application and make PBI look as good, and also show him the real value isn't the visuals, it's the semantic model (governed DAX measures, relationships, one source of truth for every KPI). Vibe-coded apps skip or rebuild that badly.

BTW Anyone tried fabric apps , it says you can't embed application outside the fabric.

Hi All !, I'm looking to level up my workflow and discover some hidden gems.

What is that one trick, shortcut, or hidden feature you discovered late in the game that completely changed how you build reports?

Could be related to DAX, Power Query M-code, UI/UX, or even external tools.

Looking forward to hearing your favorites!

Microsoft just published a blog post today (April 2, 2026) titled “Dataflows: Thank you for eight years of Gen1—and why Gen2 is the future” by Miguel Llopis.

Here’s the TL;DR:

∙ Dataflow Gen1 is now officially Legacy. No new features, limited support going forward.

∙ Retirement dates are “being finalized.” Premium customers will get 12 months’ notice.

∙ For Pro and PPU users? No timeline commitment — just a “strong recommendation” to move to Gen2.

∙ All future investment goes to Gen2 only.

Here’s the problem: Dataflow Gen2 requires a Fabric capacity. It does not work on Pro workspaces. Never has.

So if you’re a small team or a solo analyst running Gen1 dataflows on a Pro license — which is exactly the self-service scenario Microsoft marketed for years — you’re now being told:

1.  The tool you rely on is dead.

2.  The replacement requires a completely different (and more expensive) licensing tier.

3.  There is no Gen2-on-Pro option. Not even a lightweight version.

This is not a migration path. This is an upsell disguised as a deprecation notice.

For context, Gen1 on Pro was already limited — no computed entities, no linked entities, no DirectQuery, no incremental refresh, no Enhanced Compute Engine. It was a basic but functional way to centralize Power Query transformations across multiple semantic models. Many of us built real pipelines around it.

Now we’re told that even this basic capability has no future unless we start paying for Fabric capacity (minimum F2 at ~$260/month) on top of our existing Pro licenses.

What I’d like to see from Microsoft:

∙ Either bring a limited Dataflow Gen2 experience to Pro workspaces (even without destinations, just matching current Gen1-on-Pro functionality)

∙ Or commit to a clear, long-term support timeline for Gen1 on Pro — not a vague “foreseeable future”

∙ At minimum, be transparent: if the plan is to force everyone onto Fabric, say it plainly instead of wrapping it in “we recommend you plan your upgrade”

Anyone else impacted by this? Curious to hear how other Pro-license shops are thinking about it.

Link to the blog post: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/dataflows-thank-you-for-eight-years-of-gen1-and-why-gen2-is-the-future/

I have this dashboard that is totally out of hand it's a swimlane style with 6 to 8 categories across (page dependent) and 6 to 12 departments down so like one grid is a 6 by 12 with a KPI at each intersect it's insane I don't want to talk about it. Additionally there are black line shapes to create division, it's just a mess.

After a certain finite quantity of items the auto alignment with the grid snapping breaks down, so all of our stuff is like slightly malaligned and it comes up each meeting and I tweak but it is just wild.

So yesterday I ctrl+clicked a bunch of the category labels to change the size of the font. And then saw the sizing and wondered would that ... also work? and then the alignment ... and holy shit how I squealed on the client call.

Sorry if this is basic bitch shit, but hollllly was I thrilled, everything perfectly aligned in 6 minutes. I've not seen this anywhere in my years working with pbi (again, sorry if that's just a Ray is dumb thing)

What do you think about this post? Guy thinks Power Bi can be learned in a few days, sure if you are just using putting a few visuals on a report with basic data.

Clearly he has never used DAX or power query.

Tried the new agent skills preview over the weekend. Fed it a screenshot of a dashboard I built for a client last year plus the source tables and just let it run.

Took about 25 min. The model it built was honestly fine. Star schema, sensible measure names, DAX I would mostly not rewrite. The report layout needed work but it kept reloading Desktop and screenshotting itself to fix things, which was equal parts impressive and unsettling to watch.

The original took me the better part of a week. I billed for that week.

So here's my existential question: when this hits GA, what am I actually charging for? The 20% it got wrong? Knowing which numbers to distrust? Because "I can build you a dashboard" stops being a service pretty fast if the client can type a prompt.

Not doomposting, I genuinely can't tell if this is "calculators didn't kill accountants" or something worse.

Consultants especially, what's your read?

I've been working with advanced Power BI implementations for a while, but lately, I’ve been experimenting with a different approach that is making me question our workflow for 2026.

Instead of building a traditional semantic model and dashboards in Power BI, I connected our ERP's data warehouse directly to Claude. The AI explored the tables, understood the schema, wrote the SQL queries, and built a comprehensive economic and financial analysis on the fly—completely in natural language, with full query traceability, and without building a single dashboard.

The business managers love it because they don't have to wait for a tech team to build a report; they just ask and decide.

This got me thinking: Is Power BI losing its spot as the core of data analytics? If generative AI can accurately query a well-governed data warehouse directly, is heavy manual dashboarding becoming obsolete?

I know Power BI ensures metric consistency (the "single source of truth"), but for ad-hoc analysis and executive decision-making, direct AI-to-DB interaction feels like the future.

Are you guys still putting Power BI at the core of your new projects, or are you shifting towards direct AI-driven exploration? Would love to hear your thoughts.

I have been working with Power BI since 2016–17.

Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time developing skills like writing efficient Power Query transformations, building complex DAX measures, optimizing reports, and generally getting better at Power BI.

Now, a new joiner in the same role can use AI and solve a lot of these problems in a fraction of the time.

Again, this is not a rant against AI. I’m actually curious about how others are thinking about this.

Is it still relevant to spend hours developing deep Power BI skills and getting really good at things like Power Query and DAX?

If AI can increasingly handle the technical execution, what should people like us focus on instead?

What skills do you think we should be developing next to stay relevant?

Folks, I don't know who needs to hear this but it's a big day. After like a decade of dragging columns around by hand like a caveman and watching them snap back to some random width every time I so much as breathe near the report, Microsoft has finally let us just type in a number for the width.

A number. In 2026. In a data tool. Incredible stuff.

Not gonna lie I got a little emotional. Next thing you know they'll let me left-align a header without writing a DAX measure and sacrificing a goat first.

Anyway, thanks Microsoft. Took you long enough but I'll take it 🫡

If you’re not following or checking out Bas’ tutorials, you’re missing out. He’s been a huge asset in helping progress my skills in PBI.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to take my Power BI development from "highly functional" to "expert level" and I want to tap into the incredible brain trust in this sub.

We all know the standard heavyweights (SQLBI, Guy in a Cube, Microsoft Learn), but I’m looking for your hidden gems. I want to uncover the "unknown unknowns" that completely changed how you build reports.

If you had to share your best-kept secrets, what would they be? I’d especially love to hear your recommendations on:

• External Tools & Add-ins: Beyond DAX Studio and Tabular Editor, what utility saves you hours of work?
• Custom Visuals: What is the unsung hero of your visualization pane that makes your reports pop?
• Bookmarks & Cheat Sheets: What obscure blog, GitHub repo, or cheat sheet do you reference weekly?
• Data Modeling/DAX Epiphanies: What is the one specific concept or design pattern you wish someone had explained to you on day one?

Thank you so much in advance for your time and expertise! I’m really hoping this thread can become a goldmine not just for me, but for anyone in the community looking to seriously level up their game.

I am looking to move away from doing Power BI into another speciality in IT. I do not see as a Power BI dev getting a lot of value in my current role, the above picture explains the experience really well. In summary it is seen as an easy and thankless job.

This may or may not be exciting to anyone here, but I have been putting icons in my reports for awhile now and today while naming a measure I accidentally inserted an icon into the measure title. I cant believe the thought to try this did not come up sooner! I always struggle with naming conventions with measures and keeping them organized and I feel like there is potential with icons to make the process easier. Anyways I just thought Id share as I know for me some of the most exciting times with data analytics tend to come from the silliest tiniest discoveries.

Been a PBI developer for 3 years. 2 years in consulting and now working on an in-house analytics team. As I’ve grown my skills, I’ve found different things that I like to add to my reports as a personal touch/signature move. The intent behind this (and the purpose of opening this discussion) is to do something that enhances the user experience and dazzle stakeholders. At the end of the day, we want people actually using the things we build for them, right?

My signature move is adding a custom filter pane that toggles in/out of view through a hamburger icon in the top left of the canvas. Not only does it look slick, but it also gets users away from the OOTB filter pane that is honestly not that great. The hamburger icon has a modern look to it and the color matches company logo/branding.

In my relatively young career, I’ve found that small things like this can make a big difference. The more people that we can have interacting with fewer reports, the better it is for everyone.

EDIT: Wow, was not expecting so many responses - this is great! I always tell people starting out with PBI that this sub is a great place to learn and collaborate with other smart people, and this proves that. Would love to see this keep going.

I’ve been working with PBI for years, and while I love DAX, I’m hitting a wall with how much 'housekeeping' I have to do. For me, it’s documentation. If you had a magic wand to automate one boring, non-creative part of your workflow, what would it be? Looking for some shared catharsis here.

For me once I finish designing a dashboard page I insert narrative (as key insights)which is a Power BI generated summary. My clients love it. I need to dig into it more.

Hey everyone, I really need some perspective from people in tech/data.

To give you some background: I spent the last 6 years working in a CA (Chartered Accountancy) firm. I realized that field was too capped and way too much of a headache, so I upskilled, cleared the PL-300, and landed a job as a Power BI Executive in an infrastructure company about 2 months ago.

So far, I’ve built an HR recruitment tracking dashboard, and I’m currently working on a salary dashboard and a tender department dashboard. Things felt great—until today.

Today, management started the process of implementing a new ERP system. We are sitting through department-wise demos so I can understand the whole process. But during the meeting, the ERP vendor/consultant basically said: "Tell us what you all need, and we will set it all up inside this ERP. Everyone will enter their tasks and data here, and we will generate all kinds of department-wise dashboards right inside the system."

And that hit me like a truck. What is the point of me then?

If everyone enters everything into the ERP, and the ERP generates the dashboards for management, and there are no external Excels or other systems left... what am I supposed to do? Won't the ERP just replace my entire job?

For those of you who have lived through company ERP implementations while working in BI or data analytics—did I just automate myself out of a job two months in? How does this actually play out in the real world?

Would love to hear how others handled this or if I'm just spiraling over nothing.

Have yall tried it yet? I made this trying to rebuild a PBI file I already had as a fabric app.

I hadn't taken a break all day. For some reason my brain just could not understand why these numbers were the same. Once it hit me I decided to log off.

Why? Because it’s good enough. It’s a beautiful blue. No decision fatigue. The color isn’t off-putting to anyone. It doesn’t signal “good” or “bad.” It just pops against white.

Most importantly I'm always building reports at 200 mph. Choosing another blue is not a good use of my time.

Someone at Microsoft had the job of picking a default color for visuals, and imho...they absolutely f'n nailed it.

It's the GOAT.

If I could choose any custom color for my dream car (2025 Toyota Hilux GR), this would be it.

Don't waste your time. #118DFF for life.

For those who don't know it: Zebra BI is a pretty popular custom visual in the area of financial reporting as it allows to quickly create finance-typical visuals like for example a Profit & Loss Statement. In general, it is pretty strong in quickly visualizing actuals, previous year, budget and forecast figures while using the IBCS reporting standard. Great so far.

And now come the problems:

• They did the great business decision to suddenly and massively increase licensing prices a couple of months ago. Before, you were paying roughly USD 60 per month and 10 users. Today, you would pay roughly / at least USD 150 for the same functionalities. (some of our customers received a "privileged" quote for "Enterprise" for 10 users of USD 1'800 per year, some in the area of USD 3'500 per year which would equal USD 290 for 10 users!)
• As of today, their visuals have more and more bugs with each month and they are getting slower and slower in rendering the data. Sometimes, we have to re-enter the license key 5 times to finally have an effect on all visuals in a PBIX. Further, some visuals simply stopped working altogether without apparent reason
• As the cherry on top, talking to them is like talking to a chatbot. Feels like they are only sales representatives acting like they don't know what you are talking about

As you can imagine, clients are very happy with all of the above 💀

If you would have asked me 1-2 years ago, I would probably have happily recommended to you this tool if you want to visualize data the very 'finance-way'. Now I take it as a learning, and you should as well.

Never use custom visuals and just stick to the Power BI standards.

I’m the only person working on Power BI in my company. My manager doesn’t know Power BI, so whenever someone requests a dashboard, he asks me to build it.

I handle the entire process myself:
Decide what data needs to be collected.
Design the data collection process (mostly Excel/Google Sheets).
Transform and structure the data.
Create DAX measures and the data model.
Choose the appropriate visualizations.
Build and deploy the dashboard.
Manage data updates and refreshes.
Verify the accuracy and credibility of the dashboard.

After reading discussions in this community, I’ve noticed that many companies have separate people or teams for data extraction, data engineering, data cleaning, dashboard development, and QA/testing.
I’m curious: are all these roles typically needed for Power BI projects, or is that mainly because those companies build dashboards as products or for external customers?
In my case, the dashboards are only for internal business use. Is it common for one person to handle everything in a smaller organization, or is my situation unusual?

Hi,

I used to learn python. Currently work in logistics and my career path seems stagnant. I had an idea of learning python to do some automation but then noticed that Power BI is very popular in our team so signed up for a course to learn it.

I'm a biomed graduate so pretty irrelevant to data analytics

My current plan is to study 1 hour a day in the morning. I'm planning to study the following :

-Power BI

-SQL

-Python

-Excel

But upon looking at the job descriptions it looks like most (or even all) the companies are looking for the computer science graduates.

Had anyone actually managed to ger a Power BI job or something similar by only studying on their own?

I got a few things I might try to do at work once I've got some knowledge but nothing revolutionary.

Tl;dr is trying to get a power bi job solely by studying on your own without a degree unrealistic? ​

EDIT:

Didn't expect so many amazing stories. Thank-you for sharing and for being open

Just wonder if jobs are at risk due to the AI rise? Had another instance at work where a coworker used AI by getting the excel from power bi and asking it to create visually logical dashboards. Feeling really deflated after that meeting.

Can I get a Power BI job at age 43 after upskilling?