Unleashing the Potential of Drillthrough in Power BI: Delving into Granular Details

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toyeladun

On August 27, 2021

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Introduction: In the landscape of data analysis and visualization, Power BI stands as a beacon of versatility, offering robust features that streamline data organization and summarization. Today, we explore the art of presenting summarized data to stakeholders while granting users the ability to seamlessly navigate to specific details with a simple click. This functionality, known as drillthrough, empowers users with a deeper comprehension of their data, maintaining an organized and focused view as they traverse through layers of information.

What is drillthrough?

Drillthrough emerges as a potent tool, enabling dynamic exploration of processes and effortless navigation through different layers of information. It facilitates a journey from high-level summaries to granular details, providing users with insights at varying levels of depth. In essence, drillthrough ensures that users maintain a clear and structured view, accessing only the most relevant data as they delve deeper into their analysis.

Application of Drillthrough

With drillthrough, users can interactively engage with their data by clicking on summarized data points, fostering a deeper connection and understanding. This feature seamlessly transitions users between different pages, enhancing their ability to investigate anomalies and glean granular insights, particularly in hierarchical data structures like product categories and subclass regions. This enhances the user's engagement with the data and provides a seamless transition between different pages.

Case Study Example

Consider a dataset containing case statuses, a list of managers for each status, and the total number of completed cases. Initially, a bar chart provides a summary of completed, active, and pending cases.

However, this visualization lacks information about the managers associated with each category. Through drillthrough, users gain access to a comprehensive list of managers for completed cases. A dedicated drill-through page is created in Power BI, featuring a matrix or table visual showcasing regional managers, status (active, completed, pending), and respective case counts.See the image below:

Say, for example, that we can now drill through to see all active cases, the list of managers that have active cases, and the number of active cases the manager has. This can be achieved for completed and pending cases by simply right-clicking on the relevant status on the main page.

By dragging and dropping the appropriate measures (e.g., manager count) into the drill-through field, users can seamlessly transition to the drill-through page, where a plethora of detailed insights await.

To use drillthrough, users can simply right-click on a relevant status on the main page, such as “completed,” to access granular details. The first image below shows a selection of completed cases and drills in to see more details. The second image shows the drill-through page for the completed cases only, the managers that have achieved that status, and the numbers that have been achieved.

Conclusion: Drillthrough empowers users to seamlessly integrate higher-level summaries with a more granular perspective, facilitating better-informed decision-making and in-depth analysis. It serves as a bridge between summary data and detailed insights, enabling users to extract maximum value from their datasets. With drillthrough, users can navigate through layers of information with ease, uncovering hidden insights and driving actionable outcomes.