Microsoft Power BI
UK SOFTWARE PROFILE
Microsoft Power BI
Business intelligence within Microsoft Fabric, with semantic models, reporting and governed access controls.
One product. Different jobs.
Each score uses that category's criteria. Compare products within a category, rather than comparing scores across unrelated tasks.
Pricing & practicalities
Model your total cost ↗Published starting point
Business intelligence and analytics
£10.80Power BI Pro · user/month, paid yearly · annual billing
excl. VAT
£10.80/user/month paid yearly, excluding VAT. Capacity and additional AI requirements are separate.
Check current price ↗Consider before choosing
- Pro pricing alone does not establish Copilot eligibility; confirm Fabric capacity.
- Row-level security applies to viewers, not workspace administrators, members or contributors.
Connected workflows
- Microsoft Fabric
- OneLake
- SQL Server
- Microsoft Entra ID
Confirm the integration's direction, permissions, plan and sync behaviour with the supplier.
BEHIND THE AI CLAIM
AI capabilities
Copilot helps answer data questions and build or explain reports.
Documented capabilities
- Natural-language data analysis
- Report generation
- Narrative summaries
Plans, limits & questions
- Confirm eligible paid Fabric capacity, tenant settings and regional availability.
Feature-by-feature evidence
Business intelligence and analytics — 20 scored checks
| Capability & demo question | Microsoft Power BI70–100/100 documented fit |
|---|---|
Core workflowBusiness-data connections5.0 points availableAsk in the demoConnect a database and a business application used by the organisation. | ✓ Supported Business-data connections. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowData preparation and transformation5.0 points availableAsk in the demoClean a field, combine tables and inspect the resulting rows. | ✓ Supported Data transformation and modelling. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowReusable metric or semantic model5.0 points availableAsk in the demoDefine a metric once and reuse it in two reports. | ✓ Supported Reusable semantic models. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowInteractive dashboards5.0 points availableAsk in the demoCreate filters and drill into a chart to inspect its underlying segment. | ✓ Supported Interactive dashboards and reports. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowControlled report sharing5.0 points availableAsk in the demoShare a report with a named viewer and inspect the access outcome. | ✓ Supported Publish and share reports. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowReport or data export5.0 points availableAsk in the demoExport a permitted report and reconcile its totals. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed official material; ask for a demonstration. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
Core workflowScheduled data refresh5.0 points availableAsk in the demoSchedule a refresh and inspect its completion status. | ✓ Supported Scheduled refresh and status. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthIncremental refresh5.0 points availableAsk in the demoUpdate only a recent data period and inspect what was reloaded. | ✓ Supported Partition-based incremental refresh. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthPrivate-network data access5.0 points availableAsk in the demoRefresh a source behind the organisation's network boundary. | ✓ Supported On-premises data gateway. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthRow-level data restrictions5.0 points availableAsk in the demoSign in as two users and verify that their permitted rows differ. | ✓ Supported Viewer row-level restrictions. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthGoverned shared data assets5.0 points availableAsk in the demoPublish a reusable governed dataset or data connection for other authors. | ✓ Supported Governed shared semantic models. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthData lineage5.0 points availableAsk in the demoTrace a report field back to its upstream source or transformation. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed official material; ask for a demonstration. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
Workflow depthScheduled report distribution5.0 points availableAsk in the demoDeliver a report to recipients on a schedule with access rules preserved. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed official material; ask for a demonstration. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
Workflow depthThreshold or change alerts5.0 points availableAsk in the demoTrigger a business-metric alert using a controlled change in data. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed official material; ask for a demonstration. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
Workflow depthEmbedded analytics5.0 points availableAsk in the demoShow an authenticated report within another application. | ✓ Supported Embedded analytics offering. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthAnalytics-triggered external workflows5.0 points availableAsk in the demoUse an analytics event to trigger an action in another system. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed official material; ask for a demonstration. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
Workflow depthAnalytics access or activity audit5.0 points availableAsk in the demoRetrieve who accessed, exported or changed a relevant analytics asset. | ✓ Supported Tenant activity and audit retrieval. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
AINatural-language data questions5.0 points availableAsk in the demoAsk a business question and inspect the metric, filters and supporting data. | ✓ Supported Copilot data questions. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
AIAI-assisted analysis or report creation5.0 points availableAsk in the demoGenerate or modify an analysis and review the resulting query or visual. | ✓ Supported Copilot report creation. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
AIPredictive or anomaly analysis5.0 points availableAsk in the demoInspect a prediction or anomaly and compare it with the historic data. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed official material; ask for a demonstration. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
“Not verified” means the recorded evidence does not settle this specific check. It does not mean the feature is absent. Read the scoring method.