Power BI Concepts & Definitions
Glossary and descriptions of terminology of Power BI.
Glossaries of Power BI Terminology
Terminology used in this KB include semantic model, report, dashboard, Workspace
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-glossary
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-basic-concepts – includes 2 levels of discussions about the terms listed above.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/embedded/pbi-glossary
PBIX | File extension for a Power BI Desktop file (letters pronounced individually as P-B-I-X). Contains dashboards, reports, and semantic models. Power BI related templates from DataSelf will usually be PBIX files. |
Power BI Service | A online service hosted by Microsoft. Hosts tenants. |
Report | One or more pages of visualizations, A multi-perspective view into a single semantic model, with visualizations that represent different findings and insights from that semantic model. Can have a single visualization or many, a single page, or many pages. |
Semantic Model | A collection of data used to create visualizations and reports. |
Template | A file that is used to deploy solutions from DataSelf. Sold as discrete products. |
Visualization | Visualization types (also known as visuals) include bar chart, tree map, doughnut chart, map, table, and matrix. See also Visualization Types that Make Reports below. |
Workbook (Excel) | An Excel workbook that is used as a data source by Power BI /semantic model. |
Workspace | Containers for dashboards, reports, and semantic models in Power BI. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/consumer/end-user-glossary#workspace |
Reports vs. Visualizations
Report & Reports: Informal vs. Power BI’s Definition
Power BI defines reports differently from the informal use of “reports” as tables with rows and columns or pivot tables.
Power BI defines a report as:
One or more pages of visualizations, graphics, and text.
Visualization Types that Make “Reports”
Visualization types include what would be called a report with rows and columns or pivot table.
Table – A table is a grid that contains related data in a logical series of rows and columns.
For more see Power BI pages Visualization type Table and Tables in Power BI reports and dashboardsMatrix – Resembling a Excel pivot table, a matrix makes it easier to display data meaningfully across multiple dimensions. For more see Power BI page Visualization type Matrix.
External Pages
https://www.dataideology.com/power-bi-reports-vs-dashboards/ – more about the purposes and uses than technical differences