USING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TO MONITOR ENERGY CONSUMPTION WITHIN THE ORGANISATION
- Jennifer
- Oct 7, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 6, 2024
LEVERAGING POWER BI USAGE METRICS
With the new hike in electricity tariffs, it is paramount that organizations have a way to measure and curtail its energy consumptions especially for SMEs with the aim to reduce its cost. Business intelligence provides just the right tool to achieve this. In this article we went in debt to how you can use Power BI to achieve this. Let’s dive in!
THE POWER BI USAGE METRICS REPORT
As your company moves towards optimizing energy consumption and reducing costs, Power BI’s Usage Metrics Report becomes a vital tool in monitoring and analyzing energy data. The Power BI Usage Metrics Report allows you to gain critical insights into energy usage patterns and optimize accordingly, especially in light of the recent tariff hikes. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how your company can utilize the Power BI Usage Metrics Report to streamline energy consumption.
PREREQUISITES
To successfully implement a Usage Metrics Report for tracking energy consumption at your company, the following prerequisites are essential:
Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service: Power BI Desktop is needed for creating reports, while Power BI Service allows sharing the reports with relevant team members.
Access to Energy Consumption Data: You have access to its energy consumption data. This can be acquired via:
Energy meters: Smart meters installed at your firm and its branches.
Utility provider reports: Monthly energy consumption data from electricity providers.
IoT devices: If installed, IoT devices can record real-time energy usage.
Data Collection Period: To gain meaningful insights, you should collect data for a minimum of 3 to 6 months. This period is long enough to identify trends, fluctuations, and areas of inefficiency, allowing the company to account for variations in consumption across different seasons, operational hours, and business activities.
SETTING UP THE POWER BI USAGE METRICS REPORT
1. Enabling Usage Metrics
To start tracking energy data, first ensure that Power BI's usage metrics are enabled. Usage metrics are essential in monitoring the performance of the reports we create, especially when linked to energy consumption data. Here's how you can enable and access this feature:
- Open Power BI and select the desired Workspace.
- Navigate to the Reports section and click on the report you want to track.
- Select Settings from the top-right menu, and under Usage Metrics, toggle the Enabled button.
This setting ensures that Power BI begins collecting data on how often the report is opened and how many views it receives, giving you vital information to make informed energy-saving decisions.
2. Creating Custom Usage Reports
Your company can further customize reports based on the Usage Metrics Report semantic model. This semantic model enables us to create detailed reports showing how energy data reports are being used. The following steps outline how to set this up in Power BI Desktop:
- Open Power BI Desktop and sign in to your Power BI service account.
- On the Home tab, click Get Data > More.
- Select Power Platform, then choose Power BI Semantic Models and click Connect.
- Type Usage Metrics in the search box, and select the relevant semantic model.
- After verifying that you have selected the correct model from the Workspace column, click Create.
Once connected, the Fields list in Power BI Desktop will provide access to the tables, columns, and measures in the selected semantic model. From here, you can design a custom report, focusing on metrics such as report views, energy usage trends, and cost comparisons.
Using Excel for PivotTable Analysis
For more detailed insights, you can connect usage data to Excel and create PivotTables, which allow deeper dives into specific energy consumption metrics. To do this:
- Open the usage metrics report in Power BI, select Export > Analyze in Excel.
- If prompted, install the latest updates for Power BI connectivity in Excel.
- Open the resulting .odc file in Excel, and begin building a PivotTable by dragging fields onto the rows, columns, filters, and values boxes.
This approach will provide detailed visualizations on energy consumption, enabling us to focus on areas with the most significant potential for cost savings.
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS AND LIMITATIONS
Before fully implementing this system, you should be aware of a few key limitations:
- Report View Metrics: These metrics are now based on server activity rather than client telemetry. As such, report views are recorded each time a report is opened, but changing report pages does not count as additional views.
- Page View Reliability: Metrics based on client-side data can sometimes be undercounted or overcounted due to inconsistent network connections, ad blockers, or other client issues.
- Platform Restrictions: Usage metrics data may not be fully available when using certain platforms such as Azure Private Link, which could impact our analysis.
CUSTOMIZING USAGE METRICS REPORTS
After understanding the limitations, you can further refine its energy reports by customizing viewing patterns, platform performance, and distribution channels. For instance, by analyzing how often specific reports are viewed, you can determine which energy-saving strategies attract more attention and refine these strategies for better results.
Additionally, report ranking will highlight which reports are most popular across the organization. A ranking system allows us to allocate more resources to energy reports that generate the most significant impact.
TROUBLESHOOTING AND REFRESH ISSUES
It's possible that issues may arise while refreshing usage metrics reports. Here are common troubleshooting steps:
1. Refresh History: Ensure the Usage Metrics Report refreshes successfully by checking the refresh history. In the Power BI service, select Settings > Semantic Models > Usage Metrics Report, and review the refresh status.
2. Recreating the Semantic Model: If the refresh fails, delete the existing semantic model and create a fresh usage metrics report. This ensures that all data is accurate and up to date.
CONCLUSION
By leveraging Power BI’s Usage Metrics Report, your company can optimize energy consumption monitoring and cost-saving strategies. The ability to customize reports, analyze usage data in Excel, and understand viewing patterns allows for deeper insights into energy consumption. As we continue to refine our reporting techniques and overcome platform limitations, Power BI remains an invaluable tool in helping TA Insight HUB navigate the new energy tariffs and reduce costs effectively.
By integrating these insights into our everyday practices, your company is well-positioned to lead the way in energy efficiency and data-driven decision-making.
Want to learn how to create a Dashboard just like this or would like us to help you customize a dashboard just like this, contact us at Jennifer@tainsighthub.com
For a more detailed explanation of the usage metrics report, refer to the official Microsoft documentation using the links below.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/collaborate-share/service-usage-metrics
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