The key to successful data visualization is context. A collection of charts and graphs on a BI dashboard is great, but without context you’re likely to miss key insights. For example, the red bars on a hospital’s environmental monitoring dashboard may alert you that a problem exists, but when you can click the red bars and see the exact location of the problem on a floor plan, you can formulate an immediate response. Similarly, when a dashboard includes a network diagram that shows real-time server status and you can click a failed server to see the data required to initiate a fix, you’re two steps ahead.
How do you achieve this level of insight? There’s no better way to add context than to enhance Power BI reports with floor plans, network diagrams, process maps, or org charts created in Visio. This session features multiple live demos of Visio/Power BI integration from a customer project. Their goal was to provide frontline workers using Microsoft Teams with easy access to visualizations in Power BI. You may not manage theme parks for a living, but you and your colleagues probably do need to visualize data more effectively.
- Providing front-line workers with data in visual form can provide a huge productivity boost
- Viewing a Visio diagram in a web browser can be a powerful data visualization tool
- Incorporating a Visio diagram into a Power BI report adds context and value

process. For more than 15 years Scott has been the best-selling author of books about Microsoft Visio and has been named an MVP for Visio by Microsoft every year since 2008, one of only six people in the world to hold that distinction. He has created popular Visio and Power BI courses for LinkedIn Learning (bit.ly/LILAuthor) and shares his Visio, data visualization, and business process knowledge at conferences around the world. When he’s not at his keyboard, you’re likely to find Scott on his bicycle or dabbling in community theater.