The most common Power BI problem is not a missing chart. It is a data model that was never designed. When the model is messy, every new chart needs a workaround, and numbers stop agreeing with each other.
Start with the questions
Before opening Power BI, write down the five or six questions the dashboard must answer: sales against budget, margin by product, receivables by age, and so on. The questions decide which tables and fields you need.
A simple structure that works
- Fact tables hold the transactions: invoices, payments, journal lines.
- Dimension tables describe them: customer, product, date, account.
- Relationships connect each fact to its dimensions, usually one-to-many.
- A proper date table so time comparisons behave correctly.
Measures, not repeated columns
Write calculations once as DAX measures, for example total sales, gross margin percentage and days sales outstanding, and reuse them on every visual. A single definition means every page shows the same number.
Check before you design
Reconcile the totals in the model with the source: sales in the dashboard should equal sales in the books for the same period. Do this before any formatting.
A dashboard is only as trustworthy as the model underneath it.
Once the model is right, the visual design is the easy part. Keep the first page to the few numbers an owner needs and let detail sit one click deeper.