RUNNING HEAD: DATA PRESENTATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 1

Data Presentation Using

Business Intelligence Software

Advanced Scientific Research Paper

Submitted to the Center for Advanced Studies, Wheeler High School

by

Mayne, Andrew

The Center for Advanced Studies

Wheeler High School
Marietta, GA
November 2018
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Abstract

The presentation of data through visualizations is critical to quickly convey important ideas in

the workplace and in research. These presentations are often less than ideal and possess

problems. These trends have not improved despite several papers that have been published in an

effort to improve data presentation. This study aimed to see if Microsoft Power BI could improve

the effectiveness of data presentations. A mix method design was used to evaluate this problem.

The first part of this research tested how at how quickly data presentations could be created in

Excel versus Power BI. The second part of this research used a decision matrix to measure the

effectiveness of data presentations by inquiring about two traits, comprehension by the

participant and their ability to make inferences from the data. This decision matrix was

administered within PT Solutions, and it was found that while Power BI can make data

presentations significantly faster than Excel, the Power BI presentations were only slightly more

effective. This implies that Power BI could be used to improve data presentation but will still

require training and education to be able to make more definite recommendations. It is

recommended that future research investigate the effectiveness of more complex BI data

presentations. The data found suggests that unless a lack of time is a problem in the workplace,

Power BI should not be implemented based on this findings of this study.

Key words: Data presentation, Data Visualization, Business Intelligence, Big Data,
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Table of Contents
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Chapter 1: Introduction

One of the main components of any research study is the collection and presentation of

data. The data is needed to prove and validate your claim; thus it is extremely important that it is

presented correctly. The easiest solution is to give a full data set, but a full data set does not

easily show trends. As a result, many scientists use summary graphs, which as Shah and

Hoeffner (2002) explain, have several different factors that can influence the interpretation and

comprehension of these graphs (Shah & Hoeffner, 2015, p. 66). Additionally, many reporting

guidelines have been endorsed and mandated to improve the quality of data presentation (Diong,

Butler, Gandevia, & Héroux, 2018, p. 2). However, as stated by Weissgerber, Milic, Winham,

and Garovic (2015), studies of various medical journals provide compelling evidence that

fundamental changes to scientific data presentation is needed (Weissgerber et al., 2015, p. 1). A

lack of time or shortcomings of a software can compound the problem of poor data

visualizations.

Statement of the Problem

How can Business Intelligence (BI) Software Improve Data Presentation? The two main

problems with data presentation is the time to create presentations and the quality of the end

product. One of Microsoft Excel's limitations is that when dealing with large data sets and

complex graphs, this program operates at a significantly slower speed. As a result, the slower

speed reduces the time analysts have available to evaluate their presentations and make them

visually appealing. In addition, Excel is not designed to present a visually appealing presentation

and possess a limited ability to integrate into other programs as a presentation. Power BI offers a

solution to these limitations as it is designed to create visual presentations with ease. This
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decrease in time to create data presentations would allow for a researcher to take the extra time

to increase the effectiveness of their presentations.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to determine if Microsoft Power BI is an effective tool for

improving data presentation. The study had two parts: does Power BI allow for the faster

creation of data visualizations, and does Power BI allow for the creation of more effective data

visualizations?

Research Questions

ASP 1: How can BI Software lead to the quicker creation of visual data presentations?

ASP 2: What components of visual presentations make them more effective?

Hypothesis Statements

ASP1: Microsoft Power BI software will decrease the time it takes to create and update

presentations by 20%

ASP2: Presentations created in Power BI and that show overall trends will be 20% more

effective than those created in Excel.

Independent Variable

Dependent variable

Significance of Study

The outcome of this study is vital due to the time it can take a financial analyst to create

data presentations. While financial analysts can spend a significant amount of time creating these

presentations, they utilize time that could be spent analyzing the data and trends. By utilizing
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Power BI software, the automation of building presentations could be accomplished, allowing for

the analysts to allocate their time to the analysis of data and discovery of trends. The analysts

would also be able to analyze their presentations in more detail and determine how to make them

more effective. These presentations need to be made more effective so that other users of the

data within a company can easily understand what is going on and how to fix it. In research,

good data visualizations are vital so that a claim can be quickly and easily validated.

Definition of Key Terms

 Big Data - high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand

cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and

decision making (Big Data, 2015, para. 1).

 Business Intelligence – an umbrella term that includes the applications, infrastructure and

tools, and best practices that enable access to and analysis of information to improve and

optimize decisions and performance (Business Intelligence, 2018, para. 1).

 Dashboard – A business intelligence dashboard is a data visualization tool that displays

the current status of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for an enterprise.

Dashboards consolidate and arrange numbers, metrics, and performance scorecards on a

single screen. They may be tailored for a specific role and display metrics targeted for a

single point of view or department. The essential features of a BI dashboard product

include a customizable interface and the ability to pull real-time data from multiple

sources (Business Intelligence Dashboard, 2010, para. 1).

 Data Presentation – includes the description of the table contents, with their data

breakdowns. It should also include summary information on units of measurement, time

span covered, adjustments to data (e.g., seasonal adjustments for time series) and
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availability of textual analysis of current-period development with the dissemination of

the data (Data Presentation, 2006 para. 2).

 Effectiveness – The degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent to which

targeted problems are solved (Effectiveness, 2018, para. 1).

 Evals – An initial evaluation of a patient before treatment can began, including medical

diagnosis, assessment, and plan (Jannenga, 2016, para. 17)

 PT Solutions – “PT Solutions is a therapist-owned physical therapy practice with

treatment locations across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky,

Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia —

including metro areas such as Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans and Tampa. The PT

Solutions team uses research-driven physical therapy treatments to provide patients relief

and restoration of their normal lives” (PT Solutions, 2018, para. 10).

 Slicer – A Microsoft Power BI that is an alternate way of filtering that narrows the

portion of the dataset shown in the other visualizations in a report (Slicer, 2018, para. 1).

 Units – A billable CPT code representing a treatment that was preformed for at least eight

minutes (Andrus & McDermott, 2018, para. 5)

 Visualization - Visualization is the process of representing abstract business or scientific

data as images that can aid in understanding the meaning of the data (Visualization, 2005,

para. 1).

Summary

Data visualizations are essential to data presentation, but several problems exist in their

usage. The problem is significant given the widespread use of data visualizations in research and
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day to day data presentations. This research looked at what those problems are and investigated

if Power BI software is a viable option to fix these problems.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

Data presentation is an important aspect of many jobs and research. However, data

presentations often contain mistakes that lead to incorrect conclusions. Yet the time to check for

these mistakes is not taken for two reasons: one, because it may not exist; or two, because the

creators of data visualizations may not be aware of their problems. This problem could

potentially be fixed by Business Intelligence softwares, such as Microsoft’s Power BI. These

softwares provide unique solutions and an increased ability create data visualizations.

The Problems in Data Visualizations

Weissgerber, Milic, Winham, and Garovic, (2015) said “Data presentation is the

foundation of our collective scientific knowledge, as readers’ understanding of a dataset is

generally limited to what the authors present in their publications” (p. 1). However, studies of the

Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal provide

compelling evidence that scientists need to change the type of figures they are using in data

presentations (Weissgerber et al., 2015, p. 1). This problem is prevalent throughout all fields, and

as data science continues to grow in prevalence in all fields, an adequate solution becomes more

pressing to find. To find out what these problems are, Weissgerber et al. (2015) systematically

reviewed all physiology journals in a three-month range in order to determine what kinds of

visualizations they used (Weissgerber et al. 2015, p. 3). As this research shows, data

visualizations that show summary statistics only work if the sample size is large enough, yet

most of the studies had small sample sizes (Weissgerber et al., 2015, p. 5). The end result is poor

quality and misleading data visualizations.

The problem of misinformation by poor data presentation has led many researchers to

study what makes a good presentation, and what can be done to improve data presentation.
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However, it has been found that an editorial series published in 2011 did nothing to improve

statistical reporting practices in the years following (Diong, Butler, Gandevia, & Héroux, 2018,

p. 7). Djalalinia et al. (2014) also notes that the exclusion of data can cause problems for papers

based off these incomplete findings (Djalalinia et al., 2014, p. 832). They also suggest that a

solution to these malpractices is setting rules to make sure researchers establish standard

practices and choose their data to present carefully (Djalalinia et al., 2014, p. 832). This would

force researchers to comply with the standards in order to get their research published,

preventing studies that lack real data from being published. Research also indicates that stronger

incentives may be necessary to improve data presentation, as journals continue to advocate but

nothing changes (Diong et al., 2018, p. 7).

How to fix data visualizations.

Research has also been conducted to examine the most effective way to fix the problems

presented in the previous paragraph. Shah and Hoeffner (2002) suggest presenting the same data

in multiple ways to increase understanding (Shah & Hoeffner, 2002, p. 62). They suggest this

because research found that “the viewers knowledge of graphical schemas in conventions”

effects an end users’ ability to comprehend the visualization (Shah & Hoeffner, 2002, p. 66).

This option could help people by providing an analysis of the data from multiple angles, so if

they only understand certain graphs, they will still be able to understand and interpret the data.

One suggestion from Weissgerber et al. is to use Univariate scatterplots to show the distribution

of small sample sizes, or to show the full data set (Weissgerber et al., 2015, p. 6).

Valentine, Aloe, and Lau, (2015) discuss how creating visual presentations always

involves some sort of ambiguous judgment on the researcher’s part, but by focusing “on rich

description will help us arrive at an approximate answer to the right question, instead of a precise
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answer to the wrong question” (Valentine et al., 2015, p. 268). This will also require the

consumer of a study will have to exercise more judgment when deciding what the study means

(Valentine et al., 2015, p. 268). Part of this research aims to determine what components of a

visual presentation makes it effective. For a visual presentation to be effective it must allow the

reader to completely understand the subject matter presented, allow for the reader to make

inferences on why the data set appears as it does, and suggest how to fix problems if they exist.

What is Business Intelligence Software?

Data is a critical part of scientific papers, so it is important to ensure that data is presented

correctly. In order to accomplish this task, data analysts need to be able to spend time ensuring

that data is being presented correctly and logically, and not be devoting their time creating a

presentation. In order to help with quickly creating an in-depth presentation, Business

Intelligence (BI) software was created. BI software is defined by Klisarova-Belcheva, Ilieva, and

Yankova (2017) as an architecture and a collection of integrated operational applications, which

provide a company with a streamlined way of using its own information (Klisarova-Belcheva et

al., 2017, p. 298). These BI systems can be used to create dashboards, which can offer an in

depth look at several graphs and charts. They do this by allowing for several graphs and filters to

apply to each other, drilling down on one graph can automatically drill down on all other

visualizations to provide relevant information quickly.

An important thought when discussing BI systems, as noted by Lewandowski, Fronczak,

Wawrzyniak, Łagodziński, and Czechumski, (2012) is that “modern database systems are very

efficient and capacious; therefore, the actual problem is not how to store data but how to use it

effectively” (p. 89). This can best be accomplished by having specific goals for dashboards in

order to convey useful information to all levels of employees who will see the report. In order to
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meet this goal-oriented approach, Acosta, Espino, and Casamayor, (2016) suggest that a

“dashboard should be intended to achieve the goals of decision-makers. Thus, the metrics of a

dashboard must be aligned with the goals of decision-makers” (p. 682). This means that when a

dashboard is designed, it should be done in a way that management can easily draw conclusions

about specific topics and make decisions.

Additionally, BI software can be used to focus on dealing with data sets that are

extremely large and complicated. In Andronie’s (2015) study of BI software in the Airline

industry, it was found that “dedicated airline industry business intelligence systems are not only

useful to airline companies, but also to others involved in related businesse” (p. 160). These BI

systems allow for a quicker and simpler way to manage big data. However, Cristescu (2017)

notes that a BI solution should be capable of providing evaluations not possible through other

means (Cristescu, 2017, p. 270). The idea that a BI software should not be used opposed to

another software, but in tandem with others. By using BI software this way it would allow for a

more comprehensive presentation, as different software programs could contribute different

aspects to the presentation.

Summary

The use of BI software could allow for analysts to create powerful and accurate

presentations even faster, leaving time for analysts to analyze the data they work with. Such a

change would greatly increase the usefulness of a data analyst in any field and increase the

effectiveness of a company. Another gain would also be that the analyst has more time to ensure

that their reports are accurate and effective. This study aimed to find out if Microsoft Power BI is

a viable tool to complete this task, by experimentation within the PT Solutions financial

department.
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Chapter 3: Research Method

How can Business Intelligence (BI) Software Improve Data Presentation? The two main

problems with data presentation is the time to create presentations and the quality of the end

product. One of Microsoft Excel's limitations is that when dealing with large data sets and

complex graphs, this program operates at a significantly slower speed. As a result, the slower

speed reduces the time analysts have available to evaluate their presentations and make them

visually appealing. In addition, Excel is not designed to present a visually appealing presentation

and possess a limited ability to integrate into other programs as a presentation. Power BI offers a

solution to these limitations as it is designed to create visual presentations with ease. This

decrease in time to create data presentations would allow for a researcher to take the extra time

to increase the effectiveness of their presentations.

The purpose of this study was to determine if Microsoft Power BI is an effective tool for

improving data presentation. The study had two parts: does Power BI allow for the faster

creation of data visualizations, and does Power BI allow for the creation of more effective data

visualizations? The following sections will detail the research design, data analysis, and the

limitations of the study as they relate to the following two questions and hypothesis.

ASP 1: How can BI Software lead to the quicker creation of visual data presentations?

Hypothesis: Microsoft Power BI software will decrease the time it takes to create and update

presentations by 20%

ASP 2: What components of visual presentations make them more effective?

Hypothesis: Presentations created in Power BI and that show overall trends will be 20% more

effective than those created in Excel.

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Independent Variable

Dependent variable

Research Methods and Designs

The study consisted of two separate parts. The first part determined the time it takes to

create presentations in Microsoft Excel versus Microsoft Power BI. This was tested by

constructing presentations in both software programs and timing the process to determine which

program allows for less time to create presentations. The tasks were planned before they were

executed and timed. Each presentation in Power BI included an overall page that contained a bar

graph depicting the presented data by month and a clinic count line graph by month. It also

contained a tab for each director of clinical operations, which include a bar graph and line graph

for just their clinics, and a slicer to filter down to just one clinic. The layout of the Excel reports

was the same, except with the bar graph being a pivot table with numerical values and the clinic

count being numerical values displayed above the pivot table.

The starting point for each process was with the software open and the data loaded. The

starting point was selected to allow for the testing of creation time and to not include loading

times. The data set contained all necessary information to build the presentations before timing

began. The presentations were constructed for units, visits, and evals. Five trials were conducted

per metric for each software, for a total of 30 trials, 15 in Excel and 15 in Power BI. After

collecting this data, the times were averaged, and a percent difference was determined. This

design was chosen as it allows for the testing of time of creation and not other variables, meaning

that it only relies on the software’s ability to create data visualizations.

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The second part of the research was testing the effectiveness of the presentations to

provide valuable data via a decision matrix completed by end users of the data sets. This allowed

for the testing of different visualizations, which were analyzed to see what features highly rated

visualizations have in common. Participants viewed the presentations and afterwards rated the

presentation on a 1-7 scale, with 1 being worst and 7 being best, in two categories:

comprehension and inference. Comprehension refers to how well the end user understands the

data being presented. Inference refers to the ability of an end user to identify problems and

possible solutions from a given data set. These presentations were presented in both a Power BI

form and an Excel form, for comparison between the two software programs. These results were

then averaged and compared to see what features the presentations that were highly rated have

that differ from lowly rated ones. It was then determined if these characteristics show overall

trends or not according to the hypothesis: Presentations created in Power BI and that show

overall trends will be 20% more effective than those created in Excel.

Population

The population is a select group of staff at PT Solutions. The group includes end users of

this data set, including clinic directors, senior clinic directors, and directors of clinical

operations. The size of this population is about 68 employees. This population is appropriate to

study the problem in because they are very data driven in their approach to financial and clinical

treatment. The company relies heavily on data and several levels of employees have access to

this data.

Sample
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The sample is 23 people that volunteered to participate. These employees are financial

analysts, clinic directors, senior clinic directors, and directors of clinic operations (who are above

senior clinic directors).

Materials/Instruments

The only instrument developed for this study was the creation of a decision matrix for use

with twelve data presentations also created by the researcher. The decision matrix asked

participants to rate each of the twelve visualizations on a 1-7 scale with 1 being the lowest and 7

being the highest on two factors, the ability of a data presentation to be comprehended, and the

ability of the participant to make inferences from the data presentation. This was developed as a

way to test a data visualization’s effectiveness at conveying information. The matrix was

constructed by choosing factors that could determine effectiveness, and the data visualizations

presented to the sample were created during the testing for applied subproblem (ASP) 1 or as

variants of it. This instrument has inter-rater reliability and construct validity. The matrix is

located in Appendix A.

Operational Definition of Variables

 Time: The time it takes to create a data presentation

 Effectiveness: The degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent to which

targeted problems are solved (Effectiveness, 2018, para. 1).

Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis

The data collection was performed as trials were completed for ASP1. This data was then

organized in an Excel spreadsheet and averages for the trials for each software was recorded.

These averages where then used to determine the percent difference in creation time for the two
DATA PRESENTATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 18

software programs. The data were then analyzed to determine if Power BI allowed for a

significant decrease in the time to create data presentations.

The data collection for ASP2 was performed by administering a decision matrix to the

sample and recording the results. The data was then organized in Excel by the number of

responses for each score 1-7 for each chart. The data was then averaged across all responses to

determine average scores for each chart, allowing for easier comparison. The data was then

analyzed to determine if data visualizations in Power BI were more effective than ones created in

Excel.

Assumptions

It is assumed that the researcher has equal skill in both Excel and Power BI. This can be

assumed because if the researcher can not make the presentation laid out in the design of ASP1,

they cannot successfully preform the research. It would then be assumed that the researcher

would learn to accurately create the presentation before data collection begins.

Participant honesty is assumed. This is assumed because the questions are based of

original visualizations and have not been seen before. Although the participants may have some

previous knowledge of the data set, this is not expected to influence their opinion of what they

were presented within this study.

Adequate response rate for ASP2 is assumed because a group more than double the

expected response number is being asked to voluntarily participate.

It is assumed that the data the researcher uses is correct. This is assumed because the data

was entered by employees that enter the data as part of their daily job functions, and there is also

no way of proving it false. This is also assumed that the data set used does not affect the

inference or comprehension of a graph.

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It is assumed that the researcher is not biased and did not intentionally take longer on

creating certain data presentations. It is assumed that the researcher has good ethics and research

practices to conduct testing without bias.

Limitations

The biggest constraint on the design was the limitation of time. Time limits prevented

more complex reports from being created during ASP1. It also prevented more complex reports

from being compared during ASP2. The study will only cover a small portion of data

visualizations that exist.

Another limitation is that not all survey participants have Power BI or Excel, so they had

to judge based on screenshots instead of an interactive report.

Another limitation is that the decision matrix will ultimately only compare a data

visualization’s Power BI and Excel equivalents. The nature of the study will prevent individual

elements from being analyzed.

Delimitations

One of the delimitations of this study is that it only looked at Microsoft’s Power BI

software and no other BI tools. This will prevent comparisons between BI softwares and reduce

the complexity of the study. Also, because Microsoft developed both Excel and Power BI, the

comparison will be closer than if another BI software was used.

Another delimitation of this study is that it only looked at presentations used within PT

Solutions. This means that only one set of metrics were considered, while there are many other

ways to present financial data and track progress. The study only uses data from visualizations

made using evals, visits, and units.

Summary
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The research design was used to test both hypothesis and to determine if Power BI is an

effective tool to improve data presentation. The researcher tested the speed of visualization

creation for Power BI and Excel for part one of the research design. The researcher administered

a decision matrix for part two of the research design. These results were used to determine the

effectiveness of Power BI.

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Chapter 4: Findings

The purpose of this research study was to determine if Power BI can improve data

presentation. These next sections detail the results found through the research design and what

they mean in terms of this problem.

Results

After conducting the trials to determine data presentation creation time was completed,

the times (located below in Appendix B) were recorded. The results are organized by software

and what measurement (Evals, Visits, or Units) was presented in the presentation. After this data

was gathered, the average time for each value used in a presentation by software was found and

further compared to determine the percent difference as shown below in Table 1. This data

supports the hypothesis, as a percent difference of 51% was found, which is significantly above

the predicted 20%.

Table 1
Averages Time to Create Data Visualizations in Seconds
Type of Presentation Power BI Excel
Evals 209 412
Units 182 358
Visits 173 402
All 188 391

After the decision matrix had been completed by the sample, the results were recorded as

shown in Appendix B. Charts 1-6 were created in Power BI, while Charts 7-12 were created in

Excel. A significant number of the responses were 6’s or 7’s, with a substantial amount of 5’s

below that. The other scores were very rarely chosen. This resulted in the average scores falling
DATA PRESENTATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 22

within a smaller range than expected and a percent difference of 11.2% for comprehension and

10.7% for inference as shown in Table 2.

Table 2
Average scores from 1-7 for Data Visualizations
Chart # Comprehension Inference
1 6.22 5.39
2 6.22 5.39
3 6.22 5.43
4 6.3 5.7
5 5.83 5.22
6 6.04 5.61
7 5.57 5.09
8 5.57 4.91
9 5.57 4.96
10 5.52 4.78
11 5.39 4.87
12 5.48 4.96

It should be noted that it was expected that chart four would be the highest rated out of

Power BI graphics and that chart ten would be the highest rated out of Excel. These graphs

contained all three measurements (Evals, Visits, and Units) on one graph or pivot table, along

with clinic count. However, chart four was barely rated higher than other Power BI ones and

chart ten was not rated any higher. It was also expected that chart five and ten would be the

lowest as it only contained a graph or pivot table and no visualization for clinic count, providing

less context. Chart five was the lowest rated Power BI chart as expected, and chart eleven was

the lowest rated for comprehension, although not for inference. This suggests that the sample

viewed pivot tables differently that graphs themselves, and also suggests that there may have

been problems with subjects relying on prior knowledge when making judgments.

Evaluation of Findings
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The results of the first part of this study were expected, however the results of the second

part were not. The results seem to suggest that BI may not be the best tool to improve data

presentation. One reason for the unexpected results in part two of the study may be participants

relied on previous knowledge. The sample has a knowledge of how the company works and how

they have improved over time and therefore may be have relied on previous knowledge when

rating the visualizations.

These results seem to suggest that BI might be a usable tool to improve data presentation,

however Power BI itself may not be. This is suggested by the fact that Power BI allows for

quicker presentation creation, but its equivalent data presentations were perceived by the sample

size to be only slightly better than the data presentation they have been presented with in the

past. Within the field of finance, if extra time to create higher quality presentations is needed, BI

provides a distinct advantage, but otherwise the small benefits may not outweigh the cost. This is

because BI software must be used in conjunction with another software such as Excel, and not

used exclusively for data presentation.

Summary

It has been found that while hypothesis one was proven correct, hypothesis two was not

proven correct. Overall, Power BI visualizations are not significantly more effective than Excel

presentations. The data found suggests that unless a lack of time is the primary reason for

altering data presentation within PT Solutions, Power BI should not be implemented based on

this data.
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Chapter 5: Implications, Real World Connections, Recommendations, and Conclusions

The goal of this research paper was to determine if Power BI was an effective solution to

the problems regarding data presentation. This was done by testing to see if Power BI could

create visualizations faster than Excel, and if those visualizations were more effective. Due to a

limitation imposed by time, different BI softwares were not compared, thus the study focused on

Power BI and Excel. In the sections below the implications of the results will be discussed, along

with recommendations for future research.

Implications

The first research question was to determine if Power BI allowed for data presentations to

be created faster than Excel (at least 20% faster). The data collected suggest that this is true, as

the percent difference between creation time for the two softwares was 51%. This implies that BI

software allows for more efficient creation of data presentations, and thus more time to improve

them and ensure that they are effective. This increase in time could provide a solution to the

problems presented regarding data presentation. One of the limitations that prevents this result

from being certain is that extremely complex reports were not created. In these situations, the

difference in time could potentially be even greater. The time to update a data presentation that is

currently being used by PT Solutions was not tested due to time constraints. Given the large

number of data presentations available in Power BI, along with the varied complex possibilities,

it was not feasible to test all the options. There is the possibility with further testing that Power

BI could save even more time with complex presentations.

The second research question was to determine if the presentations made in part one were

more effective in their Power BI forms. The data collected suggests that the presentations created

in Power BI are not significantly more effective, as their average score for comprehension was
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only 10.7% better, and only 11.2% better for inference (The hypothesis predicted at least a 20%

improvement). This suggests that at a basic level the manner of data presentation had no

significant impact, despite the Excel sheets being far more cluttered. Another limitation of this

study is that screenshots of the presentations had to be distributed and judged, rather than an

inter-actable report. The reason for the use of screenshots was due to the fact that Microsoft

Power BI was not available for all participants in the study. In order to present the data in the

same format for all participants, screenshots of the presentations were distributed to all

participants. The manner of presentation prevented some reports from being used to their full

potential in both softwares.

These results suggest that while BI will allow for the faster creation of data presentations,

they may not necessarily be more effective, as the software by itself is not enough to improve

data presentation. Combining improved education on data presentation, along with the

appropriate software is most likely needed to improve data presentation.

Real World Connections

The real-world applications of this study can be applied to anyone who regularly creates

data presentations. The research supports that data presentation creation can be sped up by using

BI software, indicating that the inclusion of BI software in the workplace can allow for more

time to improve these data presentations and focus on their content. However, the overall

effectiveness of these graphics may not be significantly improved. Depending on the outcome a

company is attempting to achieve, a BI software may not be the best solution.

Recommendations

Based on this study, it is recommended that BI software only be implemented in a

company if they are looking for a simple decrease in the time to create data presentations. This
DATA PRESENTATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 26

would allow for their employees to have more time on other tasks, or to allocate their time to

create improved data presentations. However, if time is not a major factor in data presentation

creation, BI software is not recommended based on this data set.

There are several recommendations on how to further this research in the future. First, it

is recommended that the experiments be repeated with a larger sample size to establish more

accurate results. Second, it is recommended that both parts of the design be reperformed using

more complicated visualizations. This would allow for a more complete testing of Power BI. It is

also recommended that for the second part of the research, the research creates presentations that

are at three distinct level of quality. By dividing the presentations into different levels of quality,

it may be possible to determine if Power BI is more effective with different data sets. Also, it

could be possible to determine if the sample can differentiate the varying levels of quality.

Another recommendation is that part two of the research be repeated without screenshots

and by using the actual softwares to allow for an interactable report. Although this would

drastically increase the time and effort to complete the study, the results could be significantly

more applicable to understanding the ability of the end user to make inferences with the data.

Lastly, it is recommended that part two of the research be repeated using a decision matrix that

asks the user to compare the Power BI and Excel versions of a data presentation and to rate their

effectiveness compared to each other. This would allow for a more direct comparison between

the two softwares.

Conclusions

The results of this research design have found that while Power BI allows for the faster

creation of data presentations, it does not necessarily allow for the creation of more effective data

presentations. The extra time gained from using Power BI could still be allocated to creating
DATA PRESENTATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 27

more efficient presentations, but overall it is not recommended as a solution to creating more

effective presentations. The true ability of Power BI to improve data presentation could through

found by future research that examines more complex reports with more complex visualizations.
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Appendix A

Decision Matrix
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Figure 1. Page one of decision matrix.

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Figure 2. Second page of decision matrix.

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Figure 3. Last page of decision matrix.

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Figure 4. Eval report in Power BI, chart 1 in decision matrix

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Figure 5. Visit report in Power BI, chart 2 in decision matrix

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Figure 6. Unit report in Power BI, chart 3 in decision matrix

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Figure 7. Eval, visit, and unit report in Power BI, chart 4 in decision matrix.
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Figure 8. Eval report with clinic count in Power BI, chart 5 in decision matrix.
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Figure 9. Eval, visit and unit report using separate graphs in Power BI, chart 6 in decision

matrix.
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Figure 10. Eval report in Excel, chart 7 in descision matrix.

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Figure 11. Visit report in Excel, chart 8 in decision matrix.

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Figure 12. Unit report in Excel (January 2016- July 2017), chart 9 in decision matrix.
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Figure 13. Unit report in Excel (August 2017 – July 2018), chart 9 in decision matrix.
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Figure 14. Eval, visit and unit report in Excel (July 2017 – November 2017), chart 10 in decision
matrix.
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Figure 15. Evals, visits, and unit report in Excel (December 2017 – April 2018), chart 10 in

decision matrix.
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Figure 16. Evals, visits, and units report in Excel (May 2018 – Totals), chart 10 in decision

matrix.
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Figure 17. Eval report without clinic count in Excel, chart 11 in decision matrix.
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Figure 18. Eval report (July 2017 – July 2018) as part of chart 12 in decision matrix
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Figure 19. Visit report (July 2017 - July 2018) as part of chart 12 in decision matrix.
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Figure 20. Unit report (July 2017 – July 2018) as part of chart 12 of decision matrix.
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Appendix B

Raw Data Collected

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Table 3
Time to Create Data Visualizations in Seconds
Power BI Excel
Trial # Evals Visits Units Evals Visits Units
1 295 222 204 645 394 576
2 208 186 174 412 361 417
3 195 187 169 340 336 336
4 178 169 176 360 334 340
5 168 145 142 302 363 342
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Table 4
Number of responses per score for comprehension of chart
Score
Chart # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 0 0 1 0 2 10 10
2 0 0 1 0 2 10 10
3 0 0 1 0 2 10 10
4 0 0 0 2 2 6 13
5 0 0 1 3 2 10 7
6 0 0 0 2 6 4 11
7 1 0 1 1 7 6 7
8 1 0 1 1 8 4 8
9 0 1 1 2 7 4 8
10 0 1 0 4 6 5 7
11 0 1 0 6 4 6 6
12 0 0 2 4 4 7 6
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Table 5
Number of response per score for inference of chart
Score
Chart # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 0 1 2 0 8 8 4
2 0 1 2 0 8 8 4
3 0 1 2 0 8 7 5
4 0 2 0 2 4 6 9
5 0 1 3 3 5 5 6
6 0 1 1 3 5 4 9
7 1 1 1 4 5 7 4
8 1 1 1 5 7 4 4
9 1 1 1 5 6 5 4
10 0 1 5 5 3 5 4
11 0 1 2 8 4 4 4
12 0 1 5 4 1 8 4