Creating Reports in Power BI: a step-by-step guide

Modified on Wed, May 28 at 4:12 PM

Irth’s embedded Power BI reporting gives you the flexibility to explore and visualize your ticket data in a way that fits your organization’s specific needs. Whether you're tracking ticket volume by state, evaluating locator performance, or reviewing historical trends, Power BI makes it easy to create custom dashboards—no advanced technical skills required.

Follow the steps below to build your first report.

For an overview of Power BI, head over to Power BI in UtiliSphere or check out our detailed Power BI Training series.

Getting Started

Navigate to:
Analytics > Power BI Reporting
Click 'Create New Report'
Choose a Template:
- Ticket Historical Blank Report Template (for older data)
- Ticket Live Blank Report Template (for near real-time)
- Ticket Live Dashboard Template (preloaded with visuals)
Name your report in the "New Report Name" field
? Tip: Include “Historical” or “Live” in the name based on your selected template.
Click 'Create Report'

Building Your Reports

Once inside your new report:

Use the top-right option to Open Advanced Edit mode if it's not already active.
Open the Data, Visualizations, and Filters side panels (if collapsed).
Select a visualization type (we recommend starting with Matrix or Table).
In the Data panel, search for the values and dimensions you want to include:
- Drag your measure (e.g., Ticket Count) into the Values field.
- Add row dimensions (e.g., State, Type Category) to organize the data breakdown.
- Add column dimensions (e.g., Month or Year) to view data over time.
Use the Filters panel to narrow your results (e.g., filter Creation Year to only show 2022–2024).
Once the desired records and details are visible, leverage other visual types to display data for easier understanding and to contribute to the desired narrative.

? Hint: Want a new view of the same data?
Copy and paste your table or matrix, then change the visual type (e.g., to bar, pie, or line chart) using the Visualizations panel to explore your data from different angles.
Click the >> icons to collapse the side panels and get a better view of your dashboard.
Once everything looks right, click Save Report.

➕ Add More Pages or Dashboards

Want to track different views (like locator performance or late tickets)? Click the + icon at the bottom to add a new page and repeat the steps above.