Accessible Power BI reporting

Power BI content is not currently accessible for all users. Power BI is missing several features that would allow a report or dashboard to be fully accessible.

This guidance helps you create Power BI reports and dashboards that are accessible for as many people as possible.

Accessibility requirements

Power BI content that Norfolk County Council (NCC) creates or commissions must be accessible for as many people as possible. This is a legal requirement.

Making a Power BI report or dashboard accessible means making sure that a disabled user can navigate and understand the content in a similar amount of time and effort as a user who is not disabled. Making digital content accessible can make it easier for most people to use and understand, not only disabled people. Find out more about accessible content.

These webpages help you check and improve the accessibility of your Power BI dashboards and reports.

Before you start

Plan your Power BI content carefully to help you identify and fix accessibility issues.

There are several key factors you should consider that impact accessibility:

Purpose

• What is the purpose of the dashboard and why are you creating it? 
• What is the key information you are providing?
• Why have you chosen to use Power BI and is it necessary?
• How will it be shared?

Answering these questions will help you to structure and design the flow of your dasboard. It can also help you meets your stakeholders' needs.

The requested information may already be available in an existing report or dashboard. The information may also be better suited to a different medium rather than a Power BI dahsboard. 

Audience

Understand who will be using the dashboard.

• What is their technical skill level?
• What information are they looking for?

This will help you decide what kind of visuals to use, how complex they should be, and how to structure your dashboard.

If you plan to make your content publicly available, you must ensure that it complies with information governance requirements. This is as well as being accessible.

Layout

The layout of your dashboard should:

• Be clean and easy to navigate
• Consider that adaptive technology users may experience the content in different ways
• Use whitespace effectively to avoid clutter
• Make sure that the most important information is easy to find and understand

Data

Ensure that you are sharing data in line with its sensitivity and privacy notices. You must store all data in a secure manner. If in doubt, NCC staff should contact the NCC Information Governance team.

Consider the type of data and how to present it to convey the information you want to share. This might influence the types of visuals you use (tables, charts, etc.) and how they're configured.

Consistency

Create or use a theme so that there is consistency across your dashboard in the use of:

• Colour
• Size
• Style
• Language

Keep placement of filters, buttons, logos and titles the same across your dashboard pages. This provides a simpler experience for users.

Interactivity

Power BI dashboards can be very interactive, so consider how users might engage with the data.

This could include sorting, filtering, or drilling down into more detailed views. Choose appropriate options to help prevent confusion.

The more customisation you allow, the harder it is to provide understandable and accessible content.

Performance

If your dashboard is slow to load or update, users might not use it. Consider the volume of data you're working with, and how you can optimise performance.

Testing

Always test your dashboard with a subset of your users to ensure it meets their needs and is easy to use. This can also help you catch issues before the dashboard is widely distributed.

Accessibility

Make your dashboard accessible to as many users as possible. This includes:

• Choosing an appropriate design
• Using simple language
• Making sure your report is compatible with accessibility tools

This guidance can help you to create accessible Power BI content, where possible. View the accessibility checklist for Power BI.

Further guidance on using Power BI

The build Power BI visuals and reports training course by Microsoft offers guidance on planning and designing dashboards and reports. It serves as a good introduction and provides instructions on how to apply formatting. It does not focus on accessibility.