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If Your Power BI Dashboard Feels As Complex As A Holiday Dinner, You Are Not Alone.

The challenge lies not in the dashboard itself, but in the underlying definitions.

Author

Glenda Carnate
November 27, 2025

Read time: 2.5 minutes

If teams see different numbers in Power BI, you have identified a common organizational challenge.

While Power BI is designed to provide clarity, departments often disagree. Sales may question revenue figures, Finance may dispute margins, and Operations may not recognize their data. This leads to multiple interpretations, with each team confident in its own version.

This is not a technical issue but one of inconsistent definitions. Each team maintains its own approach and often assumes the dashboard is at fault. In reality, Power BI highlights long-standing misalignment.

5 Solutions for When Your Metrics Behave Like Family Recipes:

1. “That’s Not the Number I Use” – The BI equivalent of differing standards.

Each department applies its own methodology. Power BI simply reflects these differences.

2. Power BI does not create issues; it reveals them.

If teams do not agree on definitions, they will not agree on the dashboards either.

3. The issue is not the metric itself, but who defines it.

Finance may claim ownership, Sales may seek control, and Marketing may publish their own versions. Power BI provides the platform but not the definitions.

4. If your source systems are inconsistent, your reports will reflect that inconsistency.

CRMs, ERPs, and spreadsheets often contain varying data. Power BI cannot resolve discrepancies that originate from source systems.

5. Assign a single owner to each metric to ensure accountability.

A single source of truth is essential for an effective BI environment.

💡Key Takeaway: 

Power BI does not cause confusion; it reflects existing misalignment among data teams. When each team uses its own metric definitions, dashboards display conflicting results. Achieving alignment requires agreement on definitions and standards before building reports.

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