Command bar 'new look' for Power BI
Analyzing telemetry data and logical groupings to drive people-centered design.
tl;dr
I led the redesign of the command bar for paginated reports in Power BI Pro. We dramatically simplified the user experience, focusing on core interactions, visibility, speed, and simplified navigation. The resulting command bar not only aligns to Microsoft fluent design guidelines but also to the command bar for PBIX reports in Power BI, ultimately creating one cohesive report navigation experience.
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A bit of context
SQL Server Reporting Services
CIRCA 2008
SQL Server Reporting Services was first released in 2008 as an add-on to SQL Server 2000. This product is an on-prem solution for viewing paginated reports and was the only option to view them until mid-2019. Paginated reports were traditionally created in SQL Server Report Builder and published to SQL Server Report Server. ​
Wait, what are paginated reports?
These reports can be printed or shared. They're called "paginated" because they're formatted to fit well on a page. They display all the data in a table, even if the table spans multiple pages. They're sometimes called "pixel perfect" because you can control their report page layout exactly. Paginated reports are based on the RDL report technology in SQL Server Reporting Services.
Paginated Reports in Power BI
JUNE 2019
Bringing paginated reports into Power BI was a long standing goal of the Power BI team to increase customer satisfaction with the ability to consume both report types in a cloud structured environment. The goals of the integration were to drive adoption rates of Power BI as well as increase users for paginated reports and premium workspaces.
Command bar for Power BI and Paginated Reports
Paginated reports in Power BI released to premium users in June of 2019. Most of the design work had been completed in early 2018, before a designer even existed on the team. The engineering team did their best to match the command bar to the existing PBI report command bar.
Power BI - June 2019 Command Bar
Paginated Report - June 2019 Command Bar
The problem
Three months after paginated reports released in Power BI the product team released a 'new look' that updated the user experience for Power BI to be more simplified and aligned to Microsoft fluent guidelines. Only one problem... paginated reports did not inherit the command bar from Power BI and therefore did not have the 'new look' when released.
Power BI - September 2019 Command Bar
Primary goals
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Align paginated report command bar with Power BI command bar
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Simplify the user experience
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Modernize the input controls
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Improve visibility of core actions
Researching best practices
The Power BI 'new look' was based on Microsoft fluent design guidelines so I started my process of re-designing our command bar referencing these guidelines.
Order of importance
I started with sorting the commands by order of importance. I didn't want to be skewed by my own personal opinion or opinion of my team so I relied instead on a feature usage metrics report showing the telemetry data of clicks on each action in the command bar.
V.1 - Sort commands in order of importance
For the first version of this command bar I focused on sorting the commands in order of importance from left to right. I didn't display more that 5 - 7 commands per side and used the overflow 'more' menu for less frequently-used designs.
V.2 - Sort commands in order of importance + logical groupings
After first ordering the command bar by order of importance left to right I realized I needed to add logical groupings to make the experience flow better. Paging through the report was left outside of the groupings because it needed to exist as the #1 primary action on the left in order to align with user needs and page navigation on Power BI reports.
My logical groupings
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Export, download, and print are all ways of consuming the report yourself.
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Subscribe, share, and comment are all ways to I interact with other users of the report.
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Generate link and secure embed are both more advanced options and are less frequently used.
Next steps
This command bar was presented to design, engineering, and PM teams for approval and is currently awaiting an early spring 2020 release to general availability. By following the fluent design principles which included analyzing usage metrics and logical ordering of actions, I was able to create a simplified, fluentized paginated report command bar.