Top 5 Power BI Projects You Should Add to Your Portfolio
Having a strong Power BI portfolio is crucial whether you want to get into data analytics or build your freelance reputation. Certifications and theory are useful, but practical projects demonstrate your capacity to turn unprocessed data into insights that can be put to use.
Five strong, beginner-to-intermediate Power BI project ideas that showcase your technical prowess as well as your business acumen and narrative skills will be covered in this post.
1. Sales Performance Dashboard
What It Shows:
Total revenue, sales trends, and regional performance
Top-selling products or categories
Sales by rep, customer, or time period
Why It Matters:
This project mimics real-world business intelligence use cases. It’s especially relevant for roles in retail, e-commerce, or any business that needs KPI tracking.
Skills Demonstrated:
- DAX measures (e.g. YTD, % growth)
- Drill-through and slicers
- Time intelligence and filters
2. Customer Retention & Churn Analysis
What It Shows:
Customer churn rates over time
Retention by cohorts (e.g. join month)
Factors contributing to customer loss
Why It Matters:
Companies spend big on retaining customers. This dashboard proves you understand customer behavior analytics, a key skill in SaaS, subscription services, and marketing analytics.
Skills Demonstrated:
- Calculated columns (active vs inactive)
- Advanced DAX for cohort analysis
- Trend lines and segmentation
3. Healthcare or COVID-19 Data Dashboard
What It Shows:
Daily case trends, recovery, and mortality rates
Geographic distribution (map visuals)
Hospital capacity or vaccine coverage
Why It Matters:
Working with public or healthcare data shows your ability to analyze large, real-time datasets and tell clear, impactful stories.
Skills Demonstrated:
- Using external APIs or public data
- Map visuals and tooltips
- Data cleaning and merging datasets
4. HR Analytics Dashboard (Employee Insights)
What It Shows:
Headcount trends, new hires, and exits
Department-wise performance or attrition
Gender or diversity representation
Why It Matters:
HR dashboards are increasingly important in DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) efforts and employee engagement analysis. This project fits well in corporate or consulting portfolios.
Skills Demonstrated:
- Row-level security (RLS)
- Employee lifecycle modeling
- Relationship modeling between tables
5. Finance Dashboard (Expense & Budget Tracker)
What It Shows:
Budget vs actual expenses
Departmental or category-wise spending
Forecasting next period’s costs
Why It Matters:
Every business needs financial clarity. This dashboard shows you understand cost management and can support CFO-level decision-making with clean visuals.
Skills Demonstrated:
- Forecasting with DAX or decomposition tree
- Budget variance analysis
- Conditional formatting in visuals
Bonus Tips for Your Portfolio
Host your dashboards on Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com) and share a view-only link.
Use mock data if you don’t have real-world access (you can find datasets on Kaggle, Data.gov, or Google Dataset Search).
Write a short case study or blog for each project explaining:
- The business problem
- Your solution
- Key insights
Final Thoughts
Your Power BI portfolio is more than a collection of dashboards — it’s a reflection of how you think, solve problems, and tell data stories. Start with these five projects, and you’ll be well on your way to landing jobs, impressing clients, or building your personal brand.