Your company invests significant resources into business intelligence. You collect data, build models, and create detailed reports in Microsoft Power BI. These dashboards hold the key to understanding performance, spotting trends, and making smarter decisions. But where do they usually live? On a manager's laptop, in a buried email attachment, or briefly shared during a weekly meeting.
The critical insights your data provides are often locked away, seen by only a few people. This is a missed opportunity. To build a truly data-informed culture, you need to make your key metrics visible, accessible, and part of the daily conversation. This is where you can display Power BI reports on digital signage throughout your workplace.
By moving your dashboards from individual computers to shared screens in your office, factory floor, or call center, you transform them from static reports into living, breathing sources of information. This guide provides an expert walkthrough of not just why you should do this, but how to do it effectively and securely. We'll share actionable tips gained from helping hundreds of companies bring their data to life.
Before we get into the "how," let's solidify the "why." Broadcasting your business intelligence isn't just about having flashy screens. It's a strategic move that delivers tangible benefits.
A frequent first attempt to get dashboards on screens is simply taking a screenshot of a Power BI report and uploading it as an image. This approach is fraught with problems.
The data is instantly outdated. It’s a manual process that someone has to remember to do. The resolution is often poor when stretched onto a large screen. Most importantly, it's not secure. You're saving potentially sensitive company information as a simple image file.
To properly display Power BI reports on digital signage, you need a solution that integrates directly and securely with your Power BI account. This ensures the data is live, the process is automated, and your information is protected.
Based on our experience, here are the seven most important practices to follow for a successful implementation.
Security should be your first consideration. Your Power BI reports contain sensitive business information. You cannot risk exposing it. A professional digital signage platform will use secure authentication methods like OAuth 2.0 to connect to your Power BI service.
This means you log in directly through Microsoft's official portal, and the digital signage software is only granted read-only permission. It can display your reports, but it cannot alter the source data or access anything outside of its authorized scope. This is a fundamental difference compared to insecure methods like sharing public URLs or using static images. Always verify the security protocols of any platform you consider. For more information on this, Microsoft's own Power BI Security Whitepaper is an excellent resource.
A report designed for a 24-inch monitor will not look good on a 65-inch TV located 20 feet away. You must design your dashboards with the viewing distance in mind.
The value of displaying data is in its timeliness. A report that is hours or days old is just a historical record. A live report drives action. Your digital signage system should respect and synchronize with the data refresh schedule you've set in your Power BI service.
Whether your data updates every 15 minutes or once an hour, your screens should reflect those changes automatically. This "set it and forget it" capability is a core function of a true integration. It ensures the information is always relevant without requiring any manual intervention.
Don't display the same financial report in the sales bullpen and on the manufacturing floor. Content is only effective when it's relevant to its audience.
Tailoring the content makes the data personal and meaningful, encouraging teams to engage with the numbers that they can directly influence.
Staring at the same dashboard all day can lead to "dashboard blindness," where people eventually stop noticing the screen. To keep your digital signage effective, rotate your Power BI reports with other types of content.
Create a playlist or channel that includes:
This variety keeps the screen fresh and ensures that employees continue to look at it, making it more likely they will see and absorb the critical data when it appears.
Your organization may use a variety of hardware for its displays. You might have commercial-grade digital signage panels, smart TVs (like Android TV or LG webOS), or even simple monitors connected to a small media player like a Chromebit.
A flexible digital signage solution should work across all of them. This prevents you from being locked into expensive, proprietary hardware. The ability to deploy your Power BI reports on existing screens saves money and simplifies the rollout process. Check that the platform you choose offers a robust player application that is compatible with your current or planned hardware.
How do you know if your project is successful? While it can be hard to tie it directly to a specific ROI number, you can look for qualitative indicators of success:
If the answer to these questions is yes, you are successfully fostering the data-driven culture you set out to build. The displays are working as intended, sparking conversation and focusing attention.
Connecting your business intelligence to your screens should be a straightforward process. With a platform like RocketScreens, you can display Power BI reports on digital signage in just a few minutes.
It's a simple, secure workflow designed to take the technical complexity out of sharing your valuable data.
A: Yes, provided you use a platform that integrates with Power BI using secure OAuth 2.0 authentication. This method provides read-only access and does not expose your login credentials or allow data modification. Avoid public URLs for any confidential information.
A: No. Modern digital signage solutions like RocketScreens are hardware-agnostic. They can work with almost any screen, including existing smart TVs, monitors paired with an inexpensive media player, or commercial display panels.
A: The data on the screen updates according to the schedule you have set within your Power BI service. A properly integrated digital signage platform will automatically sync with Power BI, ensuring the data you see on the screen is always the most current version available.
A: Absolutely. You can set up connections to multiple reports from various workspaces and add them to the same or different channels. You could have a screen that rotates between a sales report, a marketing report, and an operations report.
Your Power BI reports are more than just data; they are the pulse of your organization. By breaking them free from the confines of individual desktops and displaying them on shared screens, you empower your teams, align their focus, and build a culture that is transparent, accountable, and driven by data.
Following the best practices outlined above will ensure your digital signage project is not just a technical implementation, but a strategic success.