Learn · KPI
What is a KPI?
A Key Performance Indicator is a metric the business has chosen to watch because it is tied to a decision. “Revenue” on a card is not a KPI until you know the grain, the period, the filters and what good looks like.
Business language first
People search for how to create KPIs for a company. They do not search for SUM(FactSales[Amount]). A useful definition names the user, the question, the time window, and whether the metric is a volume, a rate, a gap to plan, or a quality signal.
Only then do you map it onto tables and write a calculation. If the data cannot support the definition, the honest output is a gap — not a fabricated DAX measure.
KPI families, not a laundry list
A sales dashboard that lists twenty unrelated numbers is harder to use than five that belong together: value, volume, margin, versus plan, versus last year. Design the family around the decision, then assign each KPI to a page role (monitor, diagnose, act).
How BiDesignLab uses this
The AI KPI generator starts from the business goal and the schema, proposes a set of metrics, and only then generates calculation logic, including DAX for Power BI. You accept or refine in ordinary language.
Questions
- Are all dashboard numbers KPIs?
- No. Some numbers are context (row counts, raw amounts). A KPI is a number you have chosen to steer by, with a definition and usually a comparison.