Yesterday, we posted an article on how Power BI helps project managers and stakeholders make better decisions. Today, we want to help you understand the integration capabilities of Power BI with common project management applications.
Although it primarily focuses on data analysis and reporting
rather than direct integration, Power BI can connect to a wide range of data
sources. We’ve found that Power BI is a great tool to analyze and visualize
data related to project management.
Here are the project management tools that Power BI can
integrate with:
·
Microsoft Project: Microsoft Project is a
dedicated project management software, and while Power BI might not have a
direct integration with it, you can export data from Microsoft Project and use
Power BI to create visualizations and reports.
·
Excel: Power BI can easily connect to Excel
spreadsheets, which are often used for project planning and tracking. You can
create Power BI dashboards that visualize data from Excel-based project
management templates.
·
Smartsheet: Smartsheet is a robust online
project management tool with broad applications from resource tracking to
tasking. Power BI has standard integration
capabilities with Smartsheet.
·
Azure DevOps: If your project management
involves software development, Azure DevOps (formerly known as Visual Studio
Team Services or Team Foundation Server) provides tools for planning, tracking,
and delivering software projects. Power BI can connect to Azure DevOps to
visualize relevant data.
·
Trello, Asana, etc.: While Power BI doesn’t have
native integrations with popular project management tools like Trello or Asana,
these tools often offer APIs that allow you to extract data. You could then use
Power BI to analyze and present this data.
·
Custom Integrations: Power BI has a rich set of
connectors that allow you to connect to various data sources. If your project
management software can expose data through APIs or export data in a compatible
format (e.g., Excel, CSV), you can potentially build custom integrations.
Keep in mind that the integration landscape is constantly changing,
and new features are regularly added to Power BI. Please comment on your success with
integrating Power BI with PM tools and if we’ve missed any that should be
included.