KPI & scorecard patterns

A KPI is a value plus a comparison plus a judgement. Without the comparison it is only a number, and without the judgement rule the colour is decoration.

KPI row

Switch the comparison base and see the status change

Simulation of native Power BI behaviour
Revenue€8.4Mvs Budget€8.5M▼ -1%Attention
Margin€2.1Mvs Budget€1.9M▲ +12.2%On track
Units564kvs Budget547k▲ +3.1%On track
Returns101kvs Budget91k▼ +11.1%Attention

“Returns” inverts the status rule: more is worse. State the direction of goodness for every measure — developers cannot infer it.

Trend behind the KPI
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10W11W12W13
Gauge — use sparingly
€NaNtarget €NaN
Designer

Define: measure, comparison base, tolerance bands, direction of goodness, format.

Keep a KPI row to 3–5 cards; more becomes a scorecard table.

Developer

Card / KPI visual, or a table with conditional formatting for a scorecard.

Status colour comes from a DAX status measure, not from hardcoded rules per visual.

Power BI limitation
The native KPI visual has limited layout control and no built-in variance percentage formatting; most teams use a Card with reference labels or a custom-formatted table instead.