Dear Colleagues,  

Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integrations (EASI) is pleased to announce the launch of a new online resource for University of Toronto (U of T) staff and faculty. The Power BI Toolbox will provide the community with on-demand access to documentation for onboarding to key enterprise reporting tools such as Power BI, Azure Data Studio and the ROSI-REPLICA database.

The Power BI Toolbox was developed to support an exciting new initiative in institutional reporting: the rollout of Power BI, a leading data visualization tool, to University staff and faculty. Read the information below to learn more about the toolkit, Power BI at U of T and how this project will benefit our community.

Community members who are interested in learning more are invited to attend an introductory session on Power BI at U of T on September 22: View session information | Add to calendar.

Please note that the toolbox is an ongoing initiative and will be continually updated with new information and resources. To discuss onboarding to Power BI with EASI, please request support via the toolbox page.

We look forward to introducing Power BI to the University community in the coming months.

Kind regards,

EASI Communications

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How should I use the Power BI Toolbox?    

The Power BI Toolbox is your central hub for onboarding and using Power BI and connected tools like Azure Data Studio and the ROSI-REPLICA database. From the toolbox’s main page, you can:    

• View comprehensive reporting documentation from EASI, including FAQs and troubleshooting help.  
• Request Power BI and/or ROSI-REPLICA database onboarding and support. 
• Access valuable resources from Microsoft such as the Power BI Microsoft Community and external documentation.  

What can Power BI be used for and what are its benefits?    

Staff and faculty assigned the full Microsoft 365 license can use Power BI for reporting tasks. Power BI offers many benefits, including:    

• Data integration with other enterprise Microsoft tools such as Excel, SharePoint; integration with Azure Data Studio, a free cross-platform tool from Microsoft. 
• The support of paginated reports. 
• Access to the ROSI-REPLICA database, a new real-time and read-only copy of ROSI production data.

For a great overview of how Power BI’s capabilities can transform data, view Microsoft’s Power BI Data Stories Gallery.