Qualitative evaluation of Power BI and its application in an Aerospace Industry cluster

The increasing influx of data in the contemporary business landscape underscores the crucial role of Data Visualization in enabling companies to extract meaningful insights and make informed decisions. As organizations struggle with ever-expanding data sets from diverse sources, effectively visualizing and interpreting this information becomes essential. Data Visualization enhances understanding and facilitates the dissemination of complex insights within the organization hierarchy. This thesis aims to explore the key role of Data Visualization by comprehensively evaluating the various data visualization tools available to enterprises. The primary objective was the identification of the most suitable tool to facilitate decision-making processes and improve operational efficiency. This study investigated two of the leading Data Visualization tools in the Business Intelligence market, Power BI and Tableau. Through a qualitative analysis, their respective features, functionality, and performance metrics were evaluated. Power BI stood out as one of the most effective data visualization tools due to its extensive capabilities, user-friendly interface, and seamless integration due to its belonging to the Microsoft ecosystem. The potential of the Power BI software was tested on the Umbria Aerospace Cluster, a consortium of 40 companies located in the Umbria region. Whereas the cluster previously relied on conventional data analysis and monitoring methodologies, which often resulted in static and time-consuming processes, with the implementation of Power BI, the cluster's database has experienced a significant increase in dynamism and operational efficiency. By harnessing Power BI's advanced visualization features, the Umbria Aerospace Cluster gained invaluable insights into its operational landscape, identified optimization opportunities, and steered decision-making processes grounded in data-driven intelligence. In conclusion, this thesis has highlighted how the interactive dashboards provided by Power BI can enable stakeholders to intuitively explore data, unveil latent trends, and decipher intricate patterns.