{"id":1713,"date":"2025-02-07T07:02:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T07:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailitics.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/07\/how-to-create-network-graph-visualizations-in-microsoft-powerbi\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T07:02:23","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T07:02:23","slug":"how-to-create-network-graph-visualizations-in-microsoft-powerbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailitics.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/07\/how-to-create-network-graph-visualizations-in-microsoft-powerbi\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create Network Graph Visualizations in Microsoft PowerBI"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Create Network Graph Visualizations in Microsoft PowerBI
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Microsoft PowerBI is a one of the most popular Business Intelligence<\/a> (BI) tools, and while it has all the features you need to create dynamic analytic reporting for stakeholders across the business, creating some advanced data visualizations is more challenging.<\/p>\n

This article will walk through how to create large network graph visualizations in Microsoft PowerBI to enable dynamic and interactive exploration of interconnected datasets such as supply chain networks, financial transactions, and much more.<\/p>\n

But before we do that, let\u2019s take a look at some quick foundations of network graphs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Network Graph Foundations<\/h2>\n

Data for network graphs, referred to as \u201cgraph data\u201d is data formatted in node and edge format. Nodes represent discrete things and edges represent the relationships between nodes.<\/p>\n

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Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s take a simple example of an online social network, which can be represented in graph format.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nodes refer to profiles, while edges refer to following status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A simple network of 3 profiles might end up looking like this:<\/p>\n

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Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When visualizing network graphs, we can embed additional information about nodes and edges in various ways, such as but not limited to:<\/p>\n

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  1. Node size<\/li>\n
  2. Edge size<\/li>\n
  3. Node color<\/li>\n
  4. Edge color<\/li>\n
  5. Labels<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Structuring Network\u00a0Data<\/h2>\n

    So now that you know the basic building blocks of a network graph, how do you structure and transform your dataset?<\/p>\n

    Graph Data is Everywhere<\/h3>\n

    While you might be thinking, \u201cwe only have relational data where I\u2019m at\u201d, that\u2019s often not the case. In fact, lots of relational datasets can be visualized as a network graph.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s take a simple sales table as an example with columns for product name, customer name, and quantity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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    Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    We can represent this same sales table as a network graph by representing both product name as the node type \u201cproduct\u201d, customer name as the node type \u201ccustomer\u201d, and each row as the edge \u201cPurchased\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Visualized as a network graph, this might look something like:<\/p>\n

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    Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Graph Data\u00a0Formats<\/h3>\n

    There are a few ways this data is structured, such as but not limited to:<\/p>\n

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    1. Node & Edge Lists (Often in\u00a0.csv format)<\/li>\n
    2. Graph Databases (Such as Neo4j)<\/li>\n
    3. Graph Files (such as GraphML or GEXF)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      But in this article, we will be using a combined node and edge list into a single tabular dataset due to the requirements of making network graphs within Microsoft PowerBI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

      Mapping Your\u00a0Data<\/h3>\n

      You\u2019ll need to map your data to the following tabular format with each record representing an edge:<\/p>\n

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      1. Source Node (Required) -> This is a unique identifier of the starting node of the edge (for example, Customer ID)<\/li>\n
      2. Target Node (Required) -> This is a unique identifier of the ending node of the edge (for example, Product ID)<\/li>\n
      3. Source Color -> This is a category identifier for the source node (for example, Customer Type)<\/li>\n
      4. Target Color -> This is a category identifier for the target node (for example, Product Category)<\/li>\n
      5. Link Color -> This is a category identifier for the edge (for example, Sales Channel)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Creating the Network Graph Visualization<\/h2>\n

        Now that we have our data mapped, we can create the network graph visualization.\u00a0<\/p>\n

        While Microsoft doesn\u2019t include a network visual in the default PowerBI visuals, we can access the visual marketplace to download third-party visuals.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        For this article, we will be using the visual \u201cAstra\u201d, which lets you create large-scale network graphs with plenty of customization options.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Once you have it installed, it will be in your visual library.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Drag the visual onto your canvas, select it, and note the values required (which we mapped earlier). The visual also has options to pass x and y coordinates as well as custom labels, however we won\u2019t use those options in this article.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        The only required values are \u201cSource Node\u201d and \u201cTarget Node\u201d so let\u2019s start there. Drag the columns you mapped to those nodes from the data pane.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        You\u2019ll notice the visual graphs our nodes and edges, however, it isn\u2019t looking so great. We\u2019ll need to change some of the simulation settings.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        To change the simulation settings, open the formatting pane, then simulation, and increase both the link distance and repulsion force. I chose to set repulsion to 0.3, and link distance to 15.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        You can now see that we get a much better layout of our data.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Let\u2019s now encode some additional information into the graph, by changing the node color based on node categories. Drag the fields you mapped above to Source Color and Target Color.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        You\u2019ll now notice the nodes are colored differently and we have a legend on the visual.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        \u00a0Let\u2019s do some formatting to the background color and node colors in the formatting pane.<\/p>\n

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        Source: Author<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Congratulations! You\u2019ve created a network graph visualization in PowerBI with dynamic node coloring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

        We add even more information to the graph, for example:<\/p>\n