With our report templates for Microsoft Power BI, you can simply and easily create reports with Meisterplan data, and even customize them as needed.
- Prerequisites
- Report Templates
- Portfolio Report
- Capacity Analysis
- Overview of Completed, Current and Upcoming Projects
- Pipeline Report
- Status Report
- Scenario Comparison Report - Projects
- Scenario Comparison Report - Allocations
- How to Use Report Templates
- How to Customize Report Templates
- How to Upload Your Report to the Cloud
- How to Embed Your Report in Meisterplan
Prerequisites
Ensure that the following prerequisites are met to access Meisterplan data with Microsoft Power BI Desktop:
- Create an API token in your Meisterplan user profile and save it to a secure location.
- Install the current MS Power BI Desktop version on your computer. Only the desktop version offers the complete range of functions. After creating your reports, you can upload them to the web version (MS Power BI service) and access them from anywhere.
Custom Fields in Our Report Templates
Some of our report templates are based on custom project fields such as Stage Gate or Strategy Fit. If your Meisterplan system does not contain these fields, some report visualizations will not work. To solve this, you can replace the fields with fields from your system or remove the visualizations.
Report Templates
The following templates support the most common report types to help you in meetings and decision-making. Learn more about how to customize the templates based on your requirements here.
Blog Post: Power BI Reports for Effective Decision Making
Find out how our report templates give decision-makers the information they need to make the best decisions for their organization in our blog post.
Portfolio Report
Visualize portfolio information. With bubble charts and organized lists, you can get a complete view of the status of your portfolio and resource allocations.
Download Portfolio Report Template
Capacity Analysis
Check the current workload of your resources and identify upcoming capacity requests to quickly react to bottlenecks or available capacity.
Download Capacity Analysis Template
Overview of Completed, Current and Upcoming Projects
Provide your management board with an overview of all relevant projects including the most important project information.
Pipeline Report
Visualize project initiatives by Business Goal, Strategy Fit and Risk level to ensure you're promoting the right projects.
Status Report
Create a comprehensive status overview of your projects for a Portfolio Board Meeting and check milestones, overbookings and actuals.
Scenario Comparison Report - Projects
Visualize changes in your project planning between different scenarios so you can make the best decision.
Download Scenario Comparison Projects Template
Be sure to specify at least two scenarios when loading data from you Meisterplan system. You can learn more in the How to Use Report Templates section.
Scenario Comparison Report - Allocations
See the effect of different allocations through multiple Meisterplan scenarios.
Download Scenario Comparison Allocations Template
Be sure to specify at least two scenarios when loading data from you Meisterplan system. You can learn more in the How to Use Report Templates section.
If the connected Meisterplan system does not contain any resource allocations, PowerBI will show an error. Either add allocations to Meisterplan or remove the Allocation Slices endpoint from your PowerBI report to proceed. To learn more about advanced report configuration, see our Preparing Reports in Microsoft Power BI article.
How to Use Report Templates
- Open the downloaded .pbit file, e.g., by double-clicking it.
- Fill in the fields in the Template window (fields may vary depending on report template):
- Scenario:
- If you do not need any scenario data, simply enter a blank space.
- Plan of Record data is always loaded.
- Start Date and Finish Date: Enter your desired date range in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
- API Token: Enter the API token you created previously in your Meisterplan user profile.
- Server Location: Check the URL of your Meisterplan system and select either US or EU.
- Meisterplan System Name: You can find the name of your Meisterplan system as part of the URL: "https://us.meisterplan.com/System-Name"
- Fields: Enter all custom project fields or OBS units you would like to include in your report. You can find the field names in Meisterplan under Manage > Project Fields > Column name. The project fields used in the template are "cust_stage_gate,cust_completion,cust_fb_payback,cust_risk,cust_strategy_fit,cust_project_link,cust_need_for_decision"; if you want to load all project fields. simply enter a blank space
If you want to use all project fields from your Meisterplan system, simply put a space here. - Aggregation for Allocation and Capacity Slices: Select whether you want to analyze your data in monthly or weekly slices.
- Click Load.
If you are asked to set privacy levels, you can simply ignore them.
Save your report as .pbix file (file type is proposed automatically).
Power BI Report Templates for On Premise
Report templates can also be used with On Premise systems. To do so, you need to change the URL of each endpoint in Power BI under Transform Data to read as follows:
"https://<internal domain>/reporting-api/v1/<endpoint>"
How to Customize Report Templates
If you need to change the parameters of your report (to enter a new date range or add a new scenario), simply follow these steps:
- In the Home tab, click Transform data and then select Edit parameters:
- Fill in the fields in the Edit Parameters window (fields may vary depending on report template):
- Scenarios:
- If you do not need any scenario data, simply enter a blank space.
- Plan of Record data is always loaded.
- Start Date and Finish Date: Enter your desired date range in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
- API Token: Enter the API token you created previously in your Meisterplan user profile.
- Server Location: Check the URL of your Meisterplan system and select either US or EU.
- Meisterplan System Name: You can find the name of your Meisterplan system as part of the URL: "https://us.meisterplan.com/System-Name"
- Fields: Enter all custom project fields or OBS units you would like to include in your report. You can find the field names in Meisterplan under Manage > Project Fields > Column name. The project fields used in the template are "cust_stage_gate,cust_completion,cust_fb_payback,cust_risk,cust_strategy_fit,cust_project_link,cust_need_for_decision"; if you want to load all project fields. simply enter a blank space
If you want to use all project fields from your Meisterplan system, simply put a space here. - Aggregation for Allocation and Capacity Slices: Select whether you want to analyze your data in monthly or weekly slices.
- Click OK.
- Then click Refresh. If you have entered a new API token, the Access Web Content window may open. Always select Anonymous here, because the API token is sufficient authentication.
You can also adapt report data in MS Power BI and create new views or add more tables.
Meisterplan Custom Fields
Meisterplan users with the Manage Project Fields, Project Settings, Project Overview and Advanced right can add or delete project fields, and users with the Edit Resource Pool and Absences right can add or delete OSP units.
All of this impacts the fields that are available in the Reporting API as well as their names.
When you change fields, the Reporting API adopts the changes, but MS Power BI may not always recognize this during the data transformation. If this causes error messages or if new fields are not recognized, simply execute the steps for transforming data again. MS Power BI will then adopt the new configuration.
How to Upload Your Report to the Cloud
In this article, you can find a description of how to upload reports to the web version (MS Power BI service).
How to Embed Your Report in Meisterplan
In the Meisterplan Reports view, you can embed your report as a Weblink report. Learn how to create the required link in the MS Power BI documentation.