Data may be input by reading directly from a database, webpage, PDF, or structured files such as spreadsheets, CSV, XML, JSON,[8] XLSX, and SharePoint.

[10] In March 2016, Microsoft released an additional service called Power BI Embedded on its Azure cloud platform.

This application was originally conceived by Thierry D'Hers and Amir Netz of the SQL Server Reporting Services team at Microsoft.

[13] Project Crescent was initially available for public download on 11 July 2011, bundled with SQL Server Codename Denali.

With time, Microsoft also added many additional features like question and answers, enterprise-level data connectivity, and security options via Power BI Gateways.

[16] On 14 April 2015, Microsoft announced that they had acquired the Canadian company Datazen, to "complement Power BI, our cloud-based business analytics service, rounding out our mobile capabilities for customers who need a mobile BI solution implemented on-premises and optimized for SQL Server."

This is in contrast to regular Power BI reports which instead are optimized for presentation or interactivity and exploration on a screen.