Power BI adoption roadmap maturity levels

There are three inter-related perspectives to consider when adopting technology like Power BI.

The three types of adoption shown in the above diagram include:

Table 1

Type	Description
	Organizational adoption: Organizational adoption refers to the effectiveness of Power BI governance. It also refers to data management practices that support and enable business intelligence efforts.
	User adoption: User adoption is the extent to which consumers and creators continually increase their knowledge. It is concerned with whether they are actively using Power BI and using it most effectively.
	Solution adoption: Solution adoption refers to the impact and business value achieved for individual requirements and artifacts.

As the four arrows in the previous diagram indicate, the three types of adoption are all strongly inter-related:

• Solution adoption affects user adoption. A well-designed and well-managed solution could be many things, such as a set of reports, an app, or a dataset—impacts, and guides users on optimally using Power BI.
• User adoption impacts organizational adoption. The patterns and practices used by individual users influence organizational adoption decisions, policies, and practices.
• Organizational adoption influences user adoption. Effective organizational practices—including mentoring, training, support, and community—encourage users to do the right thing in their day-to-day workflow.
• User adoption affects solution adoption. Stronger user adoption, because of the effective use of Power BI by educated and informed users, contributes to stronger and more successful individual solutions.

The remainder of this article introduces the three types of Power BI adoption in more detail.

Organizational adoption maturity levels

Organizational adoption measures the state of Power BI governance and data management practices. There are several organizational adoption goals:

• Effectively support the community.
• Enable and empower users.
• Oversee information delivery via enterprise BI and self-service BI with continuous improvement cycles.

It is helpful to think about organizational adoption from the perspective of a maturity model. For consistency with the Power CAT adoption maturity model and the maturity model for Microsoft 365, this Power BI adoption roadmap aligns with the five levels from the Capability Maturity Model, which were later enhanced by the Data Management Maturity (DMM) model from ISACA (note the DMM is a paid resource).

Every organization has limited time, funding, and people. So, it requires them to be selective about where they prioritize their efforts. Commonly, different business units in the organization evolve and mature at different rates, so be cognizant of the organizational state and progress for key business units. To get the most from your investment in Power BI, seek to attain at least maturity level 300 or 400, as discussed below.

There are three inter-related perspectives to consider when adopting technology like Power BI.

The three types of adoption shown in the above diagram include:

Table 1

Type	Description
	Organizational adoption: Organizational adoption refers to the effectiveness of Power BI governance. It also refers to data management practices that support and enable business intelligence efforts.
	User adoption: User adoption is the extent to which consumers and creators continually increase their knowledge. It is concerned with whether they are actively using Power BI and using it most effectively.
	Solution adoption: Solution adoption refers to the impact and business value achieved for individual requirements and artifacts.

As the four arrows in the previous diagram indicate, the three types of adoption are all strongly inter-related:

• Solution adoption affects user adoption. A well-designed and well-managed solution could be many things, such as a set of reports, an app, or a dataset—impacts, and guides users on optimally using Power BI.
• User adoption impacts organizational adoption. The patterns and practices used by individual users influence organizational adoption decisions, policies, and practices.
• Organizational adoption influences user adoption. Effective organizational practices—including mentoring, training, support, and community—encourage users to do the right thing in their day-to-day workflow.
• User adoption affects solution adoption. Stronger user adoption, because of the effective use of Power BI by educated and informed users, contributes to stronger and more successful individual solutions.

The remainder of this article introduces the three types of Power BI adoption in more detail.

Organizational adoption maturity levels

Organizational adoption measures the state of Power BI governance and data management practices. There are several organizational adoption goals:

• Effectively support the community.
• Enable and empower users.
• Oversee information delivery via enterprise BI and self-service BI with continuous improvement cycles.

It is helpful to think about organizational adoption from the perspective of a maturity model. For consistency with the Power CAT adoption maturity model and the maturity model for Microsoft 365, this Power BI adoption roadmap aligns with the five levels from the Capability Maturity Model, which were later enhanced by the Data Management Maturity (DMM) model from ISACA (note the DMM is a paid resource).

Every organization has limited time, funding, and people. So, it requires them to be selective about where they prioritize their efforts. Commonly, different business units in the organization evolve and mature at different rates, so be cognizant of the organizational state and progress for key business units. To get the most from your investment in Power BI, seek to attain at least maturity level 300 or 400, as discussed below.

Individuals—and the organization itself—continually learn, change, and improve. So, that means there’s no formal end to adoption-related efforts. However, it is common that effort to be reduced as higher maturity levels are reached.

The remainder of this article introduces the second and third types of adoption: user adoption and solution adoption.

User adoption stages

User adoption measures the extent to which content consumers and self-service content creators are actively using Power BI effectively. Usage statistics alone do not indicate user adoption. User adoption is also concerned with individual user behaviors and practices. The aim is to ensure users engage with Power BI correctly and to its fullest extent.

User adoption encompasses how consumers view content and how self-service creators generate content for others to consume.

User adoption occurs on an individual user basis, but it’s measured and analyzed in the aggregate. Individual users progress through the four stages of user adoption at their own pace. An individual who adopts a new technology will take some time to achieve proficiency. Some users will be eager; others will be reluctant to learn another tool, regardless of the promised productivity improvements. Advancing through the user adoption stages involves time and effort, and it involves behavioral changes to become aligned with organizational adoption objectives. The extent to which the organization supports users advancing through the user adoption stages directly correlates to the organizational-level adoption maturity.

User adoption stage 1 – Awareness

Common characteristics of stage 1 user adoption include:

• An individual has heard of or been initially exposed to, Power BI in some way.
• An individual may have access to Power BI but is not yet actively using it.

User adoption stage 2 – Understanding

Common characteristics of stage 2 user adoption include:

• An individual develops an understanding of the benefits of Power BI to deliver analytical value and support decision-making.
• An individual shows interest and starts to use Power BI.

User adoption stage 3 – Momentum

Common characteristics of stage 3 user adoption include:

• An individual actively gains Power BI skills by attending formal training, self-directed learning, or experimentation.
• An individual gains basic competency with the aspects of Power BI relevant to their role.

User adoption stage 4 – Proficiency

Common characteristics of stage 4 user adoption include:

• An individual actively uses Power BI regularly.
• An individual understands how to use Power BI in how it was intended, as relevant for their role.
• An individual modifies their behavior and activities to align with organizational governance processes.
• An individual’s willingness to support organizational processes and change efforts is growing over time, and they become an advocate for Power BI in the organization.
• An individual makes an effort to continually improve their skills and stay current with new product capabilities and features.

It’s easy to underestimate the effort it takes to progress from stage 2 (understanding) to stage 4 (proficiency). Typically, it takes the longest time to progress from stage 3 (momentum) to stage 4 (proficiency).

Solution adoption phases

Solution adoption is concerned with measuring the impact of individual Power BI solutions. It is also concerned with the level of value solutions provide. The scope for evaluating solution adoption is for one set of requirements, like a set of reports or a single Power BI app.

As a solution progresses to phases 3 or 4, expectations to operationalize the solution are higher.

Solution phase 1 – Exploration

Common characteristics of phase 1 solution adoption include:

• Exploration and experimentation are the main approaches to testing out new ideas. Exploration of new ideas can occur through informal self-service BI or through a formal proof of concept (POC), which is purposely narrow in scope. The goal is to confirm requirements, validate assumptions, address unknowns, and mitigate risks.
• A small group of users test the proof of concept solution and provide useful feedback.
• All exploration—and initial feedback—could occur within Power BI Desktop or Excel. The use of the Power BI service is limited.

Solution phase 2 – Functional

Common characteristics of phase 2 solution adoption include:

• The solution is functional and meets the basic set of user requirements. There are likely plans to iterate on improvements and enhancements.
• The solution is deployed to the Power BI service.
• All necessary supporting components are in place, such as gateways to support scheduled refresh.
• Users are aware of the solution and show interest in using it. Potentially, it may be a limited preview release and may not yet be ready to promote to a production workspace.

Solution phase 3 – Valuable

Common characteristics of phase 3 solution adoption include:

• Target users find the solution is valuable and experience tangible benefits.
• The solution is promoted to a production workspace.
• Validations and testing occur to ensure data quality, accurate presentation, accessibility, and acceptable performance.
• Content is endorsed when appropriate.
• Usage metrics for the solution are actively monitored.
• User feedback loops are in place to facilitate suggestions and improvements that can contribute to future releases.
• Solution documentation is generated to support the needs of information consumers (such as data sources used or how metrics are calculated) and help future creators (such as documenting any future maintenance or planned enhancements).
• Ownership and subject matter experts for the content are clear.
• Report branding and themes are in place, and they are in line with governance guidelines.

Solution phase 4 – Essential

Common characteristics of phase 4 solution adoption include:

• Target users actively and routinely use the solution, and it’s considered essential for decision-making purposes.
• The solution resides in a production workspace well-separated from development and test content. Change management and release management are carefully controlled due to the impact of changes.
• A subset of users regularly provides feedback to ensure the solution continues to meet requirements.
• Expectations for the success of the solution are clear and are measured.
• Expectations for support of the solution are clear, especially if there are service level agreements.
• The solution aligns with organizational governance guidelines and practices.
• Most content is certified since it’s critical in nature.
• Formal user acceptance testing for new changes may occur, particularly for IT-managed content.

Author: Peter Myers

Read more at: Microsoft Docs