How to Create an Internal Communication Reporting with Power BI

Introduction

Creating an internal communication reporting with Power BI is a game-changer for communication professionals who want to move from intuition to data-driven decision-making.

In many organizations, internal communication is spread across several tools :SharePoint, Viva Engage, internal newsletters, or Microsoft Teams. Each produces valuable data, yet these insights often remain scattered. With Power BI, you can centralize all this information into one dynamic dashboard that helps you measure engagement, visualize trends, and present your impact with clarity.

In this article, you’ll learn how to build your reporting step by step, what data to include, and how Communication Insights, Tryane’s cross-channel analytics platform, takes this analysis even further.

Why Create an Internal Communication Reporting with Power BI?

Internal communication is more than just sending messages, it’s about understanding their impact.
Using Power BI allows you to transform raw data from tools like SharePoint, Viva Engage, and email campaigns into actionable insights.

Creating an internal communication reporting with Power BI helps you:

centralize all your internal communication data in one place;
identify your most engaging content and channels;
measure performance by audience segment (country, department, role);
demonstrate the value of internal communication to leadership.

For example, you can visualize your most-read intranet pages, track newsletter engagement, and see which departments are the most active on Viva Engage, all in one dashboard.

For more on this topic, check out our related article: Power BI and SharePoint: Analyzing Your Internal Communication Data.

Step 1 – Define Your Objectives and KPIs

Before diving into Power BI, start by defining what success looks like for your internal communication strategy.
Ask yourself:

What are my goals? (Inform, engage, connect?)
What outcomes do I want to measure?
Which audiences matter most? (country, department, seniority, etc.)

Here are some key internal communication KPIs you can include:

Intranet article views and average read time
Viva Engage engagement (likes, comments, shares)
Internal newsletter open and click-through rates
Active vs inactive SharePoint pages
Participation rate by department or country

These KPIs will help you measure your reach, engagement, and overall communication effectiveness over time.

Step 2 – Collect and Centralize Your Data

Once your KPIs are defined, it’s time to gather your data.
Power BI can connect to multiple sources, including:

SharePoint (page views, document downloads, site activity)
Viva Engage (posts, reactions, engagement rate)
Internal newsletters (open rates, clicks)
HR databases (country, department, role)

Tip: Create a “Users” table to link interactions with organizational data. This allows you to visualize engagement by segment.

To learn more about connecting Power BI to SharePoint, visit Microsoft Learn.

Step 3 – Build Your Power BI Dashboard

With your data ready, you can now build your internal communication reporting in Power BI.

Here are a few visualization ideas:

Bar charts for channel comparison (intranet vs newsletter)
Line charts for engagement trends over time
Maps for geographic distribution
Gauges for goal tracking
Filters for periods, audiences, or departments

For example, your first Power BI page could show global engagement, while a second page dives into details per department or content type.

One of the greatest advantages of Power BI is automation. Once your data sources are connected, you can schedule daily or weekly updates.

Reports can then be:

embedded directly into SharePoint Online pages via a Power BI web part,
shared securely via link or email,
exported into PowerPoint for management meetings.

This ensures that your stakeholders always have access to real-time communication insights, without manual effort.

Step 5 – Go Further with Communication Insights

While Power BI is a powerful visualization tool, it requires configuration and data preparation.
That’s where Communication Insights developed by Tryane comes in.

Our cross-channel analytics platform automatically connects all your internal communication tools:

SharePoint, Viva Engage, newsletters, and Teams;
all KPIs centralized in one place;
automatic PowerPoint reporting;
Best Time to Post insights;
performance by audience (country, department, role).

In short, Communication Insights helps you break silos and focus on what really matters understanding how your communication performs across all channels.

Conclusion

Creating an internal communication reporting with Power BI empowers communication teams to measure, analyze, and improve their strategies. You move from assumptions to evidence-based decisions, showcasing the real impact of your work.

And with Communication Insights, you can go one step further: automate your reports, compare channels, and deliver clear KPIs to leadership all without the technical setup.

By combining Power BI’s flexibility with Communication Insights’ dedicated internal communication analytics, you’ll gain the visibility and confidence needed to drive more effective employee communication.

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