Users often want to quickly perform ad hoc analyses of data in a Power BI model, or they may want to explore the model before actually creating reports. This is now possible with the new “Explore” feature in the Power BI Service (public preview).
The Explore feature is available for reports, data marts, and semantic models. You can launch the Explore feature by clicking “…” next to a model, report, or data mart. When this feature is used on a report, it simply launches the explorer for the underlying semantic model.
Using the Explore feature, you can quickly and easily perform an analysis without having to create a separate report. The advantage over a report is that you can view the data side by side in a matrix and a visual.
Explore Features
The functionality of the "Explore" feature is limited to creating a matrix with an associated visual. All visuals available in Power BI are also available here. It’s also possible to add non-standard visuals, just as in Power BI. The default formatting of the visuals cannot be customized, but that isn’t necessary for ad hoc data analysis. At the top is a filter bar where you can quickly and easily add filters that affect the matrix and the visual. It’s also possible to display only the matrix or only the visual.
If the analysis turns out to be needed more often, it can be shared with others or saved as a report. The visuals are then added to the report as objects and can be edited just like standard visuals in reports.
Conclusion
It’s really nothing more than quickly creating a matrix combined with a visual. This does make it very easy to perform a quick analysis. However, this was already possible by simply creating a report in the Power BI Service based on a semantic model and then not saving it. So I don’t think it offers much added value.
