There’s no shortage of data in most organizations, but the existence of data isn’t enough. How do you leverage that data, learn from it, and draw insights that will help you move your organization forward?

One answer is to visualize the data in the context of a diagram, which is surprisingly easy to do when you know a little bit about Visio and Power BI. In this session, you’ll learn how to create Visio diagrams that “light up” with several types of visualizations. You’ll also appreciate how easy it is to drop a Visio diagram into Power BI and link it with other visuals so you can slice and filter data across multiple visuals with one click. The presence of the Visio diagram in Power BI adds context: you know exactly which rooms are too hot; which virtual machines are running apps that have failed; which network switch needs to be replaced and exactly where it’s located.

The examples used in this session are from a real customer project and include facility diagrams that incorporate drilldown from a regional view to a building to a floor, and then use heat maps to show property maintenance issues. You'll also see a theme park map in which buildings light up based on data about equipment they contain. Though this session features two specific case examples, the concepts apply much more broadly: If you have a diagram and corresponding data, you can visualize it using tools you already have.

Though I can't name the theme park operator for whom these data visualization projects were performed, it will probably be obvious to most attendees and generally adds to the interest of audience members.