College Recruitment Dashboard in Power BI

Build an interactive recruitment pipeline dashboard using Power BI Desktop.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every college tracks prospective students through a recruitment pipeline. Admissions teams want to know which programs attract the most interest, which marketing channels actually work, and how many inquiries turn into enrolled students.

In this project, you will build an interactive recruitment pipeline dashboard in Power BI Desktop. You will import sample data, clean it, model it, write calculated measures, and assemble a set of visuals that cross-filter when you click on them.

What You'll Build

Open your finished dashboard, click on any academic program, and watch every chart on the page instantly update to show how many students inquired, where they came from, and what percentage enrolled.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A dashboard where you click a program bar chart and a donut chart of marketing sources plus card visuals for total inquiries, total enrolled, and conversion rate all update instantly through cross-filtering.
A clean star schema data model you built yourself by importing messy Excel files, fixing data quality issues in Power Query, and connecting tables with proper relationships.
Three DAX measures that recalculate dynamically whenever you filter by semester using a slicer.
Secret Mission: Add a second report page with a trend line showing monthly inquiry volume over time.

Are there any prerequisites?

You need a Windows PC and a Microsoft account (work or personal) to sign into Power BI Desktop. Power BI Desktop is free and you will install it in Step 1.

Before We Start

Before we dive in, let's lock in what you're about to build and why it matters for your role at the college.

Install Power BI Desktop and Tour the Interface

To build your recruitment dashboard, you need Power BI Desktop on your machine. This is Microsoft's free report-authoring tool for Windows.

In this step, you will install Power BI Desktop, learn where the key areas of the interface live, and save your first report file. A quick orientation now means you will not get lost when building visuals in later steps.

In this step, get ready to:

Install Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store.
Identify the key areas of the Power BI Desktop interface.
Save your blank report as a .pbix file.

Install Power BI Desktop

Power BI Desktop is available for free from the Microsoft Store. Let's check whether you already have it installed.

Press the Windows key to open your search bar.
Type Power BI Desktop and look at the results.

✔️ I see Power BI Desktop in the results

Click Power BI Desktop to open it.

You are all set. Skip ahead to the sign-in step below.

ⓧ I don't see it

No problem. You will install it from the Microsoft Store.

Press the Windows key again and type Microsoft Store.
Click Microsoft Store to open it.
In the Microsoft Store search bar at the top, type Power BI Desktop.
Click the Power BI Desktop app from the results.
Click Install.
Once the installation finishes, click Open.

No admin privileges needed

Installing from the Microsoft Store does not require admin privileges on your work PC. Windows also handles automatic updates for you, so you will always have the latest version.

Power BI Desktop displays a sign-in form when it first launches. Sign in with your work Microsoft account credentials to continue.

Enter your work email address and password when prompted.
After signing in, you should see a blank canvas in the center of the window.

Having trouble signing in?

Make sure you are using your work or school Microsoft account, not a personal Outlook or Hotmail account. If your organization uses multi-factor authentication, complete the extra verification step that appears.

If you are still stuck, help me troubleshoot my Power BI Desktop sign-in.

Identify the key areas of the interface

Your Power BI Desktop window has four key areas you will use throughout this project. Let's confirm you can find each one.

Look at the top of the window. The Ribbon stretches across the top with tabs like Home, Insert, and Modeling. This is where you will find tools for importing data, adding visuals, and managing your data model.
The large blank area in the center is the Report canvas. This is where you will build your dashboard visuals.
On the right side, find the Fields pane. It is currently empty because you have not loaded any data yet. After importing data, your tables and columns will appear here.
Just above or next to the Fields pane, find the Visualizations pane. This is where you will pick chart types and configure how each visual displays your data.

Now find the three small icons along the left edge of the window. These are view toggles that switch your entire workspace.

What are the three views?

Report view (the default, where you are now) is for building visuals and arranging your dashboard layout.
Data view lets you inspect the raw data in your imported tables, row by row.
Model view shows how your tables are connected to each other. You will use this in Step 4 when you build relationships.

Confirm you can see all four areas (Ribbon, Report canvas, Fields pane, Visualizations pane) and the three view icons on the left edge.

Save your new report

Before you start importing data, save your report so you have a dedicated project folder to work from.

Click File in the top left corner of the Ribbon.
Click Save As.
Navigate to your Desktop.
Click New Folder and name it College Dashboard.
Open the College Dashboard folder.
In the File name field, type College Recruitment Dashboard.
Click Save.

What do you expect to see in the title bar of the window after saving?

Check the title bar at the very top of Power BI Desktop. You should see College Recruitment Dashboard displayed as the file name. The file is saved with the .pbix extension inside your College Dashboard folder on the Desktop.

Don't see the file name in the title bar?

Make sure you clicked Save (not just closed the dialog). If the title bar still shows a generic name, try File > Save As again and confirm you are inside the College Dashboard folder before saving.

Still stuck? Help me save my Power BI report.

Your environment is ready. Next up, you will create sample data in Excel and build your first chart in Power BI.

Create Sample Data and Build Your First Visual

Your Power BI Desktop is installed and your blank report is saved. Now it's time to load data into it.

A dashboard is only as useful as the data behind it. In this step, you'll create sample recruitment data in Excel spreadsheets, import them into Power BI, and build your very first chart.

In this step, get ready to:

Create three Excel files with sample recruitment data.
Import the Excel files into Power BI Desktop.
Build a clustered bar chart showing inquiries by program.

Create three Excel files with sample data

Before Power BI can visualize anything, it needs data to work with. You'll create three small spreadsheets that represent a college's recruitment pipeline.

Open Excel (or any spreadsheet app you have) and create a new blank workbook.
In Row 1, type the column headers exactly as shown below, one per cell: ProgramID in A1, ProgramName in B1, Department in C1.
Starting from Row 2, enter the five rows of data shown below. Each comma-separated value goes into its own cell.

ProgramID, ProgramName, Department
BUS, Business Administration, Business
CS, Computer Science, STEM
NUR, Nursing, Health Sciences
EDU, Education, Education
ART, Digital Arts, Arts & Humanities

What is this file for?

This is a lookup table. Each row maps a short program code (like BUS) to a friendly name (like Business Administration) and a department. Later, Power BI will use these mappings to display readable labels on your charts.

Save this workbook as Programs.xlsx inside your College Dashboard folder on the desktop.
Create another new blank workbook for the second file.
In Row 1, type the headers: SourceID in A1, SourceName in B1, SourceCategory in C1.
Enter the four rows of data below, starting from Row 2.

SourceID, SourceName, SourceCategory
WEB, College Website, Digital
FAIR, College Fair, Event
SOC, Social Media, Digital
REF, Referral, Word of Mouth

Save this workbook as Sources.xlsx inside your College Dashboard folder.

Open your College Dashboard folder in File Explorer. You should see Programs.xlsx and Sources.xlsx alongside your .pbix report file.

Don't see both files?

Make sure you saved each workbook with Save As (not just Save) and chose the College Dashboard folder as the destination. Check that the file type is set to .xlsx and not .csv.

Still stuck? Help me find where my Excel files saved.

Now for the main data file. This one is larger and has some intentional quirks baked in.

Create one more new blank workbook.
In Row 1, type the seven headers: InquiryID, StudentName, Email, ProgramID, SourceID, InquiryDate, Status.
Enter the 20 rows of data below, starting from Row 2. Type each comma-separated value into its own cell.

InquiryID, StudentName, Email, ProgramID, SourceID, InquiryDate, Status
INQ001, Sarah Chen, sarah.chen@email.com, BUS, WEB, 9/5/2025, Enrolled
INQ002, James Wilson, james.w@email.com, CS, FAIR, 9/12/2025, Admitted
INQ003, Maria Lopez, , NUR, SOC, 9/20/2025, Enrolled
INQ004, David Kim, david.kim@email.com, EDU, REF, 10/1/2025, Applied
INQ005, Emily Brown, emily.b@email.com, BUS, FAIR, 10/8/2025, Inquiry
INQ006, Michael Johnson, m.johnson@email.com, CS, WEB, 10/15/2025, Enrolled
INQ007, Ashley Davis, ashley.d@email.com, ART, SOC, 10/22/2025, Applied
INQ008, Ryan Martinez, ryan.m@email.com, NUR, WEB, 11/3/2025, Admitted
INQ009, Jessica Taylor, j.taylor@email.com, Bus, REF, 11/10/2025, Inquiry
INQ010, Chris Anderson, , BUS, FAIR, 11/18/2025, Applied
INQ011, Lauren Thomas, lauren.t@email.com, CS, SOC, 12/1/2025, Enrolled
INQ012, Daniel White, d.white@email.com, EDU, WEB, 12/9/2025, Inquiry
INQ013, Sophia Harris, sophia.h@email.com, NUR, FAIR, 1/7/2026, Admitted
INQ014, Ethan Clark, ethan.c@email.com, ART, REF, 1/14/2026, Applied
INQ015, Olivia Lewis, olivia.l@email.com, BUS, SOC, 1/22/2026, Enrolled
INQ016, Noah Robinson, noah.r@email.com, CS, WEB, 2/3/2026, Inquiry
INQ017, Isabella Walker, i.walker@email.com, NUR, FAIR, 2/11/2026, Applied
INQ018, Liam Hall, liam.h@email.com, EDU, SOC, 2/19/2026, Admitted
INQ019, Ava Young, ava.y@email.com, ART, WEB, 3/5/2026, Enrolled
INQ020, Mason King, mason.k@email.com, BUS, REF, 3/15/2026, Inquiry

What should I notice about this data?

Two things are deliberately off. Row 3 (Maria Lopez) and Row 10 (Chris Anderson) have blank Email cells. Row 9 (Jessica Taylor) has Bus in lowercase instead of BUS. These imperfections simulate real-world messy data.

The dates span from September 2025 through March 2026. The Status column uses four values: Inquiry, Applied, Admitted, and Enrolled. These represent stages in a student's recruitment pipeline.

Save this workbook as Inquiries.xlsx inside your College Dashboard folder.
Confirm all three files are in the folder. Open College Dashboard in File Explorer. You should see Inquiries.xlsx, Programs.xlsx, and Sources.xlsx alongside your College Recruitment Dashboard.pbix file.

Import the data into Power BI

With all three files ready, it's time to pull the data into Power BI Desktop so you can start building visuals.

Switch back to Power BI Desktop where your College Recruitment Dashboard.pbix is open.
On the Home ribbon, select Get data.
In the Get Data window, select Excel Workbook, then select Connect.
Browse to your College Dashboard folder, select Inquiries.xlsx, and select Open.
In the Navigator window, check the box next to the sheet name to select it.
Select Load.

The Inquiries table now appears in the Fields pane on the right. Expand it by clicking the arrow next to its name to see the seven columns you created.

Repeat the same process for Programs.xlsx: select Home > Get data > Excel Workbook, browse to Programs.xlsx, check the sheet in the Navigator, and select Load.
Repeat once more for Sources.xlsx.

Your Fields pane should now list three tables: Inquiries, Programs, and Sources. Expand each one to confirm their columns are visible.

Don't see all three tables?

Make sure you loaded each file by selecting Load (not Transform Data) in the Navigator window. If a table is missing, use Get data again to import the missing file.

If the Fields pane is not visible, select View on the ribbon and make sure Fields pane is checked.

Still stuck? Help me import Excel data into Power BI Desktop.

Build your first bar chart

Your data is loaded. Time to turn it into something visual.

Make sure you are in Report view (click the top icon in the left navigation pane if you are not already there).
In the Fields pane, expand the Inquiries table.
Check the box next to ProgramID. Power BI creates a table visual on the canvas.
In the Visualizations pane on the right, click the Clustered bar chart icon to switch the visual type.

What just happened?

When you checked ProgramID, Power BI counted how many rows share each ProgramID value and displayed the result. Switching to a clustered bar chart makes those counts easy to compare at a glance.

Before you look closely at the chart, take a moment. How many program bars do you expect to see? There are five program codes in your Programs table (BUS, CS, NUR, EDU, ART).

Now look at the chart. You should see six bars, not five. Both BUS and Bus appear as separate bars. Power BI treats them as different values because the casing does not match.

Save your report by pressing Ctrl+S.

Why does this matter?

This is exactly what happens with real-world data. One person types BUS and another types Bus. Without cleaning the data, your charts will be inaccurate. You'll fix this in the next step using Power Query.

Your first chart is on the canvas, and you've already spotted a data quality problem. Next up, you'll use Power Query to clean the messy data and make that duplicate bar disappear.

Fix Messy Data with Power Query

Your first bar chart is on the canvas. Take a closer look at the program bars.

BUS and Bus are showing up as two separate entries. You need to fix this data quality issue before your dashboard can be trusted.

In this step, get ready to:

Open Power Query Editor to access the data cleaning workspace.
Remove blank rows and standardize inconsistent values in the Inquiries table.
Fix data types so dates are recognized correctly.

Open Power Query Editor

Power BI includes a built-in tool called Power Query for cleaning data without changing the original Excel files.

On the Home tab of the Ribbon, click Transform data.

The Power Query Editor opens with your three tables listed in the Queries pane on the left.

What is Power Query?

Power Query records every transformation you make as a named step. Your original Excel files stay exactly as they are.

When you refresh your data later, Power BI replays all the steps automatically. This means your cleaning is repeatable and consistent every time.

Remove blank rows and standardize values

Your Inquiries data has two problems. Some rows have blank email addresses, and one row spells the program code as Bus instead of BUS.

In the Queries pane on the left, click the Inquiries query.
Click the dropdown arrow on the Email column header.
Uncheck (Blanks) in the filter list.
Click OK.

The data preview updates immediately. The rows with blank email addresses are gone.

Click the ProgramID column header to select the entire column.
Select the Transform tab on the Ribbon.
Click Format.
Select UPPERCASE.

Every value in the ProgramID column is now uppercase. The lowercase Bus entry has been converted to BUS.

What are Applied Steps?

Look at the Applied Steps pane on the right side of the Power Query Editor. You will see two new entries: Filtered Rows and Uppercased Text.

Each action you took was recorded as a named step. Power Query replays these steps every time you refresh your data, so your cleaning runs automatically.

Changes not appearing in the data preview?

Make sure you selected the Inquiries query in the Queries pane before applying any transformations. Clicking a different query applies the change to the wrong table.

For the uppercase step, confirm you clicked the ProgramID column header to select the entire column before going to Transform > Format > UPPERCASE.

Help me troubleshoot why my Power Query transformations are not working

Fix data types and apply your changes

The InquiryDate column may be stored as text instead of a proper date. Fixing this ensures Power BI can sort and filter by date correctly.

Look at the icon to the left of the InquiryDate column header. If it shows ABC, the column is currently stored as text.

Click the data type icon to the left of the InquiryDate column header.
Select Date from the dropdown list.

The dates in the column now display in a standard date format instead of plain text.

Why does the data type matter?

When a date column is stored as text, Power BI treats each value as a word. It cannot sort dates in calendar order or let you filter by month or year.

Setting the type to Date unlocks time-based sorting, filtering, and grouping. You will use this in the Secret Mission when you build a monthly trend chart.

Before you head back to the Report view, predict what your bar chart will look like. Do you think BUS will still appear twice?

On the Home tab of the Ribbon, click Close & Apply.

Power BI applies your transformations and returns you to the Report view.

Look at your clustered bar chart. BUS now appears only once because Power Query converted the lowercase Bus entry to uppercase.

Still seeing duplicate program bars?

Make sure you clicked Close & Apply on the Home tab. If you closed the Power Query Editor window directly, Power BI shows a pending changes dialog. Select Apply if you see this dialog.

Reopen Power Query Editor by clicking Transform data on the Home tab. Check that the Uppercased Text step appears in the Applied Steps pane for the Inquiries query.

Help me fix my Power Query cleaning so the bar chart shows each program only once

Your data is clean and trustworthy. Next up, you will connect your tables into a proper data model so the bar chart can show full program names instead of codes.

Build a Star Schema Data Model

In the last step, you cleaned messy data with Power Query. Your bar chart now shows each program exactly once.

There is still a problem, though. The chart displays cryptic codes like BUS and CS instead of useful names like "Business Administration" and "Computer Science."

The friendly names already exist in your Programs table, but Power BI has no idea the two tables are related. In this step, you will connect your tables so Power BI can look up the right name automatically.

In this step, get ready to:

Explore Model view to see how your tables are laid out.
Create relationships between the Inquiries, Programs, and Sources tables.
Update your bar chart to display friendly program names instead of codes.

Switch to Model view

Right now your three tables are loaded into Power BI, but they do not know about each other. Model view gives you a visual map of every table and the connections between them.

Click the Model view icon in the left navigation pane (it is the third icon from the top, below Report and Data).

You should see your three tables (Inquiries, Programs, and Sources) displayed as separate boxes on the canvas.

What is a star schema?

A star schema is a data modeling pattern where one central "fact" table holds the raw events you want to analyze, and smaller "dimension" tables surround it with descriptive labels.

In your model, the Inquiries table is the fact table. It stores every prospective student interaction. The Programs and Sources tables are dimension tables. They translate codes like BUS into readable names like "Business Administration."

When you draw relationship lines from the center to each dimension, the shape looks like a star. That is where the name comes from.

Already see relationship lines?

Power BI sometimes auto-detects relationships when column names match across tables. If you already see lines connecting the tables, you will verify they are correct in the next substep. If no lines exist, that is fine too.

Create table relationships

To build the star schema, you need to tell Power BI which columns link each dimension table back to the Inquiries fact table. You will create two relationships: one for programs and one for marketing sources.

Select the Modeling tab on the Ribbon.
Select Manage relationships.
In the Manage relationships dialog, select New.
In the first table dropdown, select Inquiries. Then select ProgramID as the column.
In the second table dropdown, select Programs. Then select ProgramID as the column.
Confirm the Cardinality is set to Many to one (*:1).
Confirm the Cross filter direction is set to Single.
Select OK.

What do these relationship settings mean?

Many to one (*:1) means many rows in Inquiries can point to one row in Programs. Five students might all inquire about the same program.

Single cross-filter direction means filters flow from the dimension table (Programs) to the fact table (Inquiries). When you click a program name in a chart, Power BI filters the inquiries. It does not filter in the opposite direction.

Now create the second relationship for marketing sources.

Select New again in the Manage relationships dialog.
In the first table dropdown, select Inquiries. Then select SourceID as the column.
In the second table dropdown, select Sources. Then select SourceID as the column.
Confirm the Cardinality is Many to one (*:1) and Cross filter direction is Single.
Select OK.
Select Close to close the Manage relationships dialog.

You should now see lines connecting the Inquiries box to both Programs and Sources in Model view. Hover over a line to confirm it connects the correct columns.

Don't see relationship lines?

Make sure you selected OK after configuring each relationship, not just Close. Closing without clicking OK discards the new relationship.

If you see an error saying one of the columns must have unique values, double-check that you selected Programs (not Inquiries) as the second table for the first relationship. The dimension table must have unique IDs.

Help me figure out why my relationship lines aren't showing up in Model view.

Update your bar chart with program names

Your tables are now connected. The real payoff is that Power BI can follow a relationship line from a code in Inquiries to its friendly label in Programs.

Click the Report view icon in the left navigation pane (the top icon) to return to your report.
Click on your existing bar chart to select it.

Before you make the next change, think about what you expect to happen. If you swap the ProgramID codes on the axis with ProgramName from the Programs table, what should the chart look like?

In the Visualizations pane, find the Axis area. Click the X next to ProgramID to remove it.
In the Fields pane on the right, expand the Programs table.
Drag ProgramName into the Axis area in the Visualizations pane.

The bar chart now shows full program names: Business Administration, Computer Science, Digital Arts, Education, and Nursing. Power BI followed the relationship you created to look up each name automatically.

Save your report by pressing Ctrl+S.

Still seeing codes instead of names?

Make sure you dragged ProgramName from the Programs table, not from Inquiries. The Inquiries table does not have a ProgramName column.

If ProgramName does not appear under Programs in the Fields pane, switch to Model view and confirm the relationship line between Inquiries and Programs exists. If it is missing, go back to the previous substep and create it.

Help me troubleshoot why my bar chart still shows program codes instead of names.

Your star schema is in place. Every visual you build from now on can pull friendly names from Programs and Sources instead of raw codes. Next up, you will write DAX measures to calculate dynamic metrics like conversion rate, and assemble the full dashboard.

Write DAX Measures and Assemble the Dashboard

Your star schema is working. The bar chart shows real program names like Business Administration instead of codes, thanks to the relationships you created in the last step.

A simple row count is useful, but it is not enough. When someone clicks a filter on the dashboard, you need metrics like conversion rate and enrolled count that recalculate on the spot. That is exactly what DAX measures do.

In this step, get ready to:

Create three DAX measures for tracking inquiries, enrollment, and conversion rate.
Add card visuals and a donut chart to show key metrics at a glance.
Build a semester slicer that filters the entire dashboard by time period.

Create your first DAX measures

DAX stands for Data Analysis Expressions. It is the formula language Power BI uses to create calculations that respond to filters and slicers in real time.

What is a DAX measure?

Unlike a regular column that stores a fixed value in every row, a DAX measure is a formula that recalculates its result every time someone clicks a filter, slicer, or chart segment. The number you see always reflects the current view of the data.

Select the Inquiries table in the Fields pane on the right.
Select Home > New measure on the Ribbon.
Type this formula into the formula bar and press Enter:

Total Inquiries = COUNTROWS(Inquiries)

A new item called Total Inquiries appears under the Inquiries table in the Fields pane with a small calculator icon. That icon tells you it is a measure, not a column.

With the Inquiries table still selected, select Home > New measure again.
Type this formula into the formula bar and press Enter:

Total Enrolled = CALCULATE(COUNTROWS(Inquiries), Inquiries[Status] = "Enrolled")

Create one more measure by selecting Home > New measure.
Type this formula and press Enter:

Conversion Rate = DIVIDE([Total Enrolled], [Total Inquiries], 0)

Expand the Inquiries table in the Fields pane. You should see three new items with calculator icons: Total Inquiries, Total Enrolled, and Conversion Rate.

What do these three measures do?

COUNTROWS(Inquiries) counts every row in the Inquiries table. When a filter is active, it counts only the rows that match.
CALCULATE takes the same row count but adds a condition: only count rows where Status equals "Enrolled". This gives you enrolled students only.
DIVIDE safely divides enrolled count by total inquiries. The 0 at the end tells Power BI to return zero instead of an error if there are no inquiries.

Don't see the calculator icons?

Make sure you selected the Inquiries table before clicking New measure. If a measure lands in the wrong table, right-click it in the Fields pane and select Move to > Inquiries.
Check the formula bar for red underlines. A typo in a table or column name causes DAX to reject the formula.

Why aren't my DAX measures showing up in the Fields pane?

Add card visuals and a donut chart

Your measures exist in the data model, but nobody can see them yet. Card visuals display a single headline number. They are perfect for putting your three measures front and center on the dashboard.

Click an empty area of the Report canvas so no existing visual is selected.
In the Visualizations pane, select the Card visual icon.
Drag Total Inquiries from the Fields pane into the Fields well of the card.
Resize and drag the card to the top-left area of the canvas.

You should see a card on the canvas displaying the total number of inquiries as a single bold number.

Click an empty area of the canvas, then add another Card visual.
Drag Total Enrolled into its Fields well.
Position this card next to the first one across the top of the canvas.
Repeat one more time: add a third Card visual and drag Conversion Rate into its Fields well.

The Conversion Rate card probably shows a decimal like 0.25 instead of a percentage. You need to format it.

Select the Conversion Rate measure in the Fields pane (click the measure name itself, not the card visual).
On the Measure tools tab that appears on the Ribbon, set the format to Percentage.

The card now shows a percentage value like 25%. You should see three cards across the top of the canvas showing total inquiries, total enrolled, and conversion rate.

Now add a donut chart to show where prospective students are coming from.

Click an empty area of the canvas.
In the Visualizations pane, select the Donut chart icon.
Drag SourceName from the Sources table into the Legend well.
Drag Total Inquiries into the Values well.
Position the donut chart on the right side of the canvas, next to your bar chart.

The donut chart shows colored slices for each marketing source: College Website, College Fair, Social Media, and Referral. Hover over a slice to see the inquiry count for that source.

Why use Total Inquiries instead of a column?

You could drag a raw column like InquiryID into the Values well and Power BI would auto-count it. The difference is that a DAX measure gives you full control over the calculation. When you add slicers and filters later, the measure recalculates correctly every time.

Select your existing bar chart on the canvas.
In the Visualizations pane, find the Values well. Remove the existing field by clicking the X next to it.
Drag Total Inquiries into the Values well to replace the old count.

The bar chart still looks the same, but it is now powered by your DAX measure instead of a raw column count. This makes it consistent with every other visual on the page.

Card showing the wrong number?

Make sure you dragged the measure (calculator icon) into the card, not a column (table icon). A column produces a different aggregation.
If the Conversion Rate shows a decimal instead of a percentage, click the Conversion Rate measure name in the Fields pane and check that the Measure tools tab format is set to Percentage.

Why is my card visual not showing the right value?

Add a semester slicer and arrange the layout

Your dashboard has charts and cards, but there is no way to filter everything by time period. A slicer lets anyone click a semester and watch every visual update at once.

Your data has exact dates, but most college staff think in semesters. You need a Semester column that labels each inquiry as Fall 2025 or Spring 2026.

Right-click the Inquiries table in the Fields pane.
Select New column.
Type this formula into the formula bar and press Enter:

Semester = IF(Inquiries[InquiryDate] < DATE(2026,1,1), "Fall 2025", "Spring 2026")

What does this formula do?

IF checks whether each inquiry's date falls before January 1, 2026. If it does, the column value becomes "Fall 2025". Otherwise it becomes "Spring 2026".

Unlike a measure, a calculated column stores a value in every row of the table. You can see it by switching to Data view (the second icon in the left navigation).

Switch to Data view by clicking the second icon in the left navigation pane.
Select the Inquiries table. Scroll right to find the new Semester column. Every row should show either Fall 2025 or Spring 2026.
Switch back to Report view by clicking the first icon in the left navigation pane.

Now add the slicer visual that uses this column.

Click an empty area of the canvas.
In the Visualizations pane, select the Slicer visual icon.
Drag the Semester column from the Inquiries table into the Field well.
Position the slicer in the upper-right corner of the canvas.

A slicer appears with two options: Fall 2025 and Spring 2026.

Arrange all your visuals neatly: three cards across the top, bar chart on the left, donut chart on the right, and the slicer in the upper corner.
Save your report by pressing Ctrl+S.

Before you test, take a guess: when you click Fall 2025 in the slicer, which visuals do you think will change?

Click Fall 2025 in the slicer.

Every visual on the page updates. The cards show only Fall 2025 numbers. The bar chart and donut chart filter to show only inquiries from that semester.

Now click one of the program bars in the bar chart.

The donut chart and card visuals cross-filter to show data for just that program. Click the same bar again to clear the filter. This is the interactive behavior that makes Power BI dashboards powerful.

Slicer not filtering the other visuals?

Make sure you used the Semester column, not the InquiryDate column. A date column produces a range slider instead of clickable options.
Confirm your table relationships are still intact by switching to Model view. You should see lines connecting the three tables.

Why isn't my slicer filtering the other visuals on my Power BI dashboard?

Secret mission

Add a Monthly Inquiry Trend Page

Your dashboard gives a powerful snapshot of the recruitment pipeline. But stakeholders always ask about the trend. In this secret mission, you'll add a second report page with a line chart showing monthly inquiry volume over time, so you can spot whether recruitment efforts are gaining or losing momentum.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely on your local machine using Power BI Desktop (a free application) and Excel files you created. There are no cloud resources, subscriptions, or ongoing costs.

Resources you used:

College Dashboard folder on your Desktop, containing College Recruitment Dashboard.pbix, Inquiries.xlsx, Programs.xlsx, and Sources.xlsx.
Power BI Desktop application (installed from the Microsoft Store).

Decide whether to keep your files for future reference, close Power BI Desktop to free up memory, or delete everything entirely.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you plan to keep building on your dashboard or want to reference it later.

Your .pbix report file and all three Excel files stay in the College Dashboard folder on your Desktop.
You can reopen College Recruitment Dashboard.pbix anytime to modify visuals, add new data, or practice more DAX measures.
If your organization has Power BI Pro or Premium licenses, you can publish the report by selecting Home > Publish on the Ribbon and choosing a workspace.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Close Power BI Desktop to free up memory. Your files remain on your Desktop for when you are ready to return.

Save any unsaved changes by pressing Ctrl+S.
Close Power BI Desktop.
Your College Dashboard folder and all files inside it remain on your Desktop, ready to reopen whenever you come back.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project files and optionally uninstall Power BI Desktop from your machine.

Close Power BI Desktop if it is still open.
Open File Explorer and navigate to your Desktop.
Right-click the College Dashboard folder and select Delete. This removes your .pbix report file and all three Excel data files.
To uninstall Power BI Desktop, open Settings.
Select Apps, then Installed apps.
Search for Power BI Desktop, click the three-dot menu next to it, and select Uninstall.

Nice Work!

You just built a fully interactive college recruitment pipeline dashboard in Power BI Desktop. From raw spreadsheet data to a polished, cross-filtering report, you now have hands-on experience with the full Power BI workflow.

You've learned how to:

Clean messy data with Power Query Editor by removing blanks, standardizing text with UPPERCASE, and fixing data types, with every transformation tracked as an Applied Step.
Build a star schema data model by creating Many-to-one relationships between a central Inquiries fact table and Programs and Sources dimension tables.
Write DAX measures using COUNTROWS, CALCULATE, and DIVIDE to power a multi-visual dashboard with bar charts, donut charts, card visuals, and a slicer that all cross-filter together.
Secret Mission: Add a second report page with a line chart showing monthly inquiry trends over time.

Ready to quiz yourself?