PowerPoint remains as one of the best programs for creating presentations. It has the ability to finalize a business report in a visually pleasing and more usable way, especially when compared to other tools like Access or Excel. Read on below and learn a few reasons why you should use PowerPoint reports on data coming from databases.
Why Use PowerPoint for Business Reporting?
If you are not using PowerPoint yet for your business presentations and business reporting as well, then you are actually missing out on several key advantages. Here are some of the top reasons why it makes good business sense to use PowerPoint:
Add more visual impact and energy to your reports or presentations.
Easily collaborate with your colleagues during your presentation.
Incorporate customized video experience.
Access your reports or presentations on any location and device.
Create top quality presentations filled with amazing graphics
Mesmerize your audience using animations and transitions
Easily and more effectively organize your business presentation, even for print.
As you can clearly see, using PowerPoint for business is a must if you want to maximize on your business reports and presentation. Nevertheless, you will still need to prepare a data source for your presentation, and this is where databases come in. Learn the reasons why you should use the database as your data source for PowerPoint reporting here:
Why Use Database as Your PowerPoint Data Source?
While Excel is still a powerful and flexible program for preparing your data for PowerPoint presentation, it does have some limitations. Here is a brief overview of its pros and cons when it comes to using Excel as your PowerPoint data source:
Pros
Easy to fill and browse data
Easy to distribute copies of files
Flexible structure since each cell is like a unique snowflake
Formulas transforming it into a high quality, living document
Relatively easy learning curve
Cons
No data integrity – Since each cell is basically unique, data can become very inconsistent. Excel usually tries to guess what the number represents and in many cases it is wrong.
It does not work well when combining multiple data sets.
It is not effective for answering more detailed questions about your data.
It does not scale easily, especially since as the data increases, the performance suffers along with the visual interface becoming a liability rather than a benefit.
It has a fixed limit on the size of spreadsheets.
Collaboration is difficult, especially when there are many people currently working on one project simultaneously.
Enter Databases
An alternative solution to powering your PowerPoint presentation or business report is using a database. In general, a database is a server where you can store your data, just like a big library, along with a way of querying that data, such as for creating your presentation. Databases usually care about the different relationships that exist between your data and make sure that everything is in the right place. That is why using databases for PowerPoint is quite efficient.
Why Use Database with PowerPoint?
Logical storage – Database encourages you to store your data logically in its table. This enables you to store the right kind of data in each column. While Excel would let you continue filling in data even if it is in the wrong column, Database would immediately stop if you enter the wrong type of data in your tables.
Allow for a more structurally sound dataset, with now merged or irregular cells.
Easy to create different reports from different categories of data.
Pure focus on data – Database ignores any visual presentation and rather focuses on ensuring quality data. However, that means that you must pair or plug it into another program like PowerPoint to make sense of all the data. This additional step is what turns many people off when it comes to using data.
Extremely scalable – By being very good at storing and processing data, databases are very scalable. Whether you want one million or ten million rows of data, there is no limit regarding the amount of data or even the complexity of your queries.
How can you link Database to PowerPoint?
The main question is whether or not PowerPoint works with Access. While these two apps can integrate well with each other, it will require using a third-party app like DataPoint. This is because the integration is not inbuilt into either PowerPoint or the database. So, it is very important that you find the right integration app to ensure a smooth and efficient integration.
Joining your database to your PowerPoint presentation or report is very beneficial. In some cases, you may find that you need to prepare several identical PowerPoint reports that only differ by datasets that change with time. By deciding to pull the information directly from a database, you can easily automate the process and thus eliminate most of the unnecessary manual work involved. Find out how DataPoint can help you join your Database to PowerPoint in a seamless way.
7 Reasons to Use PowerPoint to Create Reports on Data Coming from Databases
PowerPoint reporting is basically when specific slides in your presentation are connected to an external database in order to provide a type of real-time information. The tables and charts in your presentation will always contain updated figures and facts. The relevant data that you want to showcase will be presented using visually pleasing graphics.
While you can get the same set of reporting interfaces with programs like Word or Excel, the best option to use is PowerPoint. This is because it has unique features that make it the best tool for presentation. Some of these features include smooth transitions, fun animations and also the ability to create a more unified, professional feel and look.
You can easily accomplish this task through using an innovative reporting tool that has been designed specifically for generating reports from databases in the user-friendly PowerPoint interface. This is where DataPoint comes in. It is a highly advanced tool that enables real-time insertion of data from the database into a presentation. Furthermore, it integrates very easily with PowerPoint, regardless of template design.
1. Manual Creation of Snapshot Presentations
Generally, snapshot presentations refer to unique PowerPoint presentations that are linked to external sources of data, like databases, which is exported into the static presentation to allow either statistical analysis or distribution for people that cannot access the database. A good example of snapshot presentations at work is by considering a standard product catalog. Each page of the catalog has information about each product, along with pictures and pricing information. This means the user likely has a database document with all the necessary product information and also one PowerPoint slide. DataPoint offers the benefit of creating out every product, which means users will have a complete product catalog once the process of generating these snapshots is completed.
2. No Boring Data Listing, But Present Nice Totals on a Slide with Click through and Fun Animation
Data is very important, and we actually measure much more data today than ever before. However, data is just a number, and it does not have any meaning without explanation. We convert data into information only through comparing it closely to our desired standards, like goals, industry averages, market share and the previous numbers among other standards. It is only then that we can understand whether the data is below or above the sought after level.
DataPoint integration enables you to focus on the insight, rather than listing boring data and other information. It allows presenters to focus on the results of their analysis and what it means in relation to their business goals. Through linking databases to PowerPoint, gets you the nice totals you want on one slide with click-through and fun animations.
3. Extract Data from any Database with Real-Time Updates
To allow your managers to make more informed decisions that will impact your organization positively, you must ensure that you are providing them with updated reports and presentations. However, data is constantly changing, and there is no way of guaranteeing the accuracy of your reports if it is not backed by the most recent data. This is where the real-time updates from your database to PowerPoint through DataPoint will be highly invaluable.
With our advanced DataPoint tool, you can easily extract data from any database. This way, every time you open your presentation, you will always have the latest data. The end result is that your audience will be able to see the most recent data available and then make decisions accordingly.
4. Automated Reports with No Copy/Paste Mistakes
Since Databases do not automatically link to PowerPoint, many users are usually forced into copying the content from one application to the other when preparing presentations. As you are aware, human is to make errors, and you may end up with different results after copying if you made any mistake during the process. Besides making mistakes, doing this manual copying and pasting is also time-consuming and tiring.
With automated data extraction from Database into PowerPoint, you can now get more accurate presentations with less effort on your end. DataPoint offers immense convenience to the report preparation process by automating the extraction of data. In fact, you can even schedule your report automatically, for example, daily reporting and so on.
5. Mail Merging Functionality
As an important extension of the snapshot presentation feature, DataPoint users will also be able to create several documents from their chosen PowerPoint template. This means that each product in the catalog will get its own physical document, rather than one file that contains all products. The possibilities are endless with this particular feature.
You can create customized documents for specific clients of an insurance company or bank. All you need is to have a list of the potential clients and then the presentation will be created, with full personalization containing their names, figures and specific properties they are interested in. It is a very high level of personalization that you can’t get anywhere else apart from DataPoint. The benefits are immense as well as it will significantly improve consumer loyalty since they will see that you have taken the time to ensure that the presentation is made just for them.
6. Many People use Microsoft Office Suite for Collaboration
More than 1 billion consumers across the world use Microsoft Office, which is approximately one in seven people. Therefore, by using PowerPoint to present your database reports, you are actually creating something that will be relevant and usable to your audience. It is clear that databases are not very popular among many people, especially due to its perceived difficulty. By using the DataPoint tool, you can convert your data into easily usable presentations for collaboration.
7. Attractive Graphics for Presentation
Many professionals usually make a huge mistake by thinking that executives and their colleagues also love numbers just as much as them. This is why some presentations are quite boring and filled with numbers. Even though executives may have risen from various financial roles into their present role, they simply do not have the time to start figuring out all the different numbers and what they mean.
Conclusion
DataPoint allows you to make sense of your databases so that executives can get a clear picture of the current financial situation of the organization. Well-presented data helps gives insights, rather than the information or raw data. The ability of PowerPoint to create stunning presentations will also make your reports more enjoyable to view.
Are you using PowerPoint for your business presentations and are you looking for an automated solution to integrate with databases? Check out DataPoint today, and you will be very impressed with what this innovative tool can bring to your business.
See a list of data providers that DataPoint can work with
Integrations
How to link DataPoint to a SQL Database?
Link to SQL Database
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