For PMOs & Project Teams
Power BI custom visuals for project management
Portfolio timelines, RAG status and budget burn: the views a portfolio review walks through project by project.
For PMO leads, programme managers, portfolio analysts. AI-generated, .pbiviz output, source code yours.
By Nawaf Sharaf · Founder & Reliability Engineer · Updated
This is the team view: everything project management teams build in Power BI, from visuals to page templates. For a single dashboard job in depth (its visuals, DAX measures and prompts), jump to the 2 project management dashboard jobs below.
Portfolio reporting answers three questions for every project: is it on time, on budget and on scope, and what is at risk next. PMO data comes from a project tool, a finance system for actuals and a status template filled by project managers, usually joined in Power BI on project and period. Native Power BI handles tables, bars and the matrix that holds RAG status. Timelines are the gap: the native Gantt visual Power BI added in October 2026 is in preview and has no dependency arrows or baselines, so portfolio views often end up as images pasted from the planning tool, which go stale the day after the meeting. Budget burn against plan with forecast at completion and a heatmap of RAG status by project and dimension are the other views PMOs sketch.
VizForge generates those as Power BI custom visuals from a description and packages them as .pbiviz files for Power BI Desktop. A generated Gantt binds to tasks with start and end dates from your model, so it updates with every refresh. Describe the grouping (programme, project, workstream), the milestone markers and the today line in the prompt. For the page layout, the Design Studio has a project portfolio template with a sample model. Keep the status vocabulary identical to the project managers' template, so a project marked amber in the status report is amber on the page too.
What project management teams need
- The native Gantt visual is in preview, without dependency arrows or baselines (as of November 2026); pasted screenshots from the planning tool go stale
- RAG status is multi-dimensional (schedule, cost, scope, risk); one colour per project hides which dimension is red
- Budget burn needs plan, actual and forecast at completion on one view
- Milestones cluster at quarter ends; a calendar view shows the crunch weeks
- Portfolio reviews go project by project; the visual must drill from programme to project to task
Featured visuals for project management dashboards
Each card links to a full reference page with example prompts, data shape, and DAX measures. Generate any of these in under 5 minutes by describing what you want — no code, no developer time.
Portfolio timeline with milestones and today line.
Example: “Gantt of projects grouped by programme, bars from start to end date coloured by RAG status, diamonds for milestones, vertical today line, co…”
RAG by project and dimension.
Example: “Heatmap with projects as rows and schedule, cost, scope, risk as columns, cells coloured red/amber/green with the status letter for colour-b…”
Budget burn vs plan with forecast.
Example: “Bullet chart per project: actual spend to date bar, planned spend to date as a band, budget at completion as target line, forecast at comple…”
Milestones due per day.
Example: “Calendar heatmap of milestones due per day for the next two quarters, colour by count, hover lists milestone names.”
Budget changes from baseline.
Example: “Waterfall from baseline budget through approved change requests to current budget, one step per change request category.”
Projects at risk this period.
Example: “KPI card for number of projects with any red dimension, change vs last period and a small list of the top three by budget.”
Try one of these prompts
Click any prompt below to start a new visual. The prompt opens in your VizForge workspace pre-filled — edit it before generating, or generate as-is.
Example VizForge prompt
Portfolio Gantt chart grouped by programme with RAG-coloured bars, milestone diamonds, a today line and collapsible programme rows.
Example VizForge prompt
RAG heatmap: projects as rows, Schedule, Cost, Scope and Risk as columns, each cell showing R, A or G as text as well as colour.
Example VizForge prompt
Budget burn bullet chart per project with actual to date, planned to date, budget at completion and forecast at completion.
FAQ
Does the Gantt chart update when dates change in the planning tool?
Yes, once the new dates reach your model. The visual draws from the start and end date columns on every refresh.
Can it show dependencies between tasks?
If your model has a predecessor column, describe it in the prompt and the generated Gantt can draw connector lines. Keep dependency views to a single project; portfolio-wide links get unreadable.
How do I keep RAG readable for colour-blind viewers?
Ask for the status letter or an icon inside each cell. The status icons on this site's icon library also work in a native table with conditional formatting.
Is there a free PMO dashboard template?
Yes. The project portfolio template in the Design Studio downloads with a background, theme JSON and a PBIP project with sample data.
Ready to ship your project management dashboard this week?
5 free credits on signup. No card required. .pbiviz output is yours forever.
Generate your first project management visual →Building for another team? See all teams.
Project Management dashboard jobs
Each page goes deep on one dashboard: the recommended custom visuals, the DAX measures behind them and ready-to-paste prompts.
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Free project management dashboard templates
Free Design Studio page layouts for these dashboards: background image, theme JSON and PBIP project, no signup.
Project & PMO template
Project PortfolioLogo header, 4 RAG KPIs, roadmap + value/effort scatter, register + budget bars
Project & PMO template
Construction Project ControlsBand header, 5 KPIs, full-width earned-value S-curve, CPI bars + change-order table + safety columns
Executive template
Executive KPI ScorecardPlain header with two slicers, 5 KPI cards, trend + scorecard split
Real estate & workplace template
Real Estate Property PortfolioHeader band with logo, 5 KPIs, tall NOI map left, lease-expiry columns + occupancy bars + rent roll right
Real estate & workplace template
Workplace Space UtilisationPlain header, 5 slim KPIs, weekday × hour heatmap matrix + daily trend, floor bars + meeting-room table
Operations template
Energy ConsumptionHeader card, 4 KPIs, hourly area + source donut, site columns + load-profile matrix
Design the page around it, free
A custom visual looks best on a designed page. The free VizForge Design Studio lays out a branded report page at Power BI’s pixel size and exports the background image, a theme JSON and a PBIP project. No signup.
Open the free Design Studio →Data sources for project management reports
Where this team's data usually lives, and how to get it into Power BI: connector status, the tables to load and KPIs with DAX.
No connector of its own in Microsoft's list
Jira in Power BIJira data in Power BI
Connector in Microsoft's list
Excel in Power BIExcel data in Power BI
Connector in Microsoft's list
SharePoint lists in Power BISharePoint lists in Power BI with the SharePoint Online list connector
All Power BI data source guides
Synoptic panels for project management
Floor plans and site maps with regions coloured by a measure.