Shortly after announcing plans to combine Dynamics CRM and Dynamics ERP into a unified platform, Microsoft Corp. is rolling out an equally significant update for Power BI. Users will now be able to publish graphs they create in the data visualization tool on the web and easily share them with peers using a built-in collaboration mechanism. It’s similar to Google Apps in function.

To make a dashboard accessible for colleagues, all an analyst has to do is send them a link to the web page that contains it. Visualizations can still be edited after they’re published online and even configured to refresh automatically if the data on which they’re based is expected to change, Microsoft says. The functionality levels the playing field against rivaling visualization providers such as Tableau Software Inc. and Qlik Technologies Inc. that also provide the ability to publish graphs online.

All three vendors have the same value proposition: Enabling analysts to share pre-configured visualizations removes the need for business users to write a query every time they require some new snippet of information. In fact, interacting with a report created with Power BI doesn’t even require any SQL knowledge, which allows organizations to make their data accessible for more workers. A similar motive lies behind Power BI Embedded, the other major capability that was introduced as part of this week’s update.

The offering lets software makers embed interactive graphs in their software without having to build custom data visualization functionality from scratch, which can save a lot of resources. It also speeds up development in the process, meaning that applications are delivered faster. Microsoft says that the functionality lends itself to a wide variety of different of use cases. Simply Measured Inc., for instance, has incorporated Power BI graphs into its social media analytics tool to let marketers track customer sentiment more easily. And software maker AvePoint Inc. is using the tool to support its upcoming government automation platform.

Power BI Embedded will roll out next Monday, while the new visualization sharing feature is generally available now.

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