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Sorting duplicated names in a level of a hierarchy with DAX
This article describes how to use DAX calculated columns to sort names that look like duplicates at a certain level of a hierarchy, but are unique when considering their full path within the hierarchy....
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7 reasons DAX is not easy
DAX is simple, but it is not easy. I cannot remember how many times I read this sentence on social media, attributed to me. For good reason: I have repeated this sentence at almost every classroom...
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Distinguishing HASONEVALUE from ISINSCOPE
This article describes the differences between HASONEVALUE and ISINSCOPE, which are two useful DAX functions to control the filters and the grouping that are active in a report. HASONEVALUE and...
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Introducing LOOKUPVALUE
This article shows the reader how to use LOOKUPVALUE, which is a handy function for any developer to have in their toolbelt. LOOKUPVALUE is one of the most widely used functions, especially for DAX...
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Creating Calculation Groups in Power BI Desktop
Something really big is happening! The July 2020 version of Power BI Desktop allows you to create calculation groups in Power BI Desktop, thanks to the new “external tools” feature that enables the...
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Creating calculation groups in Power BI Desktop using Tabular Editor
Learn how to create your first calculation group in Power BI Desktop using Tabular Editor in this step-by-step video.
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Mark as Date table
Tabular models (including Power BI) require marking the Date table as a date table to get appropriate results with time intelligence calculations. This article explains why this setting is required. We...
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Arbitrary combination of measures and calculation items
The consumption experience following the introduction of calculation groups needs to be improved in Power BI. For example, the immediate advantage of having a time intelligence calculation group is...
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Understanding LOOKUPVALUE
The LOOKUPVALUE function retrieves values from a table in a simple way, but it involves a hidden level of complexity. This article provides full coverage of the LOOKUPVALUE internals, alongside several...
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Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop
Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop is an external tool for Power BI Desktop that with a single click creates a new Excel PivotTable connected to the data hosted in Power BI Desktop. By installing...
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Introducing Analyze in Excel for Power BI Desktop
Less than a month ago, Microsoft introduced the External Tools feature in the Power BI Desktop July 2020 release. By using DAX Studio, you were already able to create a PivotTable in Excel connected to...
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DAX Patterns, Second Edition
LAUNCH OFFER: the books on Amazon, Apple, and Google stores have a reduced price until August 31, 2020. Starting September 1, 2020, the ebook copy will be sold at US$ 29.99 and the paperback at US$...
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Announcing DAX Patterns second edition
Great news! Just one year after releasing the second edition of The Definitive Guide to DAX, we just published a new website, a new book, and a new collection of videos: the second edition of DAX...
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Default calculation item in calculation groups
Power BI offers several options to create filters and slicers in a report. However, it is not possible to define a default filter at the model level so that every new report on a dataset automatically...
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Creating KPIs in Power BI Desktop
This article describes how to create Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in a Power BI Desktop data model by using Tabular Editor. Starting from the July 2020 version, Power BI Desktop offers the...
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The hard truth in numbers
We all have biases. Personally, I kick myself whenever I identify that I have applied my biases when doing an evaluation of any kind. Unfortunately, this happens often because I work with numbers every...
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Using calculation groups to selectively replace measures in DAX expressions
This article describes how to use calculation groups to dynamically replace only a partial expression in a complex DAX calculation. This article contains a shorter technical description of the...
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Understanding the difference between LASTDATE and MAX in DAX
This article explains why in many cases, MAX should be used instead of LASTDATE to search for the last date in a time period using DAX. Many DAX newbies use LASTDATE to search for the last date in a...
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Creating a simpler and chart-friendly Date table in Power BI
A Date table in Power BI can have a smaller number of columns by leveraging custom format strings to adequately control the chart visualization and the sort order. Implementing a classic Date table A...
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Creating a service principal account for Power BI API
This article and its companion video describe how to create a service principal account to be used with the Power BI API. The reader must already be familiar with the Power BI API. There are many...
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External Tools for Power BI – London Power BI User Group
Power BI has an integration with external tools that can provide additional features and improve the productivity of report authors. In this session we see how this integration works and we analyze a...
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Set functions in DAX: UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT
This article describes the behavior of the DAX functions that manipulate sets; they are useful to create queries and sometimes also to author measures. In this article we refer to “set functions” as...
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Dynamic format strings with calculation groups
This article shows two techniques based on calculation groups: how to implement dynamic format strings in regular measures, and how to perform weight conversion on the fly. Each product in Contoso...
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KPIs in Tabular models for Power BI and Excel
A Tabular model can define a measure as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI), thus providing a visual indicator for status and trend. This article describes in detail the KPI settings needed to get the...
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Formula engine and storage engine in DAX
This article explains the roles of the formula engine and of the storage engine used to execute DAX queries. A large amount of Power BI users use DAX to write measures and calculated columns. However,...
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RANKX on multiple columns with DAX and Power BI
This article shows techniques to obtain a ranking based on more than one column. The ranking can be both static and dynamic. DAX offers the RANKX function to compute ranking over a table, based on...
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Optimizing memory settings in Analysis Services
This article describes the memory configuration in SQL Server Analysis Services and Azure Analysis Services. Modifying these settings may impact performance and memory errors. When you manage instances...
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Using calculation groups to switch between dates
This article shows how to use calculation groups to change the active relationship in a model in order to let users choose among multiple dates. It is common to find multiple dates in your Sales table....
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Import vs. DirectQuery in Power BI
Should you use Import or DirectQuery data connectivity mode for your Power BI models? Let’s make the right choice by comparing the performance and scalability of the two options!
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New composite models in Power BI: A milestone in Business Intelligence
Power BI sets a new milestone in Business Intelligence: Marco describes the importance of new composite models in an article, and Alberto shows them in action in a video. Microsoft released a new...
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