Development tools for Tabular models in 2021
This article is the state-of-the-art guide of the development tools for Power BI and Analysis Services models, providing guidance to improve productivity and access to new features. Microsoft recently...
View ArticleBest Practices Using SUMMARIZE and ADDCOLUMNS
Everyone using DAX is probably used to SQL query language. Because of the similarities between the Tabular data modeling and the relational data modeling, there is the expectation that you can perform...
View ArticleCreating table functions in DAX using DETAILROWS
This article describes how to use the detail rows expression of a measure to obtain the equivalent of creating table functions in DAX. This allows the reusing of a table expression in multiple...
View ArticleControlling drillthrough using Detail Rows Expressions in DAX
The Detail Rows Expression in a Tabular model provides the user with control over the drillthrough results obtained by showing details of a measure. This article describes typical DAX expressions you...
View ArticleHeader/Detail vs Star Schema models in Tabular and Power BI
In this article we perform a performance comparison between header/detail models and star schemas. Building a star schema might require a few ETL steps and some coding. Nonetheless, it is always the...
View ArticleImplementing real-time updates in Power BI using push datasets instead of...
Push datasets are an efficient and inexpensive way to implement real-time updates in Power BI reports and dashboards. They can provide better performance and scalability than DirectQuery at the price...
View ArticleCreating real-time dashboards in Power BI with push datasets
Though you can build real-time reports with DirectQuery, push datasets offer a more scalable, economical, and effective solution especially when combined with an Import model already in place. In this...
View ArticleRelationships in Power BI and Tabular models
This article describes the types of relationships available in Power BI and Analysis Services, clarifying the differences in cardinality and filter propagation of physical relationships. UPDATE...
View ArticleDifferent options to model many to many relationships in Power BI and Tabular
There are two options to model many-to-many relationships using Tabular and Power BI: you can use either a regular bidirectional filter relationship, or a limited unidirectional relationship. In this...
View ArticleDifferent options to model many-to-many relationships in Power BI and Tabular
There are two options to model many-to-many relationships using Tabular and Power BI: you can use either a regular bidirectional filter relationship, or a limited unidirectional relationship. In this...
View ArticleIntroducing wholesale and retail execution in composite models
In composite models, any query can be executed on the remote model (wholesale execution) or by mixing local and remote engines together (retail execution). This article describes the differences...
View ArticleUnderstanding the interactions between composite models and calculation groups
When used in a composite model, calculation groups show a very unique behavior that a good DAX developer must understand well to build sound models. In this article we describe how composite models and...
View ArticleUnderstanding the interactions between composite models and calculation groups
This video explains how composite models and calculation groups work together. Indeed, they might show a very unique behavior that a good DAX developer must understand well to build sound models.
View ArticleIntroducing SUMMARIZECOLUMNS
This article explains how to use SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, which is a replacement of SUMMARIZE and does not require the use of ADDCOLUMNS to obtain good performance. UPDATE 2017-02-01: The SUMMARIZECOLUMNS...
View ArticleUsing ALLSELECTED in composite models
Using ALLSELECTED with no arguments in a remote model later used in a composite model might produce unexpected results. In this article we examine the topic and provide the reasons why ALLSELECTED...
View ArticleScripting syntax for calculation groups
This article introduces the syntax to describe in a textual form the DAX expressions and additional properties of calculation groups. When calculation groups were introduced in 2019, we did not have a...
View ArticleCalculating First and Second Year of Sales by Customer in #dax #powerpivot...
I recently wrote an article that describes how to calculate a measure (such a sales, but it could be anything else) considering for each customer its first 12 months, then months 13-24 and so on. In...
View ArticleCreating 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...
View ArticleCalculated Columns and Measures in DAX
One of the first concepts to learn in DAX is the difference between calculated columns and measures. This article shortly recaps the differences and describes when to use each one. Calculated columns...
View ArticleAbout waiting time for Power BI Desktop to open
Did you ever experience a long waiting time while opening a Power BI Desktop file? There could be many reasons for that, but if you have calculated columns and/or calculated tables in your model, you...
View ArticleHiding measures by using object-level security in Power BI
This article describes how to hide measures from a group of users by leveraging object-level security in Power BI and Analysis Services. Power BI datasets and Analysis Services models share a common...
View ArticleUsing GENERATE and ROW instead of ADDCOLUMNS in DAX
This article explains how to improve DAX queries using GENERATE and ROW instead of ADDCOLUMNS when you create table expressions. A very popular DAX function to manipulate columns in a table expression...
View ArticleNested grouping using GROUPBY vs SUMMARIZE
DAX introduced a GROUPBY function that should replace SUMMARIZE in some scenarios. This article describes how to use GROUPBY in nested grouping scenarios and other improvements. Limitations of...
View ArticleRegular and limited relationships in Power BI
This article describes what limited relationships are and the differences between regular and limited relationship in Power BI and DAX. UPDATE 2021-11-07: The terms “strong” and “weak” relationships...
View ArticleMany-to-many relationships in Power BI and Excel 2016
The new DAX available in Excel 2016 and the data model in Power BI and Analysis Services 2016 offer tools to manage many-to-many relationships in a more efficient way than previous version, as...
View ArticleBravo for Power BI 1.0 released!
The first version of Bravo for Power BI is now generally available! Bravo is your free and open-source trusted mate that helps you create a Power BI model by using a simple user interface. In March...
View ArticleFix incorrect dictionary size reported by VertiPaq Analyzer
There are cases where the dictionary size reported by VertiPaq Analyzer (used by DAX Studio, Bravo for Power BI, and Tabular Editor 3) does not correspond to the actual memory required by the...
View ArticleCustom Date Templates with Bravo for Power BI
This video explains how to create a Bravo for Power BI template to customize a Date table and the related Time Intelligence measures created by the tool.
View ArticleCustomizing date and time intelligence templates in Bravo for Power BI
This article explains how to create a Bravo for Power BI template to customize a Date table and the related Time Intelligence measures created by the tool. Thanks to Bravo for Power BI, creating a Date...
View ArticleWhat happened in DAX in 2022
A recap of the news in the DAX world in 2022 and a preview of what we expect in 2023. Happy New Year!
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