UseRelationship or Role-Playing Dimension; Dealing with Inactive Relationships in Power BI

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Reza Rad

In a Power BI model, relationships are important for passing filters, filter propagates through relationships. However, sometimes you create the relationship between two tables, and the relationship is a dashed line. In this post, I’ll explain to you everything you need to know about a dashed relationship, or as it called Inactive relationship. I will Read more about UseRelationship or Role-Playing Dimension; Dealing with Inactive Relationships in Power BI[…]

Power BI Date Dimension; Default or Custom? Is It Confusing?

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Reza Rad

If you have worked with Power BI for some time, you know that there are two types of the Date dimensions; Custom or built-in/Default. It is always confusing for people, that which date dimension is good to use, and what is the difference between these two approaches. Also based on the selection of the type Read more about Power BI Date Dimension; Default or Custom? Is It Confusing?[…]

Reference vs Duplicate in Power BI; Power Query Back to Basics

Posted on September 25, 2018September 6, 2024 by Reza Rad

When you work with tables and queries in Power Query and Power BI, you get the option to copy them through these actions: Duplicate, or Reference. It has been always a question in my sessions and courses that what is the actual difference between these two actions. The explanation is simple but very important to Read more about Reference vs Duplicate in Power BI; Power Query Back to Basics[…]

DatesInPeriod vs DatesBetween; DAX Time Intelligence for Power BI

Posted on September 11, 2018October 4, 2021 by Reza Rad

There are many time intelligence functions in DAX, and each of those is helping in aspects of analyzing data on dates. There are two functions which work very similar to each other but have a bit different usage; DatesInPeriod, and DatesBetween. In this post, I will show you what is the difference between these two Read more about DatesInPeriod vs DatesBetween; DAX Time Intelligence for Power BI[…]

Master Detail Design with Drillthrough Filter in Power BI

Posted on September 3, 2018May 30, 2019 by Reza Rad

One of the most common requirements in any reporting solution is the ability to drill through from master page to the details page and see the details of an item or category. In this post, I will explain how this feature is simply possible in Power BI, and what are things to consider when you Read more about Master Detail Design with Drillthrough Filter in Power BI[…]

Watch Your Steps! Power Query Performance Caution for Power BI

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Reza Rad

I work with Power Query transformations every day these days, and I want to share one simple, but critical caution with you. If you use Power Query a lot, this tip can improve the performance of your transformation significantly. The number of steps that you add in a query counts in the performance of your Read more about Watch Your Steps! Power Query Performance Caution for Power BI[…]

What is the Direction of Relationship in Power BI?

Posted on July 11, 2018October 7, 2021 by Reza Rad

Relationships in Power BI are a bit different from other database management systems. In most of the systems, you just have a relationship and there is no “Direction” for it. In Power BI, however, there is a direction for the relationship. The direction of a relationship plays a critical role in the way that filtering Read more about What is the Direction of Relationship in Power BI?[…]

Search for a Column in the Entire Database with Table.ColumnNames in Power Query and Power BI

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Reza Rad

Sometimes for tables with too many columns, and also for databases with too many tables, you do need a bit of help to explore the data. As an example; you know that you are looking for a column named “account status”, but the column does not exists in the accounts table. You need to search Read more about Search for a Column in the Entire Database with Table.ColumnNames in Power Query and Power BI[…]

Parsing Organizational Hierarchy or Chart of Accounts in Power BI with Parent-child Functions in DAX

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Reza Rad

Parent-child functions in DAX are very useful for parsing an organizational hierarchy or something like a chart of accounts. Usually, for hierarchies that the number of levels is not determined, you need to use a different method, and parent-child functions in DAX are a big help for that type of hierarchies. In this post, you Read more about Parsing Organizational Hierarchy or Chart of Accounts in Power BI with Parent-child Functions in DAX[…]