What are Dataflows and how do they fit into the big Power BI data modeling picture? This article will demistify everything about the Power BI dataflows! — In the previous articles of the series, we’ve explained what happens when you hit the Publish button in Power BI Desktop. Assuming that you’re not using a Live connection mode, once you publish the report, two artifacts will be deployed to a destination workspace — the report itself, but also…

Are you dreaming of advancing your career by getting the most in-demand certificate? This course walks you through each and every topic necessary to master the skills required for the DP-500 exam (Azure Enterprise Data Analyst) — My dear Power BI and Synapse Analytics friends, today is the big day for me, as I have some news to share with you. You’ve probably gotten accustomed to reading my articles on various Power BI and Synapse Analytics topics, so you may find today’s article slightly (not slightly, but…

New window functions are one of the most important enhancements to the DAX language ever! Learn how to leverage them to calculate a customer lifetime value — In my previous “life” as a SQL professional, I’ve been using T-SQL window functions extensively for various analytic tasks. I’ve described one of the possible use cases in this article, but there are literally dozen of scenarios that can be quickly and intuitively solved by using window functions.

“DAX is simple, but not easy!” Let’s learn some of the DAX nuances that can make you a true Power BI hero! — “DAX is simple, but not easy!” — famously said Alberto Ferrari, when asked which best describes Data Analysis Expression language. And, that’s probably the most precise definition of the DAX. It may look very easy at first glance, but understanding nuances and how DAX really works, requires a lot of…

Slow data refresh process? Check this article to learn about the most common bottlenecks in the data refresh workflow! — Performance, performance, performance…We always strive to make our (Power) BI solutions more efficient! I’ve already written many articles on HOW to improve performance in multiple scenarios — for example — by reducing the overall data model size, or by taking advantage of the query folding feature, or by optimizing the…

Tired of slow and inefficient data refresh process? Learn how to leverage the Incremental refresh feature to speed up and optimize the data refresh — How many times have you bragged about the following: oh, no, I need to refresh my fact table, but it takes soooo long…Maybe it was happening because you haven’t used one of the key performance features when it comes to the data refresh process. Let’s try to explain the concept…

Is Tabular Editor a kind of magic wand that can help you transform data model “monsters” into “beauties” with a few clicks? Almost! Learn how to leverage the Best Practice Analyzer extension in Tabular Editor to quickly get your model in optimal shape — In the previous article, we’ve explained how to leverage DAX Studio free external tool to troubleshoot poorly performing DAX queries. Now it’s time to switch our focus to another extremely popular external tool — Tabular Editor! I’ve already written about Tabular Editor and some of its features that can significantly…

Different data source systems store the data in different ways! Parent-child hierarchies may be a decent challenge to solve in your data modeling workflow — In an ideal world, all of our data would have come to the reporting solution cleaned, shaped, and well-structured, so our only task should be to drag the numbers in the visuals and let our report users slice and dice however they like. However, there is no “Data Utopia” in…

Designing Power BI reports is one thing, but designing for accessibility requires a whole different mindset — As you may know, the same report may look completely different across different devices. Power BI report that contains exactly the same data points, looks quite different on a desktop compared to a mobile phone. Similar applies to different persons — you have to keep in mind that your users…