In this hands-on demo, Maven Analytics Founder Chris Dutton introduces Power BI’s brand new visual calculations (released to preview in February 2024).
We’ll break down exactly how visual calculations can be applied in Power BI Desktop, explore common use cases like running totals, percent of parent and positional reference calculations, then review some of the major pros and cons compared to traditional DAX measures and calculated columns.
As a bonus, you can follow along by downloading the same dashboard used in the demo, or build it yourself from scratch when you enroll in our best-selling Power BI Desktop course.
🔗 Links to resources:
👉AdventureWorks Power BI file (pbix):
https://maven-datasets.s3.amazonaws.com/AdventureWorks+Power+BI+Report/AdventureWorks+Report_FINAL.pbix.zip
👉Maven Analytics Power BI Desktop course: https://mavenanalytics.io/course/microsoft-power-bi-desktop
👉Power BI February 2024 Feature Summary: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-february-2024-feature-summary/
👉Microsoft Visual Calc Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-visual-calculations-overview
⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - What are visual calculations?
02:05 - Key benefits of visual calcs
03:12 - Calculation templates
04:50 - DEMO: Running sum
05:52 - DEMO: Moving average
06:58 - DEMO: Positional references (Previous, Next, First, Last)
09:01 - Showing/hiding calculated fields
11:08 - Formatting visual calculations
12:21 - DEMO: Percent of parent
14:23 - DEMO: Percent of grand total
15:30 - DEMO: Average of children
17:23 - Modifying bar charts
19:19 - Pros & cons of visual calcs
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