DAX REVOLUTION!? Visual Calculations in Power BI

In this video I explore visual level calculations, a new way to write DAX that is easier.
Enjoy this video and subscribe to always stay updated on my favorite Power BI tricks :)

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📊 TRAININGS 📊
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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️
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00:00 Intro
00:50 Templates for visual level calculations
07:37 Running calculations
08:54 Rolling (window) calculations
13:14 Using parameters with visual level calculations
17:37 Comparison to table calculations in Tableau
19:03 Level of detail calculations
22:53 Reusing visual level calculations for conditional formatting and reference lines
24:30 Using visual level calculations in custom visuals
25:54 What native visuals do not support visual level calculations
26:47 Using calculation groups with visual level calculations
28:22 Direct query mode and visual level calculations
28:53 Speed: are visual level calculations quicker or slower?
31:41 End

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[happysunangel]

Hello I just want to say Thank you! My company restructured and I ended up in an analytics role that I know little about. I’ve used your videos to guide me and you have pulled me out of more jams than I can mention. So thank you for making these videos and teaching us all.

[ZebraBI]

Thank you for checking out our visual!
And yes, the on-visual PBI calculations do work in our visual, but honestly, we strive to make things easier for our users. So, the variances between values and other measures placed in the PY, PL, or FC (values – actuals, PY – Previous Year, PL – Plan, FC – Forecast) are all automatically calculated in the visual without the need for any DAX, calculations, etc. Just your basic measures.
And just an FYI to all who are watching, we have had our own version of on-visual calculations in our visuals for quite some time and have been receiving great reviews. We would be glad if you would check them out.

[TableauTim]

Fun fact (I'm sure Baz knows this but for everyone else) if you double click the sales pill at 18:22 you can adjust the control using a calculation interface. The nice Tableau UI is just adjusting these values for you but sometimes you get more control by tweaking the calculation yourself and you can also use this in tandem with other calculations for context. Great to see the comparison to Tableau.

[TheInfernalwing]

I just started learning power Bi for a month now and I was able to build my own dashboard. I am still learning DAX formula and this addition certainly will help me

[rodrigochavez]

The most complete video about Visual Calculations! I really enjoyed.
Thanks a lot Bas!

[WarooatDK]

Hi Bas, Please keep up the good work. Your research saves the rest of us lots of hours in trial and error!

[jacobstrandgaard]

First thing I notice is that it can remove some resource limitations and I already have a use case where it comes in handy.

However the use case will (even though I hate it) require that users can extract the list to excel. This is not possible with a Visual Level Calculation from what I see.

[maikelgoncalves]

Great video Bas. Thanks.

Since it is not possible to reuse these measurements, it seems completely useless to me for slightly larger projects. Maintenance would be hell.
Good for those just starting out.

[paulwyatt]

Thanks Bas for such a thorough review. It’s reassuring to know that visual calcs (VC) are more expensive than a structured DAX approach. Added to the inability to include in documentation tools and the other limitations of them, I can see exactly where I can use them and advise on their use.

To start, I will be using VCs when in discussions with the client, reviewing their data in real time. For those colleagues wanting to carry out local analysis but without the knowledge of advanced DAX, I will be strongly advocating VCs, which have the added advantage of saving me having to implement what would now be simple changes - moving a little closer to self service analytics?

VCs are fantastic for me moving from Tableau to PBI - very timely too as I’m currently converting my current models to PBI and have had to first learn the platform to know the best approach to start with!

[Silvertable]

Hi Bas, I am not sure if it's been raised in the comments already, but for the Running average VC (10:14 in the video) - in Q3 you have an MA for Q3 and Q2 (because you chose a window of 2, (67.95+71.49)/2=69.72). The Q1 is not included :)

[clasch]

The Switch to Tableau and compare the 2 BI Tools within its Features is Great! Could be a be another big advantage to watch your videos. Keep going! Thanks for this one 🎉

[Transformita]

Really neat and definitely something that's going to help users! Great video as always🔥

Going to be a pain maintaining reports heavily using these with calculations existing in the visual though. Would prefer them organised into nice measure tables 😅

[jimayas]

Great addition for that off the shelf calculation, especially for beginners...
Now matching tableau

[gnomesukno]

Thanks for evaluating the performance aspect of it. Rarely ever discussed when using new features. Great work!

[ricardopinxt]

Excellent again Bas @HowtoPowerBI. But I think there is a way to format number of the visual calculation.
Unfortunately I cannot copy past a screen here. But for instance when in your example you make your Running Sum.
Go to the Formatting option of your visual ( so the visual not formatting of the calculation).
There go to 'Specific Column', choose the series 'Running Sum', then from the Display Units choose millions and set the decimals to 2.
(only thing is you will get an M, but you could set the original the same)

[marcing]

Very detailed evaluation of current possibilities of VC, thanks. One remark, when using performance analzyer most relevant results are when you create blank page, restart PBI Desktop, turn on performance analzyer and then go to page you want to evaluate - this will clear the app cache and give more accurate results.

[karun]

Your videos are awesome and do help me to learn something new and try out-of-the-box things.

[elrevesyelderecho]

18:47 Microsoft hasn't been able to insert/offer Excel Pivot Tables UX in PBI something that Tableu is offering pretty much since day 1.

[yyymmmddd]

Great in-depth presentation. Thank you. But didn't they also promise to ease calculation of totals when you have a little more complicated calculation in a measure?

[elrevesyelderecho]

24:30 Thanks for this deep dive. Even considering you test things that the documentation already says it's NOT possible to do yet under the long Considerations and limitations list