Advanced DAX For Business Intelligence

ADVANCED
DAX
for Business Intelligence
With Power BI Expert Aaron Parry
*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

COURSE STRUCTURE
This is a project-based course, for students looking to build expert-

level DAX skills through hands-on demos & assignments
Course resources include:

Downloadable PDF ebook to serve as a helpful reference when you’re
offline or on the go (or just need a refresher!)
Quizzes and Assignments to test and reinforce key concepts throughout the
course, with detailed step-by-step solutions
Interactive, hands-on demos to keep you engaged, with downloadable

project files that you can use to follow along from home
COURSE OUTLINE
Address the core DAX concepts you should already know,

1 Prerequisite Skills Review including evaluation context, filter flow, measures, etc.
Introduce the Maven Roasters course project, and build the

2 Introducing the Course Project data model that we’ll analyze throughout the course
Understand the DAX formula and storage engines, data types,

3 The DAX Engines VertiPaq encoding & compression methods, etc.
Review helpful tips for formatting queries, adding

4 Tips & Best Practices comments, handling errors, and using DAX variables
Explore common scalar functions, including rounding,

5 Scalar Functions information, conversion, and logical functions
Review CALCULATE modifiers, context transition,

6 Advanced CALCULATE interactions with tables, etc.

COURSE OUTLINE
Create calculated tables, review common filter functions,

7 Table & Filter Functions explore ways to create new datasets, etc.
Create calculated joins between physical and virtual

8 Calculated Table Joins tables
Explore expanded tables, physical & virtual relationships,

9 Relationship Functions common relationship functions, etc.
Explore iterator cardinality, nested iterators, context

10 Iterator Functions transition, RANKX, calculation granularity, etc.
Build date tables with DAX, compare custom time periods,

11 Advanced Time Intelligence manage fiscal calendars, etc.
Introduce the performance analyzer, common optimization

12 SNEAK PEEK: Performance Tuning techniques, and performance tuning tools

SETTING EXPECTATIONS
1 This course is for users who already have basic DAX skills
• It is strongly recommended that you complete our Up & Running with Power BI Desktop course, or have a
solid understanding of measures, calculated columns, evaluation context, and common DAX functions
2 What you see on your screen may not always match mine
• Power BI features are updated frequently (often monthly), so tools and interface options may change over time
• I’m using Windows 10 on a PC/Windows machine (note that Power BI Desktop is currently unavailable for Mac)
3 Our goal is to help you build expert-level DAX skills

• DAX is simple to learn at a basic level, but advanced skills require a deep understanding of storage & calculation
engines, table & filter functions, relationships, iterators, context transition, and more
4 This course focuses on using DAX for Business Intelligence

• We’ll take time to explore the inner-workings of the DAX engines, but our primary focus will be applying DAX to
real-world projects & case studies; we’re here to teach you how to become an analyst, not a programmer

HELPFUL DAX RESOURCES
DAX Formatter (daxformatter.com) by sqlbi.com is a great tool for

cleaning and formatting your DAX code, with options to
customize based on regional settings or personal preferences
www.Docs.Microsoft.com/en-us/dax DAX Guide (dax.guide) by sqlbi.com is DAX Studio is an open source tool
is the official Microsoft DAX reference a great resource to learn and explore that allows you to write, execute and
guide, and a great resource for DAX functions, category groups, analyze DAX queries, as well as
exploring DAX functions product compatibility, and more troubleshoot and optimize your code

POWER BI OPTIONS & SETTINGS
PREVIEW FEATURES DATA LOAD REGIONAL SETTINGS
1) In the “Preview Features” tab, 2) In the “Data Load” tab, deselect the 3) In the “Regional Settings” tab, make
deselect any active features while “Update Relationships”, “Autodetect new sure to use the “English (United States)”
you are taking this course relationships after data is loaded” and “Auto locale for import
date/time” options NOTE: You may need to update setting in both
the Current File and Global sections

PREREQUISITE SKILLS REVIEW

PREREQUISITE SKILLS REVIEW
This section reviews the core concepts you should already be familiar with,
including data modeling fundamentals (cardinality, filter flow, etc.) and
basic DAX (operators, evaluation context, common measures, etc.)
TOPICS WE’LL REVIEW:
Data & Lookup Tables Primary & Foreign Keys Relationship Cardinality Filter Flow
DAX Operators Common Functions Columns & Measures Evaluation Context

DATA TABLES VS. LOOKUP TABLES
Models generally contain two types of tables: data (or “fact”) tables, and lookup (or “dimension”) tables
• Data tables contain measurable values or metrics about the business (quantity, revenue, pageviews, etc.)
• Lookup tables provide descriptive attributes about each dimension in your model (customers, products, etc.)
This Calendar Lookup table provides additional attributes about each date (month, year, weekday, quarter, etc.)
This Product Lookup table provides additional attributes about each product (brand, name, retail price, etc.)
This Data Table contains “quantity” values, and connects

to lookup tables via the “date” and “product_id” columns
PRIMARY VS. FOREIGN KEYS
These columns are foreign keys; they These columns are primary keys; they uniquely identify each
contain multiple instances of each row of a table, and match the foreign keys in related data tables
value, and are used to match the
primary keys in related lookup tables

RELATIONSHIP CARDINALITY
Cardinality refers to the uniqueness of values in a column

• For our purposes, all relationships in the data model should
follow a “one-to-many” cardinality; one instance of each
primary key, but potentially many instances of each foreign key
In this case, there is only ONE instance of each ProductKey in the Products
table (noted by the “1”), since each row contains attributes of a single product
(Name, SKU, Description, Retail Price, etc)
There are MANY instances of each ProductKey in the Sales_Data table (noted
by the asterisk *), since there are multiple sales associated with each product

FILTER FLOW
Here we have two data tables (Sales_Data and Returns_Data),

connected to Territory_Lookup
Note the filter directions (shown as arrows) in each relationship;

by default, these will point from the “one” side of the relationship
(lookups) to the “many” side (data)
• When you filter a table, that filter context is passed along to all
related “downstream” tables (following the direction of the arrow)
• Filters cannot flow “upstream” (against the direction of the arrow)
PRO TIP:
Arrange your lookup tables above your data tables in your model as a visual reminder that filters flow “downstream”
*In some cases filters may default to “two-way” depending on your Power BI Desktop settings *Copyright 2018, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC
FILTER FLOW (CONT.)
In this case, the only valid way filter both Sales and Returns data by
Territory is to use the TerritoryKey field from the Territory_Lookup
table, which is upstream and related to both data tables
• Filtering using TerritoryKey from the Sales table yields incorrect
Returns values, since the filter context cannot flow upstream to
either one of the other tables
• Similarly, filtering using TerritoryKey from the Returns table yields

incorrect Sales data; in addition, only territories that registered
returns are visible in the table (even though they registered sales)
3) Filtering using TerritoryKey from

1) Filtering using TerritoryKey from 2) Filtering using TerritoryKey from the Returns_Data table
the Territory_Lookup table the Sales_Data table
DATA MODEL BEST PRACTICES
A well-designed model is critical and

ideally should:
✓ Use a star schema with one-to-many (1:*) relationships
✓ Contain relationships with one-way filters (vs. bidirectional)
✓ Contain tables that each serve a specific purpose,

including data (fact) tables and lookup (dim) tables
✓ Only include the data you need for analysis (no redundant
or unnecessary records or fields)
✓ Split out individual date and time components from

DateTime fields

DAX OPERATORS
Arithmetic Comparison
Meaning Example Meaning Example
Operator Operator
+ Addition 2+7 = Equal to [City]=“Boston”
- Subtraction 5–3 > Greater than [Quantity]>10
* Multiplication 2*6 < Less than [Quantity]<10
/ Division 4/2 >= Greater than or equal to [Unit_Price]>=2.5
^ Exponent 2^5 <= Less than or equal to [Unit_Price]<=2.5
<> Not equal to [Country]<>”Mexico”
Text/Logical Operator Meaning Example
& Concatenates two values to produce one text string [City] & “ “ & [State]
&& Create an AND condition between two logical expressions ([State]=“MA”) && ([Quantity]>10)
|| (double pipe) Create an OR condition between two logical expressions ([State]=“MA”) || ([State]=“CT”)
IN Creates a logical OR condition based on a given list (using curly brackets) ‘Store Lookup’[State] IN { “MA”, “CT”, “NY” }
*Head to www.msdn.microsoft.com for more information about DAX syntax, operators, troubleshooting, etc.
COMMON DAX FUNCTION CATEGORIES
MATH & STATS LOGICAL TEXT FILTER DATE & TIME

Functions Functions Functions Functions Functions
Basic aggregation Functions for returning Functions to manipulate Lookup functions based Basic date and time
functions as well as information about values text strings or control on related tables and functions as well as
“iterators” evaluated at in a given conditional formats for dates, times filtering functions for advanced time
the row-level expression or numbers dynamic calculations intelligence operations
Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples:
• SUM • IF • CONCATENATE • CALCULATE • DATEDIFF
• AVERAGE • IFERROR • FORMAT • FILTER • YEARFRAC
• MAX/MIN • AND • LEFT/MID/RIGHT • ALL • YEAR/MONTH/DAY
• DIVIDE • OR • UPPER/LOWER • ALLEXCEPT • HOUR/MINUTE/SECOND
• COUNT/COUNTA • NOT • PROPER • RELATED • TODAY/NOW
• COUNTROWS • SWITCH • LEN • RELATEDTABLE • WEEKDAY/WEEKNUM
• DISTINCTCOUNT • TRUE • SEARCH/FIND • DISTINCT
• FALSE • REPLACE • VALUES Time Intelligence Functions:
Iterator Functions: • REPT • EARLIER/EARLIEST • DATESYTD
• SUBSTITUTE • HASONEVALUE •
• SUMX DATESQTD
• TRIM • HASONEFILTER •
• AVERAGEX DATESMTD
• UNICHAR • ISFILTERED •
• MAXX/MINX DATEADD
• USERELATIONSHIP •
• RANKX DATESINPERIOD
• COUNTX
*Note: This is NOT a comprehensive list (does not include trigonometry functions, parent/child functions, information functions, or other less common functions)
CALCULATE
CALCULATE() Evaluates a given expression or formula under a set of defined filters
=CALCULATE(Expression, [Filter1], [Filter2],…)
Name of an existing measure, or a DAX List of simple Boolean (True/False) filter expressions
formula for a valid measure (Note: these require simple, fixed values; you cannot
Examples:
create filters based on other measures)
• [Total Orders] Examples:
• SUM(Returns[ReturnQuantity]) • Territory_Lookup[Country] = “USA”
• Calendar[Year] > 1998
PRO TIP:
CALCULATE works just like SUMIF or COUNTIF in Excel, except it can evaluate measures based on ANY
sort of calculation (not just a sum, count, etc.); it may help to think of it like “CALCULATEIF”

CALCULATE (EXAMPLE)
Here we’ve defined a new measure named “Bike Returns”, which

evaluates the “Total Returns” measure when the CategoryName
in the Products table equals “Bikes”
HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!

Wait, why do we see the same repeating values when
CALCULATE modifies and overrules any competing filter context!
we view a matrix with different categories on rows?
In this example, the “Clothing” row has filter context of
Shouldn’t these cells have different filter contexts for CategoryName = “Clothing” (defined by the row label) and
Accessories, Clothing, Components, etc? CategoryName= “Bikes” (defined by the CALCULATE function)
Both cannot be true at the same time, so the “Clothing” filter is
overwritten and the “Bikes” filter (from CALCULATE) takes priority

CALCULATE CREATES NEW FILTER CONTEXT
CALCULATE If the measure being evaluated contains a CALCULATE

Filters modified by CALCULATE function, filter context is overwritten between Step 1 & Step 2
[CategoryName] = “Bikes”
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

Filter context is Filters flow “downstream” to Measure formula evaluates
detected & applied all related tables against the filtered table
Product Table
Bikes Product Table
Bikes
Count of rows in the AW_Returns_Data
Products[CategoryName] = “Accessories”
table, filtered down to only rows where
the product category is “Bikes”
= 342
1 1
Product Table AW_Returns_Data

*
Accessories * Bikes
AW_Sales_Data
Bikes

CALCULATED COLUMNS
Calculated columns allow you to add new, formula-based columns to tables

• No “A1-style” references; calculated columns refer to HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!
entire tables or columns As a rule of thumb, use calculated
columns when you want to “stamp”
• Calculated columns generate values for each row, which static, fixed values to each row in a
are visible within tables in the Data view table (or use the Query Editor!)
DO NOT use calculated columns for
• Calculated columns understand row context; they’re great aggregation formulas, or to calculate
for defining properties based on information in each row, fields for the “Values” area of a
but generally useless for aggregation (SUM, COUNT, etc.) visualization (use measures instead)
PRO TIP:
Calculated columns are typically used for filtering data, rather than creating numerical or aggregated values

MEASURES
Measures are DAX formulas used to generate new calculated values

• Like calculated columns, measures reference entire tables or
columns (no A1-style or “grid” references)
• Unlike calculated columns, measure values aren’t visible within HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!
As a rule of thumb, use measures
tables; they can only be “seen” within a visualization like a (vs. calculated columns) when a
chart or matrix (similar to a calculated field in an Excel pivot) single row can’t give you the
answer (in other words, when you
• Measures are evaluated based on filter context, which means need to aggregate)
they recalculate when the fields or filters around them change
(like when new row or column labels are pulled into a matrix or
when new filters are applied to a report)
PRO TIP:
Use measures to create numerical, calculated values that can be analyzed in the “values” field of a report visual

RECAP: CALCULATED COLUMNS VS. MEASURES
CALCULATED COLUMNS MEASURES

• Values are calculated based on information from each • Values are calculated based on information from any
row of a table (has row context) filters in the report (has filter context)
• Appends static values to each row in a table and • Does not create new data in the tables themselves
stores them in the model (which increases file size) (doesn’t increase file size)
• Recalculate on data source refresh or when changes • Recalculate in response to any change to filters within
are made to component columns the report
• Primarily used as rows, columns, slicers or filters • Almost always used within the values field of a visual
Calculated columns “live” in tables Measures “live” in visuals

EVALUATION CONTEXT
Filter & row context tells DAX exactly how to evaluate measures and calculated
columns in your data model (this is key for understanding advanced DAX topics)
FILTER CONTEXT ROW CONTEXT
• Filter context filters the tables in your data model • Row context iterates through the rows in a table
• DAX creates filter context when dimensions are • DAX creates row context when you add calculated
added to rows, columns, slicers & filters in a report columns to your data model
• CALCULATE can be used to systematically create or • Iterator functions (SUMX, RANKX, etc.) use row
modify existing filter context context to evaluate row-level calculations
• Filter context always travels (propagates) from the • Row context doesn't automatically propagate through
ONE side to the MANY side of a table relationship table relationships (need to use RELATED or
RELATEDTABLE functions)

COURSE PROJECT

INTRODUCING THE COURSE PROJECT
THE You’ve just been hired as the lead Business Intelligence Analyst for Maven Roasters*, a
SITUATION small-batch coffee chain based in New York City
All you’ve been given is a collection of raw csv files containing sales and inventory records,
THE along with details about the company’s products, customers, stores and employees.
BRIEF Your goal is to use Power BI and DAX to answer key questions about the Maven Roasters
business, including sales trends, inventory, top products, budgets and more.
• Load the raw Maven Roasters data into Power BI

THE
• Create table relationships to build a data model
OBJECTIVES • Use DAX to analyze key questions about the business
*This data is adapted from IBM #Cognos Analytics sample data and is for informational purposes only . These samples are provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. The example companies, organizations, products,
domain names, email addresses, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.
THE MAVEN ROASTERS DATA MODEL
Table Name Table Type Definition

This table contains transaction data including date,
Sales by Store Fact store, employee, quantity sold, price, etc.
This table contains details about daily pastry stock level,
Food Inventory Fact quantity used, and waste
Calendar Date Contains date, month, week, quarter and year details
Customer ID, home store, name, email, loyalty details,

Customers Lookup birthdate, gender
Contains details for each product like type, group,
Products Lookup category, unit of measure, wholesale price, retail price,
tax exempt, discount and new product
Details for each store location, address, phone number
Stores Lookup and store type
Details for each staff member, their name, position,
Employees Lookup location and start date

THE DAX ENGINES

THE DAX ENGINES
DAX is powered by two internal engines (formula engine & storage engine)
which work together to compress & encode raw data and evaluate DAX queries
• Although these engines operate entirely behind the scenes, knowing how they work will help you
build advanced skills by understanding exactly how DAX thinks
TOPICS WE’LL REVIEW:
Internal DAX Engines Query Evaluation Data & Storage Types
Columnar Structures Compression & Encoding VertiPaq Relationships

FORMULA & STORAGE ENGINES
Internal DAX There are two distinct engines that work together to process every DAX query:
Engines
the Formula Engine and the Storage Engine
Query Evaluation
FORMULA ENGINE STORAGE ENGINE
Data & Storage • Receives, interprets and executes all • Compresses and encodes raw data, and only
Types DAX requests communicates with the formula engine (doesn’t
understand the DAX language)
• Processes the DAX query then generates
Columnar a list of logical steps called a query plan • Receives a query plan from Formula Engine,
Structures executes it, and returns a datacache
• Works with the datacache sent back
from the storage engine to evaluate the • NOTE: There are two types of storage engines,
Compression & DAX query and return a result based on the type of connection you’re using:
Encoding
1. VertiPaq is used for data stored in-memory
(connected to Power BI via import mode)
VertiPaq
Relationships 2. DirectQuery is used for data read directly
from the source (i.e. Azure, PostgreSQL, SAP)
We’ll focus on the VertiPaq
storage engine in this course

QUERY EVALUATION IN DEPTH
Internal DAX
Engines
DAX QUERY: MEASURE OUTPUT:
Sales to Females:
Storage
Query Evaluation Engine
$912,184
Storage engine executes the
Data & Storage
plan and sends a datacache
Types back to the formula engine
𝒇 𝒙 DAX query is sent to

the Formula Engine
Columnar
Structures
Formula engine Formula engine runs the DAX

interprets the query query against the datacache,
Compression & Formula Formula and evaluates the result
and sends a query plan
Encoding Engine to the storage engine Engine
VertiPaq
Relationships

QUERY EVALUATION IN DEPTH
Internal DAX
Engines
DAX QUERY: MEASURE OUTPUT:
Sales to Females:
Storage
Query Evaluation Engine
$912,184
Data & Storage Sure! Here’s the data you’ll
Types need to evaluate that query
DAX here! Aaron would like
me to evaluate this query
Columnar Great! Hey Aaron, the result
Structures for that measure is $912,184!
Got it. Hey storage
engine, can you grab
Compression & Formula some data for me? Formula
Encoding Engine Engine
VertiPaq
Relationships

DATA & STORAGE TYPES
Internal DAX
Engines
DAX uses 6 data types to store values:
DAX Data Type Power BI Data Type Storage Type Example
Query Evaluation Integer Whole Number 64-bit Value Max: 9,223,372,036,854,775,807

Double-precision floating-
Decimal Decimal Number
point value
64-bit precision
Data & Storage
Fixed Decimal Fixed Decimal Number
Types Currency Number (Stored as Integer)
317.9899
DateTime DateTime, Date, Time Floating-point number 1/1/2020 12:00p = 43830.50

Columnar
Structures Boolean True/False True/False True/False
String Unicode String 16-bit characters “Maven Analytics” = “MAVEN ANALYTICS”

Compression &
Encoding

VertiPaq Data Types represent how values are stored by the DAX storage engine
Relationships
Formatting represents how values appear to end users (%, date, $, etc.)

VERTIPAQ COLUMNAR DATA STRUCTURE
Internal DAX
Engines VertiPaq uses a columnar data structure, which stores data as individual columns
(rather than rows or full tables) to quickly and efficiently evaluate DAX queries
Query Evaluation
Data & Storage

Types
Columnar
Structures 1 2 3 4
Compression &
Encoding
VertiPaq
Relationships

VERTIPAQ COMPRESSION & ENCODING
Internal DAX
Engines The goal of compression and encoding is to reduce the amount of memory needed
to evaluate a DAX query.
Query Evaluation Based on a sample of data, one (or more) of the following methods will be used:
Data & Storage 1. Value Encoding

Types
• Mathematical process used to reduce the number of
bits needed to store integer values
Columnar
Structures 2. Hash Encoding (aka Dictionary Encoding) HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!
The actual storage algorithms
• Identifies the distinct string values and creates a new
are proprietary, so not all
Compression & table with indexes details are available 
Encoding
3. Run Length Encoding (RLE)
VertiPaq • Reduces the size of a dataset by identifying repeated
Relationships values found in adjacent rows

VALUE ENCODING
Internal DAX
Engines Value Encoding uses a mathematical process to determine relationships between
the values in a column, and convert them into smaller values for storage
Query Evaluation
• Value encoding only works for integer values (including currency), and cannot be applied to
strings or floating-point values
Data & Storage City ID City ID

Types
This is what 10014 This is how the 14
you see data is stored
10106 106
Columnar
Structures 10215 215
10007 7
Compression & 10002 2

Encoding 10021 21
10036 36
VertiPaq
Relationships
• Max = 10215 • Max = 215
• 14 bits needed • 9 bits needed (36% reduction!)

HASH ENCODING
Internal DAX
Engines
Hash Encoding builds a “dictionary” of distinct items in a column, assigns a unique
integer value (index) to each item, and stores the data using the index values rather
than the full text strings
Query Evaluation
• With hash encoding, storage requirements are defined by the number of unique items in the
column (cardinality), NOT by the length of the string values themselves
Data & Storage
Types
Product Index Row Product Index
This is what Coffee Beans This is how the 0 1 Coffee Beans 0
Columnar you see data is stored
Structures
Tea 1 2 Tea 1
Bakery 2 3 Bakery 2
Bakery 2 4 Encoding dictionary
Compression &
Encoding Coffee Beans 0 5
Coffee Beans 0 6
VertiPaq Bakery 2 7
Relationships
Tea 1 8

RUN LENGTH ENCODING
Internal DAX
Engines Run Length Encoding (RLE) reduces the size of a column by replacing duplicate
rows with a table containing each distinct value and the count of instances
Query Evaluation • NOTE: RLE only works when the same value is repeated in consecutive rows, but the VertiPaq
engine automatically sorts data on import and refresh to find the optimal compression
Data & Storage

Types This is what City Zip This is how the City Zip Count
you see 59716 data is stored
59716 3
Columnar 59716 3 instances 02215 2
Structures
59716 05672 4
02215 One row per distinct value
Compression &
2 instances
Encoding 02215
05672
VertiPaq 05672
4 instances
Relationships
05672
05672

RLE + HASH ENCODING
Internal DAX
Engines
Columns can have both Run Length and either Hash (Dictionary) or Value encoding
• Compression type is determined by cardinality, number of repeat values, row count, and data type
Query Evaluation
City Zip City Index Row
City Index Zip City Index Count
59716 0 1
0 59716 0 2
Data & Storage 59716 0 2
Types 1 05672 1 5
05672 1 3
2 90210 2 4
05672 1 4
Columnar 3 83353 3 1
Structures 05672 1 5
Hash Encoding RLE Encoding
05672 1 6
Compression & 05672 1 7
Encoding
90210 2 8
This is how the “City Zip” data is
90210 2 9 encoded and stored by VertiPaq
VertiPaq
Relationships 90210 2 10
90210 2 11
83353 3 12

VERTIPAQ RELATIONSHIPS
Internal DAX VertiPaq has a special way of mapping relationships between columns in your data
Engines
model, which allows it to evaluate complex, multi-column queries
• NOTE: This is NOT the same as creating table relationships in your data model; this is essentially
Query Evaluation a blueprint that VertiPaq uses to map pairs of primary & foreign keys across related tables
* 1 Sales - Product - Line

Data & Storage
Types Product ID Qty Product ID Product Index Line Product ID
9 22 9 Coffee Beans 0 1 9 1
Columnar 79 24 57 Tea 1 2 79 3
Structures 83 7 79 Bakery 2 3 83 4
9 31 83 Merchandise 3 4 9 1
Compression & 9 42 88 Coffee 4 5
Encoding 9 1
57 26 Product Lookup Table
57 2
57 29
VertiPaq 57 2
Relationships 9 37 This is how VertiPaq stores a relationship
between Sales & Product tables 9 1
88 21
88 5
Sales Table

VERTIPAQ RELATIONSHIPS
Internal DAX
Engines
STEP 3: Return a datacache
containing a filtered sales table
STEP 2: Use relationship to find and sends to formula engine
Query Evaluation all rows where product line = 1
Sales - Product - Product ID Qty

Product ID Line 9 22
Data & Storage
9 1 9 31
Types
STEP 1: Search for “Coffee Beans”
79 3 9 42
in Product dictionary to find line
number from product lookup 83 4 9 37
Columnar
Structures 9 1
Product Index Line
9 1
Coffee Beans 0 1
Tea 1 2 57 2
Compression & STEP 4: Formula engine evaluates
Encoding 57 2 the [Quantity Sold] measure
Bakery 2 3
9 1 against datacache
Merchandise 3 4
88 5
VertiPaq
Relationships
Coffee 4 5
[Quantity Sold] = 132

SUMMARY
DAX uses two engines: the Formula Engine & Storage Engine
• The Formula Engine interprets & evaluates DAX, and the Storage Engine compresses & encodes data
There are two types of storage engines: VertiPaq & DirectQuery

• VertiPaq is used for in-memory storage and DirectQuery is used for direct connections to external
sources; both create datacaches and send them to the formula engine for DAX query evaluation
VertiPaq stores data using a columnar database setup

• Data is stored in individual columns that can be accessed quickly, but queries that call multiple
columns may require more complex logic to produce a datacache
Raw data is compressed & encoded to optimize processing

• Data can be compressed using Value, Hash (Dictionary), or Run Length encoding (RLE), based on
cardinality, repeat values, row count, and data type

TIPS & BEST PRACTICES

DAX TIPS & BEST PRACTICES
In this section we’ll cover some common techniques and best practices for working efficiently
with DAX, including shortcuts, comments, measure tables, and variables
TOPICS WE’LL COVER: COMMON USE CASES:
• Saving time with keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts Formatting
• Adding comments to help others understand exactly
what each line of your DAX code is doing
Evaluation Order Comments
• Using error checking functions for testing & QA
• Adding variables to troubleshoot code, enhance
Measure Tables Error Handling readability and improve DAX performance
Variables

DAX SHORTCUTS
Shortcuts Action Keyboard Shortcut

Insert Line Below Shift + Enter
Formatting Insert Line Above Control + Shift + Enter

Select Current Line Control + I
Evaluation Order Cut Current Line Control + X

Paste Cut Line Control + V
Comments Duplicate Current Row Shift + Alt +

Go to Line Control + G
Measure Tables Enlarge Code Type Control + Mouse Scroll
Error Handling
PRO TIP:
If you use a square bracket “[“ when you call a measure, you’ll avoid having to filter
Variables through function names that also start with the same letter(s) as your measure name
*For more keyboard shortcuts visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-formula-editor

FORMATTING BEST PRACTICES
Shortcuts Formatting is KEY for readability. Can you tell what this code does in 10 seconds?
Formatting
Evaluation Order
Comments
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Ready?
Go!Up!
Time’s
Time’s Up!
Measure Tables
Error Handling
Variables
PRO TIP
Use shift + enter to split out and indent each component of your DAX formulas to make them more human
readable (TIP: try using daxformatter.com to quickly format your code)

EVALUATION ORDER
Shortcuts Evaluation order is the process by which DAX evaluates the parameters in a function
• Individual functions typically evaluate from left-to-right, starting with the first
Formatting parameter (followed by the second, third, etc.)
• Nested functions evaluate from the inside-out, starting with the innermost function
Evaluation Order and working outward from there
Non-nested: Nested:
Comments
1 2 3
=IF(LogicalTest, ResultIfTrue, [ResultIfFalse]) =SUMX(
Measure Tables FILTER(
FILTER( ‘Table’,
RELATED( ‘Table’[Column]), 1
Error Handling
RELATED( ‘Table’[Column]), 2
‘Table’[Column]) 3
Variables
NOTE: The CALCULATE function evaluates using its own unique set of rules (more on this later!)

EVALUATION ORDER (EXAMPLE)
Shortcuts Non-Nested
Formatting
Evaluation Order
Nested
Comments
Measure Tables
Error Handling
Variables

COMMENTING YOUR CODE
Shortcuts Comments can help other users interpret your Comment Type Marker
code, and can be particularly helpful for complex Single Line Comment -- or //
Formatting
queries with multiple lines, nested functions, etc. Multi Line Comment /* … */
Evaluation Order
Comments
Measure Tables
Error Handling
PRO TIP
Variables Avoid putting comments at the end of your DAX query (below the last closing parenthesis), as they can be
missed or omitted by users and formatting tools

PRO TIP: DEDICATED MEASURE TABLES
Shortcuts Creating a separate table to contain your DAX measures is a great way to stay
organized (you can even group your measures into folders within the table!)
Formatting
Enter Data to create a new table

Evaluation Order
Comments
Add a placeholder value in the first row of the
table (can be anything you want)
Measure Tables
Name the table (i.e. “Measure Table”)
Error Handling
Load the table to your data model
Variables

ERROR HANDLING
Shortcuts
Error handling functions can be used to help identify missing data, and can be
particularly useful for quality assurance and testing
Formatting Returns a value if the first expression is an error and
IFERROR() the value of the expression itself otherwise
=IFERROR(Value,ValueIfError)
Evaluation Order ISBLANK() Checks to see if a value is blank, returns True or False =ISBLANK(Value)
Comments
Measure Tables
Error Handling
PRO TIP:
Variables
VertiPaq can’t optimize IFERROR and ISBLANK functions, so avoid using them in your
operational code (a better use is for temporary QA & testing)

DAX VARIABLES
Shortcuts Variables (VAR) are DAX expressions which can be reused multiple times within a query, and are
commonly used for two key purposes:
Formatting • Readability: Variables make complex code more human readable
• Performance: Variables are only evaluated once no matter how often they are used within a query
Evaluation Order
What they CAN do: What they CANNOT do:

Comments
• Simplify and streamline DAX code • Start with a number

Measure Tables
• Improve efficiency by eliminating • Include spaces or special characters (except
redundant expressions underscores “_”)
Error Handling • Evaluate in the order they’re written • Share the name of another table in the model
(variables can only reference previously • Be accessed outside the query in which they
declared variables within the query) are declared
Variables
• Store either table or scalar values • Contain only certain keywords reserved for
DAX (SUM, Date, CALCULATE, etc.)

CREATING & USING VARIABLES
Shortcuts
DAX queries which use variables must include two key components: the declaration
expression and the return expression:
Formatting
VAR <name> = <expression> RETURN <result_expression>

Evaluation Order
Comments The declaration expression (VAR) is where you

declare a new variable, assign a name, and
write an expression to define the variable
Measure Tables
Error Handling
Variables
The return expression (RETURN) is where
you evaluate the rest of your DAX query, and
reference any previously declared variables

VARIABLE EVALUATION ORDER
Shortcuts
Variables are “locked in” as soon as the DAX engine reads them; this means you cannot
modify how a variable is defined later in your query (i.e. through a CALCULATE function)
Formatting
Evaluation Order Total quantity sold to Female customers = 283,427
Comments
Measure Tables
Error Handling
Variables
= 1,305,637 Variable can’t be modified = 283,427

after it’s been defined

PRO TIP: VARIABLES TO TEST & DEBUG DAX
Shortcuts Variables can be a helpful tool for testing or debugging your DAX code
Formatting
Evaluation Order In this example we’re able to:

• Use variables to define individual
components of a larger, more complex
Comments
measure
• Use the RETURN expression to quickly
Measure Tables
check the output of each variable
• Identify which specific component is the
Error Handling root cause in the case of an error
Variables

SCALAR FUNCTIONS

SCALAR FUNCTIONS
Scalar functions return a single value, rather than a column or table; common examples
include aggregation, conversion, rounding, and logical functions
Aggregation Rounding • Aggregating a column of values into a single number

(i.e. average customer age, maximum product price,
Functions Functions
sum of revenue, count of orders, etc.)
Information Conversion • Converting fields into desired formats (i.e. text to

dates, integers to currency, etc.)
Functions Functions
• Evaluating logical tests and returning values for TRUE
Logical and FALSE responses
Functions

COMMON SCALAR FUNCTIONS
AGGREGATION ROUNDING INFORMATION CONVERSION LOGICAL

Functions Functions Functions Functions Functions
Functions that can be used Functions that can be used Functions that can be used Functions that are used to Functions for returning
to dynamically aggregate to round values to different to analyze the data type or force a specific data type information about values in
values within a column levels of precision output of an expression conversion a conditional expression
Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples:
• SUM • FLOOR • ISBLANK • CURRENCY • IF
• AVERAGE • TRUNC • ISERROR • INT • AND
• MAX • ROUNDDOWN • ISLOGICAL • FORMAT • OR
• MIN • MROUND • ISNONTEXT • DATE • NOT
• COUNT • ROUND • ISNUMBER • TIME • TRUE/FALSE
• COUNTA • CEILING • ISTEXT • DATEVALUE • SWITCH
• DISTINCTCOUNT • ISO.CEILING • VALUE • COALESCE
• PRODUCT • ROUNDUP
• ITERATOR (“X”) • INT
FUNCTIONS • FIXED

AGGREGATION FUNCTIONS
SUM() Evaluates the sum of a column =SUM(ColumnName)

Aggregation
Functions Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of all
AVERAGE() the numbers in a column
=AVERAGE(ColumnName)
Rounding Returns the largest value in a column or =MAX(ColumnName) or

Functions MAX() between two scalar expressions =MAX(Scalar1, [Scalar2])
Returns the smallest value in a column or =MIN(ColumnName) or

Information MIN() between two scalar expressions =MIN(Scalar1, [Scalar2])
Functions
Counts the number of cells in a column that
COUNT() contain numbers
=COUNT(ColumnName)
Conversion
Functions Counts the number of distinct or unique values
DISTINCTCOUNT() in a column =DISTINCTCOUNT(ColumnName)
Logical Counts the number of rows in the specified

Functions COUNTROWS() table, or a table defined by an expression
=COUNTROWS(Table)
PRO TIP:
For large datasets (1M+ rows) using COUNTROWS & VALUES
may put less strain on the DAX engines than DISTINCTCOUNT
PRO TIP: SUM VS. SUMX
There are several cases where DAX evaluates a basic query using a more complex
method behind the scenes. The simplified query is often called “syntax sugar”
• For example, SUM is read internally as SUMX

How it’s written: How it’s interpreted by DAX:
1 Total Sales = 1 Total Sales =

2 SUM(‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold]) 2 SUMX(
3 ‘Sales by Store’
4 ‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold])

This is how all aggregation functions are processed internally by DAX (SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, etc.)

ROUNDING FUNCTIONS
Rounds a number down to the nearest
INT() integer
=INT(Number)
Aggregation
Functions Rounds a number to a specific number of
ROUND() digits
=ROUND(Number, NumberOfDigits)
Rounding ROUNDUP() Rounds a number up, away from zero =ROUNDUP(Number, NumberOfDigits)
Functions
ROUNDDOWN() Rounds a number down, toward zero =ROUNDDOWN(Number NumberOfDigits)

Information
Functions
MROUND() Rounds a number to the desired multiple =MROUND(Number, Multiple)
Conversion Truncates a number to an integer by

Functions TRUNC() removing the decimal part of the number
=TRUNC(Number, [NumberOfDigits])
Rounds number down to specified number

Logical
FIXED() of decimals and returns result as text
=FIXED(Number, [Decimals], [No.Commas])
Functions
Rounds a number up, to the nearest
CEILING() integer or nearest unit of significance
=CEILING(Number, Significance)
Rounds a number down, toward zero, to

FLOOR() the nearest multiple of significance
=FLOOR(Number, Significance)

ROUNDING FUNCTION EXAMPLES
Aggregation
Decimal Value: 3.12438 Time value: 9:34:14 AM
Functions
INT ( 3.12438) = 3 MROUND ( 9:34:14, ”0:15”) = 9:30:00 AM

Rounding
Functions
Useful as a component in DAX Rounds the minute component up
statements, like calendar tables or down based on the multiple
Information
Functions ROUND ( 3.12438, 2) = 3.12
ROUNDUP ( 3.12438, 2) = 3.13 FLOOR ( 9:34:14, “0:15”) = 9:30:00 AM
Conversion ROUNDDOWN ( 3.12438, 2) = 3.12 Rounds the minute component
Functions down to the nearest multiple
Useful to specify the precision
of a number, like customer age
Logical
Functions FIXED ( 3.12438, 2) = 3.12 CEILING ( 9:34:14, ”0:15”) = 9:45:00 AM
Useful when you want to Rounds the minute component up to

convert a number to text the nearest multiple

ASSIGNMENT: ROUNDING FUNCTIONS
MAVEN
ROASTERS Jean LeBean (CEO)
3:15 PM KEY OBJECTIVES:
CHANNELS (12)
1. Add a new column in your
Hey there! Hoping you could do me a quick
favor - I’m having trouble figuring out the Customers table to calculate
actual ages of our customers, and I think it age
may be a rounding issue...
2. Use a rounding function to
make sure that ages are
Would you mind digging into our customer defined properly and
MESSAGES (23) records to see what you can figure out? formatted as whole
numbers
Jean LeBean 1

INFORMATION FUNCTIONS
Checks whether a value is blank, and returns =ISBLANK(Value)

Aggregation ISBLANK() TRUE or FALSE
Functions
Checks whether a values is an error, and

ISERROR() =ISERROR(Value)
Rounding returns TRUE or FALSE
Functions
Checks whether a value is a logical value =ISLOGICAL(Value)

Information
ISLOGICAL() (TRUE or FALSE), and returns TRUE or FALSE
Functions
Checks whether a value is a number, and

ISNUMBER() =ISNUMBER(Value)
Conversion
returns TRUE or FALSE
Functions
Checks whether a value is not text (blank

ISNONTEXT() =ISNONTEXT(Value)
cells are not text), and returns TRUE or FALSE
Logical
Functions
Checks whether a value is text, and returns
ISTEXT() =ISTEXT(Value)
TRUE or FALSE

CONVERSION FUNCTIONS
Evaluates the argument and returns the

Aggregation CURRENCY() result as a currency data type
=CURRENCY(Value)
Functions
Converts a value to text in the specified

Rounding
FORMAT() number format =FORMAT(Value, Format)
Functions
Information
DATE() Returns the specified date in datetime format =DATE(Year, Month, Day)
Functions
Converts hours, minutes, and seconds given

TIME() as numbers to a time in datetime format =TIME(Hours, Minute, Second)
Conversion
Functions
Converts a date in the form of text to a date

DATEVALUE() in datetime format =DATEVALUE(DateText)
Logical
Functions
Converts a text string that represents a
VALUE() number to a number
=VALUE(Text)

ASSIGNMENT: CONVERSION FUNCTIONS
MAVEN
ROASTERS Mark Brewer (CFO)
CHANNELS (12)
1. Create a new calculated
Jean and I were having a chat and could use
your help with a couple items: column to convert
Transaction_Date to yyyy-
mm-dd format
1. Can you add a column to the calendar table
to format the dates like “2020-08-30”? 2. Use a conversion function
to modify the [Cost]
MESSAGES (8) measure and ensure that
2. Could you please make sure that [Cost] values are always displayed
values are always formatted as currency in as currency (without simply
our reports? changing the format)
Mark Brewer 1

BASIC LOGICAL FUNCTIONS
Aggregation
Functions
Checks if a given condition is met, and
IF() returns one value if the condition is TRUE, =IF(LogicalTest, ResultIfTrue, [ResultIfFalse])
and another if the condition is FALSE
Rounding
Functions
Checks whether both arguments are TRUE,

Information
AND() and returns TRUE if both arguments are =AND(Logical1, Logical2) Note: Use the
Functions
TRUE, otherwise returns FALSE && and ||
operators if you
Conversion want to include
Functions Checks whether one of the arguments is more than two
OR() TRUE to return TRUE, and returns FALSE if =OR(Logical1, Logical2) conditions!
both arguments are FALSE
Logical
Functions

SWITCH
Aggregation SWITCH() Evaluates an expression against a list of values and returns one of multiple possible expressions
Functions
=SWITCH(Expression, Value1, Result1, …, [Else])

Rounding
Functions
Any DAX expression that returns a List of values produced by the Value returned if the
single scalar value, evaluated expression, each paired with a result expression doesn’t match
Information to return for rows/cases that match any value argument
multiples times
Functions
Examples: Examples:
Conversion • Calendar[Month_ID] =SWITCH( Calendar[Month_ID],

Functions • Product Lookup[product_group] 1, “January”,
2. “February”, etc.
Logical
Functions
PRO TIP
SWITCH (TRUE) is a common Pattern to replace nested IF statements

COALESCE
Aggregation Returns the first argument that does not evaluate to BLANK. If all arguments
Functions COALESCE() evaluate to BLANK, BLANK is returned.
Rounding
Functions =COALESCE(Expression1, Expression2, […])
Information
Functions
Any value or expression that returns a scalar value
Examples:
Conversion
Functions • COALESCE(
SUM(‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold]), PRO TIP:
0)
COALESCE replaces the IF + ISBLANK
Logical • COALESCE( pattern, makes your code more readable,
Functions [Yesterday Customer Revenue], and can be optimized by the engines
“-”)

ASSIGNMENT: LOGICAL FUNCTIONS
MAVEN
ROASTERS Darren A. Xu (Manager)
CHANNELS (12)
1. Create a calculated column
Hey there! I’m looking at my customer sales
and want to see it by quarter/year. I really using variables and
need a column in the calendar table that SWITCH(TRUE()) to create a
shows the quarter and the year together… single column containing both
quarter & year (i.e. Q1-2020,
Q2-2020, etc.)
Mind quickly setting that up ?
MESSAGES (13)
Darren Xu 1

ADVANCED CALCULATE

ADVANCED CALCULATE
CALCULATE is a powerful DAX function which is commonly used to modify filter context; in this
section, we’ll explore advanced topics like expanded tables, context transition, evaluation
order and modifiers

• Simplifying measures by adding new filter context that
Expanded Tables Context Transition would normally use multiple nested functions
• Modifying filter context to override preexisting filters
using modifiers like ALL, KEEPFILTERS or REMOVEFILTERS
Evaluation Order Modifiers
• Creating calculated inputs for measures like % of total, %
of category, etc.

EXPANDED TABLES
An expanded table consists of the base table (which is visible to the user), along with
columns from any related table connected via a 1-to-1 or many-to-1 relationship
Expanded Tables
Product Lookup Table Store Lookup Table
Product ID Name Category Store ID Address Manager
1 Brazilian - Organic Coffee beans 3 32-20 Broadway 6
Context
Transition 2 Old Time Diner Coffee beans 4 604 Union Street 11
3 Espresso Roast Coffee beans 5 100 Church Street 16
4 Primo Roast Coffee beans 6 122 E Broadway 21 Related fields from the Product
Evaluation Order 5 Columbian Medium Coffee beans 7 224 E 57th Street 26 and Store tables are accessible
1 1
to DAX as part of the
“expanded” Transactions table
* * As you begin to write more

Modifiers Trans ID Product ID Store ID Quantity Name Category Address Manager complex DAX & CALCULATE
1 4 4 32 Primo Roast Coffee beans 604 Union Street 11 statements, understanding
expanded tables is critical!
2 2 3 17 Old Time Diner Coffee beans 32-20 Broadway 6
3 3 7 113 Espresso Roast Coffee beans 224 E 57th Street 26
4 3 3 14 Espresso Roast Coffee beans 32-20 Broadway 6
5 1 4 55 Brazilian - Organic Coffee beans 604 Union Street 11
Transactions Table

EXPANDED TABLES
Expanded Tables Expanded tables in Models always go from the

MANY side to the ONE side of the relationship
Context • Expanded tables contain all the columns of the

Transition
original table plus all the columns on the one-side
• Understanding expanded tables is useful because

Evaluation Order it provides a clear understanding of how filter
context propagates in DAX measures
Modifiers • Once a filter is applied to a column, all expanded

tables containing that column are also filtered
*Maven Roasters Data Model

EXPANDED TABLES (EXAMPLE)
3
2
Expanded Tables
1
In this case, the expanded
Context version of the AW_Sales
Transition
table contains all fields from
the product, subcategory,
and category lookup tables
Evaluation Order
Modifiers
*Adventure Works data model

CONTEXT TRANSITION (CALCULATED COLUMNS)
Context Transition is the process of turning row context into filter context
• By default, calculated columns understand row context but not filter context
Expanded Tables
• To create filter context at the row-level, you can use CALCULATE
Context
Transition
If we add a column to calculate the sum of
quantity_sold, we get repeating totals since
there is no filter context, and we can’t
Evaluation Order determine a unique value per row
To solve this, we can generate filter context at

Modifiers the row-level, using CALCULATE with SUMX
1 Sum of Quantity =
2 CALCULATE(
3 SUM(
4 ‘Table’[quantity_sold])
5 )

CONTEXT TRANSITION (MEASURES)
Consider the following formula, defined as both a measure and a calculated column:
1 Sum of Quantity Sold =

Expanded Tables
2 SUM(‘Table’[quantity_sold])
Context
Transition
Evaluation Order
As a measure, DAX automatically evaluates a CALCULATE &

Modifiers SUMX measure (shown below), to create the filter context
needed to produce the correct values
As a calculated column, we see the same total
repeated on each row (no filter context) 1 Sum of Quantity Sold =
2 CALCULATE(
3 SUMX(
4 ‘Table’,
5 ‘Table’[quantity_sold])
6 )

EVALUATION ORDER (EXAMPLE)
[Customer Sales] is evaluated LAST,

using the modified filter context
Expanded Tables store_id = 3 is evaluated FIRST

3
1
2
Context Product_group = “Whole
Transition Bean/Teas” is evaluated SECOND
[Customer Sales] is evaluated LAST, Both measures evaluate the same, since the
Evaluation Order using the modified filter context ALL modifier evaluates first and is overwritten
by the store_id and product_group filters
Modifiers store_id & product_group 4

filters are evaluated next, and
2
overwrite the ALL modifier 3
1
DAX engines combine multiple filter
ALL Modifier is evaluated FIRST
arguments into a single filter context

COMMON CALCULATE MODIFIERS
Modifiers are used to alter the way CALCULATE creates filter context, and are added
as filter arguments within a CALCULATE function
Expanded Tables
• Modifiers are typically used to change filter context, access inactive table relationships,
or change the way filters propagate (i.e. one-way to bidirectional)
Context
Transition
Modify Use Change Filter

Evaluation Order Filters Relationships Propagation
Common Examples: Common Examples: Common Examples:
Modifiers • ALL • USERELATIONSHIP • CROSSFILTER
• ALLSELECTED
• ALLNOBLANKROW
• ALLEXCEPT
• KEEPFILTERS
• REMOVEFILTERS

CALCULATE REVIEW (BOOLEAN & TABLE FILTERS)
=CALCULATE(Expression, [Filter1], [Filter2],…)

Expanded Tables
CALCULATE filter expressions accept both boolean & table functions (individually or
at the same time!), but all filter arguments are automatically converted into a table
Context
Transition
Evaluation Order DAX interprets this as a table!

• Any time you use write a function that contains a
logical statement (IN, >,<, =, etc.) you’re creating a
Modifiers table (internally processed with FILTER & ALL)
And this too, obviously

REMOVEFILTERS
REMOVEFILTERS() Clears filters from the specified tables or columns
Expanded Tables
=REMOVEFILTERS ( TableNameorColumnName, [ColumnName], […] )
Context
Transition Table or column that you want to (Optional) Repeatable column names that allow you
clear the filters from to specifically remove filters from individual columns
within the base table
Examples:
Evaluation Order
• CALCULATE( Examples:
[Customer Sales], • CALCULATE(
REMOVEFILTERS( [Customer Sales],
‘Store Lookup’)) REMOVEFILTERS(
Modifiers
‘Store Lookup’[store_id]))
PRO TIP:
REMOVEFILTERS is an alias for ALL, but can only be used as a CALCULATE modifier (not as a table function)

KEEPFILTERS
Expanded Tables KEEPFILTERS() Does not remove an existing column or table filter for an individual CALCULATE expression
Context =KEEPFILTERS(Expression)
Transition
Evaluation Order CALCULATE or CALCULATETABLE

✓ Allows you to control which specific filters are
function expression or filter
applied to a calculation
Examples:
Modifiers ✓ KEEPFILTERS does not actually modify existing filters,
• CALCULATE(
but adds new filter context (think inner join)
[Measure],
KEEPFILTERS(‘Table’[ID]=“Value”))

ASSIGNMENT: ADVANCED CALCULATE
MAVEN
ROASTERS Karen Cupps (Manager)
8:32 AM KEY OBJECTIVES:
CHANNELS (12)
1. Create a matrix containing
Okay, so I’m trying to create a table to show
my store sales (Store 3) broken down by product group & store id on
product group and compared against the rows
other two stores (5 & 8). Could you help?
2. Use KEEPFILTERS to create
measures that show sales for
I’d also like to see store sales within each each of the 3 stores
MESSAGES (5) product group as a percentage of the total, to
3. Use REMOVEFILTERS with
see which stores are the biggest sales drivers
within the group. Thanks! variables to create a single
measure for % of Store Sales
Karen Cupps 1

PRO TIP: COMMON CALCULATE TOTAL PATTERNS
Cumulative Total Percent of Total
Overall Total

TABLE & FILTER FUNCTIONS

TABLE & FILTER FUNCTIONS
Table and Filter functions return columns or tables rather than scalar values, and can be used
to either generate new data or serve as table inputs within DAX measures

• Returning columns or tables which are subsets of
Calculated Tables Filtering Tables existing data sources
• Adding new columns of data to an existing table
Manipulating Tables Generating Data • Filtering out totals from measure results
• Reducing the number of rows returned from a table
• Generating new data from scratch

COMMON TABLE & FILTER FUNCTIONS
Filter Data Add Data Create Data

Functions used to return filtered tables or Functions used to specify or add columns Functions used to generate new rows,
filter results of measures based on existing data in the model columns & tables from scratch

• ALL • SELECTCOLUMNS • ROW
• FILTER • ADDCOLUMNS • DATATABLE
• DISTINCT • SUMMARIZE • GENERATESERIES
• VALUES • { } Table Constructor
• ALLEXCEPT
• ALLSELECTED

REVIEW: CALCULATED TABLES
DAX functions with table arguments can typically accept either physical tables (i.e.
‘Sales by Store’) or calculated, virtual tables (with functions like FILTER, VALUES, etc.)
Calculated Tables
Filtering Tables =SUMX(Table, Expression)
Manipulating
Tables
1 Total Sales =
2 SUMX(
1 Total Sales = FILTER(
2 SUMX( 3 ‘Sales by Store’,
Generating Data 4 ‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold]) > 3
3 ‘Sales by Store’,
4 ‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold]) 5 ),
6 ‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold]) )

REVIEW: FILTER & ALL
FILTER() Returns a filtered table, based on one or more filter expressions

Calculated Tables
=FILTER(Expression, [Filter1], [Filter2],…)

Filtering Tables • FILTER is both a table function and an iterator
• Often used to reduce the number of rows to scan
Manipulating
Tables
ALL() Returns all the rows in a table, or all the values in a column, ignoring any filters
Generating Data
=ALL(Table or ColumnName, [ColumnName1],…)
• ALL is both a table filter and a CALCULATE modifier
• Removes initial filter context
• Does not accept table expressions (only physical table references)

REVIEW: FILTER (EXAMPLE)
STEP 1 Measure is written
Calculated Tables =
STEP 3 DAX evaluates [Customer
Filtering Tables Sales] against the filtered
table (quantity sold > 3)
Manipulating
Tables
Generating Data STEP 2 FILTER creates a virtual, calculated table

DISTINCT
Returns a single column table of unique values when a column name is given.
DISTINCT() If a table is supplied, DISTINCT returns all unique combinations of values.
Calculated Tables
=DISTINCT(ColumnName or TableExpression)
Filtering Tables
The column you want to extract The table you want to extract unique
Manipulating
Tables unique values from combinations of values from
Examples: Examples:
• ‘Sales by Store’[CustomerID] • ‘Sales by Store’
Generating Data • ‘Sales by Store’[UnitPrice] • ‘Food Inventory’
PRO TIP:
Trying to build a relational model from a single, blended table? Use DISTINCT to create
new lookup/dimension tables by extracting unique values from fields in your data table!

VALUES
Calculated Tables Returns a single column table of unique values when a column name is given. If a table
VALUES() name is supplied, VALUES returns the entire table (including duplicates) plus a blank row
Filtering Tables
=VALUES(TableName or ColumnName)
Manipulating
Tables
The table you want to pull all columns The column you want to extract
and all rows from (not unique) unique values from
Generating Data
Examples: Examples:
• ‘Sales by Store’ • ‘Sales by Store’[CustomerID]
• ‘Food Inventory’ • ‘Sales by Store’[UnitPrice]

VALUES VS. DISTINCT: THE BLANK ROW
Product Lookup
In this example we have a Product Lookup table
Product ID Product containing three product IDs (12, 13, 14)
12 Coffee
Calculated Tables
13 Tea
But our fact table (‘Sales by Store’) contains additional
14 Pastry product IDs NOT included in the Product Lookup (15, 16)
Filtering Tables blank blank

1
• Instead of throwing an error when a value is missing from
a lookup table, the DAX engine adds a blank row (which
Manipulating
Sales by Store will appear in visuals when missing values are present)
Tables *
Product ID Quantity • Different table functions handle the presence of this
12 2 blank row differently; for example, VALUES will always
Generating Data
show the blank row but DISTINCT will not
13 6
14 1
14 3 PRO TIP:
15 5 If you think you might have missing values in your
lookup tables (or aren’t sure), use VALUES to check
16 6

ASSIGNMENT: VALUES & DISTINCT BLANK ROW
MAVEN
KEY OBJECTIVES:
3:08 PM 1. Check if the Ginger Scone
CHANNELS (12) product exists in the data
Hey – I’m looking at our product sales and I’m model
not seeing the new Ginger Scone that we
added for Fall. I know we’ve been selling them, 2. Use counting functions plus
but can’t find them in the report... DISTINCT & VALUES to create
a view that shows the blank
row
Would you mind digging into our product
MESSAGES (23) records to see what you can figure out? 3. Add a new visual to show the
Adam Songs 1 missing product id when the
blank product is selected
Jean LeBean 1
4. Update the data model to
include the new product
Hint: Product Lookup (Updated)

SELECTEDVALUE
Returns a value when there’s only one value in a specified

SELECTEDVALUE() column, otherwise returns an (optional) alternate result
Calculated Tables
=SELECTEDVALUE(ColumnName, [AlternateResult])
Filtering Tables The column you want to return a single value from (Optional) The value returned when there is either no
Examples: value or more than one value in the specified column
(if omitted, blank is returned)
• ‘Customer Lookup’[customer_first_name]
Manipulating • ‘Product Lookup’[product] Examples:
Tables • “-”
• “NA”
Generating Data
Because the expression doesn’t evaluate to

a single (scalar) result, nothing is returned.
In this case, only when a single retail price
can be determined is a result returned.

PRO TIP: SELECTEDVALUE “SYNTAX SUGAR”
SELECTEDVALUE is another example of “syntax sugar” in DAX

Calculated Tables
• The DAX engine internally processes SELECTEDVALUE as a combination of IF,
HASONEVALUE, and VALUES:
Filtering Tables
How it’s written: How it’s interpreted:

Manipulating 1 SELECTEDVALUE =
Tables 1 SELECTEDVALUE =
2 IF(
2 SELECTEDVALUE(
3 HASONEVALUE(
3 Customer[customer_first-name],
4 Customer[customer_first-name]),
4 “-”
5 VALUES(
Generating Data 5 )
6 Customer[customer_first-name]),
7 “-”
8 )

ALLEXCEPT
Removes all report context filters in the table except the filters
ALLEXCEPT() applied to the specified columns in the query
Calculated Tables
=ALLEXCEPT(TableName, [ColumnName],[ColumnName], […])
Filtering Tables Name of an existing table (the use of table Additional column references within the same
expressions is not allowed here) referenced table or a table that is on the one-side of the
relationship (adding additional columns is optional)
Examples:
Manipulating
‘Sales by Store’ Examples:
Tables
• ‘Sales by Store’[product_group]
‘Returns’ • ‘Sales by Store’[product_category]
•
•
‘Calendar’[Transaction_Date]
•
FILTER(
Generating Data ‘Sales by Store’,
‘Sales by Store’[store_id] IN {2,5,7,9,10})
PRO TIP:
ALLEXCEPT is typically used as a CALCULATE modifier and not a stand-alone table function

ALLEXCEPT (EXAMPLE)
Here we’re using ALLEXCEPT as a

CALCULATE modifier to remove all
Calculated Tables
initial filter context from the ‘Sales by
Store’ table, except for filters on the
following columns:
Filtering Tables • ‘Calendar’[Transaction_Date]
• ‘Store Lookup’[sales_outlet_id]
Manipulating
Tables
Generating Data
The measure above returns
Customer Sales by store ID
and Date, but ignores filter
context created by other
fields (i.e. Product Category)

ASSIGNMENT: ALLEXCEPT
KEY OBJECTIVES:
MAVEN
ROASTERS Adam Songs (Head Barista)
10:13 AM
1. Create a matrix with the store
CHANNELS (12)
id, product group and customer
Hey there! Can you please look at the sales name on rows, filtered based
for 2018 to our top 10 customers (excluding on Adam’s request
non-members) at store 8?
2. Use ALLEXCEPT to create a
I’m curious how much of our sales were measure that only accepts
driven by those customers, in total and as a % filters for the date, store ID
of all our sales during that period product group and customer
MESSAGES (1)
Adam Songs 1 3. Create a % of store-level sales
Would love to share this insight with Mark measure to calculate the
and Jean in our next roundtable! percent of sales by the top 10
customers at the store level
Hint: Try REMOVEFILTERS + KEEPFILTERS

ALLSELECTED
Returns all rows in a table or values in a column, ignoring filters

ALLSELECTED() specified in the query but keeping any other existing filter context
Calculated Tables
=ALLSELECTED(TableNameOrColumnName, [ColumnName],[ColumnName], […])
Filtering Tables Name of a table or column that you want to Additional column references within the
remove filters from (NOTE: This input is required same referenced table (adding additional
unless being used as a CALCULATE modifier) columns is optional)
Manipulating
Examples: Examples:
Tables
• ALLSELECTED • ‘Sales by Store’[product_group]
• ‘Sales by Store’ • ‘Sales by Store’[product_category]
• ‘Sales by Store’[product_group]
Generating Data

ALLSELECTED respects existing filter context except row and column filters within
a visual. This function can be used to obtain visual totals or subtotals in queries.

ALLSELECTED (EXAMPLE)
This measure calculates sales

Calculated Tables (quantity * price), in a modified filter
context based on external filters
Filtering Tables
Manipulating
Tables
Generating Data
When we select specific product groups in a report slicer (Beverages,

Food & Merchandise) ALLSELECTED respects the filter context from the
selection (slicer) but not from the rows and columns of the visual.
This function is commonly used to obtain visual totals or subtotals in

queries

ASSIGNMENT: ALLSELECTED
MAVEN KEY OBJECTIVES:

ROASTERS Lisa Latte (Manager)
10:47 AM 1. Using the Food Inventory
CHANNELS (12) table, create two measures
Good morning! I’m hoping you could help me with a for Total Baked (quantity
quick food inventory analysis.
start of day) and Total Sold
(quantity sold)
Could you send me a visual to show the quantity
baked, quantity sold and % of total? 2. Create measures for % of
Total Baked and % of Total
I’d love to be able to update this view for any Sold, totaling 100% based on
MESSAGES (5) combination of product types, to better understand
which products are baked and sold most often. any selected product types
Jamie Toast 3. Build a visual to compare the

Jean LeBean % of All Baked to % of Total
Lisa Latte 1 Baked. Which food item is
baked the most?

SELECTCOLUMNS
Returns a table with selected columns from the table plus any new columns
SELECTCOLUMNS() specified by the DAX expressions
Calculated Tables
=SELECTCOLUMNS(Table, Name, Expression, […] )
Filtering Tables
Any DAX expression that returns a Name of the new column to be Any expression that returns a scalar
table added, must be wrapped with value (i.e. column reference, integer or
double quotes. Repeatable string). Repeatable
Manipulating Examples:
Tables Examples: Examples:
• ‘Sales by Store’
• ‘Food Inventory’ • “Employee Name & ID” • ‘Employees’[ID]
• FILTER( • “Employee Full Name” • [First Name] & “ “ & [Last Name]
Generating Data ‘Employees’,
‘Employees’[ID] IN {2,5,7,9,10})
PRO TIP:
SELECTCOLUMNS is an iterator function that’s useful when you
need to reduce the number of columns in a table for calculation

ADDCOLUMNS
Returns a table with selected columns from the table plus any new columns
ADDCOLUMNS() specified by the DAX expressions
Calculated Tables
=ADDCOLUMNS(Table, Name, Expression, […] )
Filtering Tables
Any DAX expression that returns a Name of the new column to be Any expression that returns a scalar
table added, must be wrapped with value (i.e. column reference, integer or
double quotes. Repeatable string). Repeatable
Manipulating Examples:
Tables Examples: Examples:
• ‘Food Inventory’ • “Employee Name & ID” • ‘Employees’[ID]
• FILTER( • “Employee Full Name” • [First Name] & “ “ & [Last Name]
Generating Data ‘Employees’,
‘Employees’[ID] IN {2,5,7,9,10})

ADDCOLUMNS & SELECTCOLUMNS are nearly identical and behave similarly with an exception, SELECTCOLUMNS
starts with a blank table whereas ADDCOLUMNS starts with the entire original table and tacks on columns

SUMMARIZE
SUMMARIZE() Creates a summary of the input table grouped by the specified columns
Calculated Tables
=SUMMARIZE(Table, GroupBy_ColumnName, [Name], [Expression])
Depreciated and
Filtering Tables not recommended
Any DAX expression that returns a table of Name of an existing column to be used
data to create summary groups based on
Manipulating the values found in the column.
Tables Examples: Cannot be an expression
Examples:
• FILTER(
Generating Data ‘Sales by Store’, • ‘Sales by Store’[store_id]
‘Sales by Store’[product_id] = 16)
• ‘Customer Lookup’[customer_id]

SUMMARIZE isn’t an aggregation function. Instead it returns all
unique combinations of values based on the columns selected

ASSIGNMENT: SUMMARIZE
MAVEN
ROASTERS Darren A. Xu (Manager) KEY OBJECTIVES:
9:37 AM
CHANNELS (12) 1. Use SUMMARIZE to create
Hey! I’ve noticed that pastries haven’t been a table that only shows the
selling well at store 5, and I’m wondering how
the unsold inventory impacts revenue. days with unsold pastries
2. Include columns to
Looking to share these results with Mark on calculate amount sold,
Tuesday. Would you be able to pull the amount unsold, and total
numbers and join that call?
MESSAGES (9) lost revenue
Darren Xu 1 3. Build a matrix to visualize
the results for Darren and
Lisa Latte
Mark

GENERATING ROWS & TABLES OF DATA
In this section, we’ll review four methods of manufacturing data from scratch:
Calculated Tables
Returns a single row table with new columns
ROW() =ROW(Name, Expression, […] ] )
specified by the DAX expression(s)
Filtering Tables
DATATABLE() Returns a table containing new, static data =DATATABLE(Name, Type, […] ], Data )
Manipulating Returns a single column table containing

Tables GENERATESERIES() sequential values, based on a given increment
=GENERATESERIES(StartValue, EndValue,
[IncrementValue] )
Generating Data
Uses curly brackets to return a table = { scalarExpr1, scalarExpr2, … }
Table Constructor { } containing one or more columns and records OR
= { ( scalarExpr1, scalarExpr2, … ),
( scalarExpr1, scalarExpr2, … ),
}

ROW
Returns a table with a single row containing values that

ROW() result from the expressions given to each column
Calculated Tables
=ROW(Name, Expression, [ Name, Expression, […] ] )
Filtering Tables
Name of the new column, enclosed in double Any DAX expression that returns a single scalar value
quotes. Repeatable.
Manipulating
Examples:
Tables Examples:
• [Customer Sales]
• “Profit” • SUM(
• “Cost” ‘Food Inventory’[quantity_start_of_day]
Generating Data

DATATABLE
DATATABLE() Returns a table with a fixed set of values

Calculated Tables
=DATATABLE(Name, Type, [Name, Type], […] ], Data )
Filtering Tables
Column name (in quotes) Column data type Data points to add to table, called and
separated with curly brackets ({ })
Examples: Examples:
Manipulating
• “Test Number” • STRING Examples:
Tables
• “Value” • DOUBLE • {“First”, 1},
• INT • {“Second”, 2},
• CURRENCY • {“Third”, 3}
Generating Data

DATATABLE can only accept fixed data inputs (no table or column references, expressions or calculations)

GENERATESERIES
GENERATESERIES() Returns a one column table populated with sequential values

Calculated Tables
=GENERATESERIES(StartValue, EndValue, [IncrementValue] )
Filtering Tables
Start & End value for the series Value used to increment between Start &
Manipulating (can be positive or negative) End value (must be non-zero and
Tables positive)
Examples:
• 0, 1, 10.25, 50.234, etc. Examples:
• -1, -10.75, -45.5, etc. • .25, 1, 1.7745, 5, etc.
Generating Data
PRO TIP:
GENERATESERIES is a great way to build a custom range of data to be used as a parameter input

TABLE CONSTRUCTOR
The table constructor { } can be used to build tables containing one or more columns
or rows, based on fixed values or DAX expressions which return scalar values
Calculated Tables • NOTE: Column headers can’t be defined using table constructor syntax
Filtering Tables 1 Single column with multiple rows: 3 Multi-row, multi-column table:
Manipulating
Tables
Generating Data 2 Single row with multiple columns:

ASSIGNMENT: GENERATING DATA
MAVEN
ROASTERS Jean LeBean (CEO) KEY OBJECTIVES:
3:15 PM
CHANNELS (12) 1. Use DATATABLE to
Mark and I are working on some forecasts, recreate the table that
and I need a new table showing target sales Jean needs for her
for April 2019, by product group.
forecasts
Below is a screen shot of what I’m looking for
-- thank you!
MESSAGES (23)
Jean LeBean 1
Mark Brewer 1

CALCULATED TABLE JOINS

CALCULATED TABLE JOINS
Calculated table joins are used to combine two or more tables of data; common examples
include CROSSJOIN, UNION, EXCEPT and INTERSECT

• Blending or combining data across multiple tables
CROSSJOIN UNION
• Creating advanced calculations like new vs. returning
users or repeat purchase behavior
EXCEPT INTERSECT • Querying tables to troubleshoot errors or better
understand relationships in a data model

CROSSJOIN
Product of two sets, forming a new
set containing all ordered pairs
CROSSJOIN() Returns a table that contains the cartesian product of the specified tables
CROSSJOIN
=CROSSJOIN(Table, Table, […] ] ) Product Product Product Product Store
Category Group Category Group ID
Coffee Beverages Coffee Beverages 3
UNION Tea Beverages Tea Beverages 3
List of table expressions to include in the crossjoin
Bakery Food Bakery Food 3
Examples: Chocolate Food Chocolate Food 3
• ‘Product Lookup’ Coffee Beverages 5

EXCEPT
• VALUES( Tea Beverages 5
‘Sales by Store’[store_id)) CROSSJOIN Bakery Food 5
Chocolate Food 5
INTERSECT Coffee Beverages 8
Store ID
3 Tea Beverages 8
Bakery Food 8
IMPORTANT NOTES: 5
8 Chocolate Food 8
✓ Column names must all be different in all table arguments
✓ The # of rows returned equals the product of rows in all tables Resulting table contains 12 rows (4*3)
✓ The # of columns returned equals the sum of columns in all tables and 3 columns (2+1)

UNION
UNION() Combines or ”stacks” rows from two or more tables sharing the same column structure
CROSSJOIN =UNION(Table, Table, […] )

Date ABC XYZ 123
5/1/19 A X 1 Date ABC XYZ 123
5/1/19 B Y 2 5/1/19 A X 1
UNION
Accepts any DAX expression for two (or more) 5/1/19 C Z 3 5/1/19 B Y 2
tables with identical column structure Date
5/1/19 ABC
C XYZ
Z 123
3
Examples: UNION 5/1/20 A X 1

EXCEPT
• ‘Sales Target 2019’, 5/1/20 B Y 2
‘Sales Target 2020’ Date ABC XYZ 123 5/1/20 C Z 3
• ‘Sales Target 2019’, DATATABLE( ) 5/1/20 A X 1
INTERSECT UNION stacks tables together,
5/1/20 B Y 2
just like append!
5/1/20 C Z 3
IMPORTANT NOTES:
✓ All tables must contain the same number of columns
✓ Columns are combined by position in their respective tables
✓ Column names are determined by the first table expression
✓ Duplicate rows are retained

EXCEPT
EXCEPT() Returns all rows from the left table which do not appear in the right table
CROSSJOIN
=EXCEPT (LeftTable, RightTable)

UNION
The left and right tables that will be used for joining
(NOTE: First table must be a table within the data model) LEFT RIGHT
EXCEPT
Example (churned customers):
=EXCEPT(‘Customers 2019’,‘Customers 2020’)
Resulting table contains rows which

ONLY appear in the left table
INTERSECT
IMPORTANT NOTES:
✓ Both tables must contain the same number of columns
✓ Columns are compared based on positioning in their respective tables
✓ Column names are determined by the left table
✓ The resulting table does NOT retain relationships to other tables (can’t be used as an expanded table)

INTERSECT
INTERSECT() Returns all the rows from the left table which also appear in the right table
CROSSJOIN
=INTERSECT(LeftTable, RightTable )
The left and right tables that will be used for joining
UNION
(NOTE: First table must be a table within the data model) LEFT RIGHT
Example (previous month active customers):
EXCEPT LeftTable: RightTable:
VALUES(‘Sales’[Customer ID]) CALCULATETABLE(
VALUES(’Sales’[Customer ID]), Resulting table contains rows
DATEADD(‘Calendar’[Date],-1, MONTH)) which appear in BOTH tables
INTERSECT
IMPORTANT NOTES:
✓ Order matters! (T1, T2) may have a different result set than (T2, T1)
✓ Columns are compared based on positioning in their respective tables
✓ Duplicate rows are retained
✓ Column names are determined by the left table
✓ The resulting table does NOT retain relationships to other tables (can’t be used as an expanded table)

ASSIGNMENT: CALCULATED TABLE JOINS
MAVEN
CHANNELS (12)
1. Use CALCULATETABLE &
I’m looking at some of the revenue and profit
number and was hoping that you could tell me INTERSECT to look at
a little bit about our returning customers returning customers between
from 11/4/2018 – 11/17/2018 (weeks 45 & 11/4/2018 & 11/17/2018
46) and what their purchase behavior is like?
2. Add additional columns for
Revenue and Profit
MESSAGES (10)
I’d love to get an idea of revenue and profit for 3. Determine the total Revenue
Darren Xu these customers and Profit for repeat
Jamie Toast customers on week 46
Jean LeBean
Lisa Latte
Mark Brewer 1

RELATIONSHIP FUNCTIONS

RELATIONSHIP FUNCTIONS
Relationship functions allow you to access fields within DAX measures or calculated columns
through either physical or virtual relationships between tables

• Defining calculated columns or measures using fields
Physical vs. Virtual
RELATED from related tables
Relationships
• Handling relationships between calendars and multiple
date fields (transaction date, stock date, due date, etc.)
RELATEDTABLE USERELATIONSHIP
• Traversing inactive relationships in the model, or
modifying relationship filter behavior
CROSSFILTER TREATAS • Defining calculated, virtual relationships when physical
relationships aren’t possible due to table granularity

PHYSICAL VS. VIRTUAL RELATIONSHIPS
There are two key types of table relationships: PHYSICAL and VIRTUAL
Physical vs. Virtual • Physical relationships are manually created, and visible in your data model
Relationships
• Virtual relationships are temporary, and defined using DAX expressions
RELATED
RELATEDTABLE
These are physical relationships:
• Visible links between tables (typically 1:* cardinality)
USERELATIONSHIP
• Can be active or inactive
• Can be accessed using DAX functions like RELATED,
CROSSFILTER RELATEDTABLE or USERELATIONSHIP
• Best way to connect tables (but not always possible)
TREATAS

PHYSICAL VS. VIRTUAL RELATIONSHIPS
There are two key types of table relationships: PHYSICAL and VIRTUAL
Physical vs. Virtual • Physical relationships are manually created, and visible in your data model
Relationships
• Virtual relationships are temporary, and defined using DAX expressions
RELATED
RELATEDTABLE
This is a virtual relationship:
• Defined using DAX expressions
USERELATIONSHIP
• Used when a physical relationship doesn’t exist, or
cannot be created directly
CROSSFILTER • Often used to connect tables with different levels of
granularity (i.e. daily sales vs. monthly budgets/goals)
• Can be accessed using DAX functions like TREATAS
TREATAS

RELATED

Relationships RELATED() Returns a value from a related table in the data model
RELATED
=RELATED(ColumnName)
RELATEDTABLE
Name of the column you want to retrieve values PRO TIP

from (must reference a table on the “one” side of The RELATED function doesn’t
USERELATIONSHIP
a many-to-one relationship) really perform an operation, it
just “opens the door” to access
Examples:
columns from an expanded table
CROSSFILTER
• ‘Product Lookup’[current_cost]
• ‘Customer Lookup’[home_store]
TREATAS

RELATEDTABLE

RELATEDTABLE() Returns a related table, filtered so that it only includes the related rows
Relationships
=RELATEDTABLE(Table)
RELATED
RELATEDTABLE Physical table you want to retrieve rows from (must reference
a table on the “many” side of a many-to-one relationship)
NOTE: RELATEDTABLE is commonly used with aggregators like

USERELATIONSHIP
COUNTROWS, SUMX, AVERAGEX, etc. RELATEDTABLE is a shortcut for
CALCUATETABLE (with no logical
Examples: expression) and performs a context
CROSSFILTER transition from row context to filter
• COUNTROWS(
RELATEDTABLE(‘Food Inventory’)) context, in order to return only the rows
which satisfy the filter condition(s)
TREATAS • SUMX(
RELATEDTABLE(‘Food Inventory’),
[Quantity Sold] * [Retail Price])

ASSIGNMENT: RELATEDTABLE
KEY OBJECTIVES:
MAVEN
1:47 PM 1. Add a calculated column to the
Customer Lookup table and
CHANNELS (12)
create a variable for “Total Sales”
Hey there! Would it be possible to add a new
field to our customer records to label high 2. Add another variable called
value customers? “AllCustomers” to count total
customers
I’m thinking we could flag customers as “high 3. Add another variable that defines
value” if they have purchased more than the average sales
MESSAGES (13) average customer. Let me know! 4. Use RELATEDTABLE to create a
Darren Xu
variable that computes sales at
Jamie Toast the customer level
Jean LeBean
5. Return “High” if customer-level
Lisa Latte 1
sales are above the average.
Otherwise, return “Low”

USERELATIONSHIP
Specifies an existing relationship to be used in the evaluation of a DAX expression,

Physical vs. Virtual USERELATIONSHIP() defined by naming, as arguments, the two columns that serve as endpoints
Relationships
RELATED =USERELATIONSHIP(ColumnName1, ColumnName2)
RELATEDTABLE
Foreign (or primary) key of the Primary (or foreign) key of the HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!
relationship relationship
USERELATIONSHIPS can only
USERELATIONSHIP Examples: Examples: be used in functions which
accept a filter parameter
• Food Inventory[Baked_Date] • Calendar[Transaction Date] (CALCULATE, TOTALYTD, etc.)
CROSSFILTER • Calendar[Transaction Date] • Food Inventory[Baked_Date]
TREATAS
PRO TIP:
If you have multiple date columns connected to a single calendar table, USERELATIONSHIP is a great way to
force measures to use inactive relationships without having to manually activate them in your model

CROSSFILTER
Specifies cross filtering direction to be used for the duration of the DAX expression.
Relationships
CROSSFILTER() The relationship is defined by naming the two columns that serve as endpoints
RELATED =CROSSFILTER(LeftColumnName, RightColumnName2, CrossFilterType )
RELATEDTABLE
The two columns you want to use. Left
column is typically the “many” side and
right column is typically the “one” side Specifies the direction of the CROSSFILTER
USERELATIONSHIP Examples: Examples:

• OneWay, Both, None
• 'Sales by Store'[customer_id]
CROSSFILTER • ‘Customer Lookup'[customer_id]
TREATAS
PRO TIP
Instead of bi-directional relationships, use CROSSFILTER to enable two-way filtering ONLY in specific cases

ASSIGNMENT: CROSSFILTER
MAVEN
ROASTERS Darren A. Xu (Manager) KEY OBJECTIVES:
9:19 AM
CHANNELS (12) 1. Create a measure called
How easy would it be to figure out the “Customers who Purchased” that
average order value for customers who make uses COUNTROWS & CROSSFILTER
purchases each month, broken down by to calculate the number of
different product groups? customers who made a purchase
in a given time period
Hint: Think about filter direction
I’d love to use that data to see if there are any
MESSAGES (28) interesting patterns or trends! 2. Create a measure that calculates
the average order value for
Darren Xu 1
“Customers who Purchased”
Jean LeBean
3. Create a matrix that that shows
Lisa Latte the previous two measures broken
down by Darren’s request

TREATAS
Applies the result of a table expression to filter columns in an unrelated table

TREATAS() (essentially creating a new, virtual relationship)
Relationships
=TREATAS(TableExpression, ColumnName, [ColumnName], […])
RELATED
A table expression which generates the set of The list of output columns (cannot be an expression)
columns to be mapped. Table expression must be NOTE: The number of columns specified must match
RELATEDTABLE
based on physical table in data model. the number of columns in the table expression and
Examples: be in the same order
USERELATIONSHIP
• TREATAS( Examples:
VALUES(‘Calendar’[Year_ID)…
• ‘Target Sales’[Year]
• TREATAS(
CROSSFILTER • ‘Target Sales’[Year],
SUMMARIZE(‘Calendar’,
‘Calendar’[Year_ID], ‘Calendar[Month]… ‘Target Sales’[Month]
TREATAS
PRO TIP:
Use physical relationships (or USERELATIONSHIP functions) whenever possible, and only rely on
TREATAS if you are unable to create a direct relationship between tables

TREATAS (EXAMPLE)
In this case, we can’t create physical relationships

Relationships to Target Sales since it’s at a different level of
granularity than the other tables in the model
RELATED
Target Sales is at the Month & Year level

RELATEDTABLE
Both Sales by Store and Calendar are at the Date (daily) level
USERELATIONSHIP
TREATAS allows us to create virtual, summarized

CROSSFILTER
versions of our tables to match the granularity
that we need to form a valid relationship
TREATAS

ASSIGNMENT: SALES TARGETS (TREATAS)
MAVEN KEY OBJECTIVES:

2:52 PM
1. Based on the Target Sales
CHANNELS (12)
Hi! I have a call with the board this Thursday
Union table, use TREATAS and
and need to share where our sales landed create measures for Bean/Tea,
against March and April targets. Beverage, Merchandise &
Food sales goals
Could you please pull those numbers for me? Bonus: Use SUMMARIZE with TREATAS
2. Create % of goal measures

MESSAGES (8)
that compare quantity sold to
Darren Xu
the goal amount
Jamie Toast
Jean LeBean 1 3. Add the above measures to a
matrix broken down by store
& target months

ITERATOR FUNCTIONS

ITERATORS
Iterator functions allow you to loop through the same expression on every row of a table in
order to evaluate a single scalar value (i.e. max, min, average) or derive a new table
• Aggregating a column into a single value (i.e. average

Iterator Review Iterator Cardinality customer age, max product price, count of orders, etc.)
• Returning a table of data (i.e. ADDCOLUMNS and
CONCATENATEX AVERAGEX SELECTCOLUMNS)
RANKX

REVIEW: BASIC ITERATORS
SUMX() Returns the sum of an expression evaluated for each row in a table
Iterator Review
=SUMX(Table, Expression)
Iterator
Cardinality Aggregation to apply to
Table in which the expression will be Expression to be evaluated for
calculated rows
evaluated
each row of the given table
Examples:
CONCATENATEX Examples:
Examples:
• SUMX
• COUNTX • [Total Orders]
• FILTER( Sales,
AVERAGEX • AVERAGEX RELATED( • ‘Sales’[RetailPrice] * ‘Sales’[Quantity]
• RANKX ‘Products’[Category])=“Clothing”)
• MAXX/MINX
RANKX
PRO TIP:
Imagine the function adding a temporary new column to the table, calculating the value in
each row (based on the expression) and then applying the aggregation to that new column

ITERATOR CARDINALITY
Iterator cardinality is the number of rows in the table(s) being iterated; the more
Iterator Review
unique rows, the higher the cardinality (this is different from relationship cardinality)
Sales by Store
Iterator Index Date Price Product ID Quantity When iterators reference a single table, cardinality is simply
Cardinality the number of unique rows (in this case 912,424)
1 1/1/2017 $18 1 2
2 1/1/2017 $18 2 6 When using nested iterators, cardinality depends on
CONCATENATEX 3 1/1/2017 $14.75 3 1 whether you are using physical or virtual relationships:
… … … … … • For physical relationships, cardinality is defined as the
912,422 4/30/2019 $10 10 1 max number of unique rows in the largest table
912,423 4/30/2019 $3.75 79 2 • For virtual relationships, cardinality is defined as the
AVERAGEX
number of unique rows in each table multiplied together
912,424 4/30/2019 $3.75 36 1
RANKX

When using nested iterators, only the innermost “X” function can be optimized by the DAX engine.
Nested iterators aren’t always a bad thing, but they can have significant performance implications

ITERATOR CARDINALITY (CONT.)
Physical relationship
Iterator Review
• Relationship between ‘Product Lookup’
and ‘Sales by Store’
Iterator
• ‘Product Lookup’ contains 88 rows
Cardinality • ‘Sales by Store’ contains 907,841 rows
Cardinality = 907,841
CONCATENATEX
Virtual relationship
AVERAGEX
• No physical relationship between
‘Product Lookup’ and ‘Sales by Store’
• ‘Product Lookup’ contains 88 rows
RANKX
• ‘Sales by Store’ contains 907,841 rows
Cardinality = 79,890,008

CONCATENATEX
Iterator Review Evaluates an expression for each row of the table and returns the concatenation of
CONCATENATEX() those values in a single string, separated by a delimiter
Iterator
Cardinality =CONCATENATEX( Table, Expression, [Delimiter], [OrderBy_Expression], [Order])
CONCATENATEX
Table or table expression that Column that contains values to Optional arguments:
contains the rows you want concatenate or an expression that
• Delimiter: Used with concatenated expression
to return returns a value
• Examples: “,” “&” “-” “;” etc.
AVERAGEX
Examples: Examples: • OrderBy Expression: Expression used to sort the table
• Examples: Product Lookup[Product Category]
• ‘Product Lookup’ • ‘Product’[Category]
• CONCATENATEX( • ‘Employee’[Name] • Order: Order of results applied
RANKX • Examples: ASC, DESC
VALUES(‘Employee Lookup’)… • [Customer Sales]
• 7

PRO TIP: ADDING DYNAMIC LABELS
Iterator Review
Iterator
Cardinality
CONCATENATEX The Selected Product Category measure

uses CONCATENATEX to capture the
selections from the slicer...
AVERAGEX
Product Category slicer is

RANKX filtered to Coffee, Coffee Beans
& Drinking Chocolate
...which can be displayed as a dynamic label
using a card to show selected items

ASSIGNMENT: CONCATENATEX
MAVEN
ROASTERS Darren A. Xu (Manager)
CHANNELS (12)
1. Create a visual for Store 5
Hey there! I’m hoping to look into Store 5
sales by employee, to see which employees that shows customer sales
account for largest percentage of total sales. by store and employee id
2. Create a measure to show %
of Total Sales for Store 5
Could you please create a visual that shows
Sales and % of Total Sales, with the ability to 3. Use CONCATENATEX to
MESSAGES (17) filter for any combination of Employee IDs? define a measure that shows
Darren Xu 1 the employee name(s)
selected and the % of Total
Sales for Store 5

AVERAGEX
Iterator Review AVERAGEX() Calculates the average (arithmetic mean) of a set of expressions evaluated over a table
=AVERAGEX(Table, Expression)
Iterator
Cardinality
Table, or table expression, that The expression that you want to evaluate
CONCATENATEX contains the rows to evaluate
Examples:
Examples:
• [Customer Sales]
• ‘Calendar’ • SUM[quantity_sold]
AVERAGEX
• ‘Product Lookup’
RANKX
AVERAGE & AVERAGEX do NOT count days with zero sales when computing an average. To evaluate an
average over a date range that includes dates with no sales, use DIVIDE & COUNTROWS instead

PRO TIP: MOVING AVERAGES
Iterator Review
Here we’re using MAX, FILTER & ALL
to create a 30-day rolling time period
(based on the latest transaction date)
Iterator Once the rolling window is defined,
Cardinality
we can use AVERAGEX to calculate
the average sales over that period
CONCATENATEX • Note that we could also use
SUMX or COUNTX to calculate
the rolling total/count
AVERAGEX
PRO TIP:
Use a parameter to create a
RANKX dynamic, user-defined period!

ASSIGNMENT: MOVING AVERAGES
MAVEN
CHANNELS (12)
1. Create a matrix to show total
Could you get me a visual showing our total and daily average profit by
and average profit, trended monthly from Jan month, for Jan 2018 – Apr 2019
2018 through Apr 2019?
2. Use GENERATESERIES &
SELECTEDVALUE to create a
Barry’s Beans closed their shop last month, parameter with increments of 7
and I’d like to track our profits to see the days over a 9-week period
MESSAGES (15)
impact. Could you please include a weekly
moving average that I can adjust as needed? 3. Create a measure using
Darren Xu AVERAGEX and the parameter
Jamie Toast you defined to calculate the
moving average profit
Mark Brewer 1

RANKX
RANKX() Returns the ranking of a number in a list of numbers for each row in the table argument
Iterator Review
=RANKX(Table, Expression, [Value], [Order], [Ties])
Iterator Optional arguments:

Cardinality
Table or DAX expression An expression that returns a scalar • Value: Any DAX expression that returns a single scalar
that returns a table value, evaluated at each row of the table value whose rank is to be found (by default, the value in the
current row is used)
CONCATENATEX Examples: Examples:
• Order: Specifies how to rank (low-high vs. high-low)
• ALL( • [Customer Sales] • Examples: ASC or DESC
‘Product Lookup’[Product]) • SUM( • Ties: Determines how ties and following ranks are treated:
‘Sales by Store’[quantity_sold]) • SKIP (default): Skips ranks after ties
AVERAGEX
• DENSE: Shows the next rank, regardless of ties
SKIP: DENSE:
PRO TIP:
RANKX
If your “Total” row is showing a rank of 1, use IF &
HASONEVALUE with RANKX to exclude it from the rank!

ASSIGNMENT: RANKX
MAVEN
ROASTERS Jamie Toast (Head Roaster)
9:13 AM KEY OBJECTIVES:
CHANNELS (12)
Hey there, I’m curious to see our profits for
1. Use variables and RANKX
the best-selling products in each category. to create a single measure
for Top 5 Products
Would you be able to show me a visual at the 2. Create a slicer for Product
product category level, only including profit Category to be able to
for the top 5 products within each category?
analyze the top 5 across
MESSAGES (23)
different categories
Darren Xu 1
Jamie Toast
Jean LeBean

ADVANCED TIME INTELLIGENCE

ADVANCED TIME INTELLIGENCE
DAX offers a range of powerful time intelligence functions, which allow you to build custom
calendars, define dynamic date ranges, and compare performance across specific periods

• Building custom calendar tables (rather than using
Automatic Date Tables Calendar Functions default, auto-generated versions)
• Calculating period-over-period, moving average, or
running total calculations
Time Intelligence
Date Formatting • Managing non-traditional time periods like week-
Functions
based retail calendars (5-4-5 or 5-4-4)
Week-Based
Calculations

AUTOMATIC DATE TABLES
Automatic Date By default, Power BI automatically creates a hidden date table for any table that
Tables contains a Date or DateTime column on the one-side of a relationship
• Auto-generated calendars include all dates through the end of the year, regardless
Calendar
Functions of the actual date range in the table
Date Formatting
Time Intelligence
Functions
Week-Based
Calculations
Automatically creates a hidden date table containing all these columns

PROS & CONS: AUTOMATIC DATE TABLES
Automatic Date
PROS: CONS:
Tables
• Automatically generated • Hidden from view, cannot be modified/customized

Calendar
Functions • Enables (some) time intelligence • Generated for every date field across every
functionality by default lookup/dimension table (bloats model size)
• Simplifies data model creation • Can’t be enabled or disabled at the table-level
Date Formatting
and management
• Hierarchies aren’t automatically generated (if grouped by
• Does not require an advanced month, would summarize that month across ALL years)
Time Intelligence understanding of DAX
Functions • Each automatic date table can only filter the table it
corresponds to (cannot traverse table relationships)
Week-Based
Calculations
PRO TIP:
Turn OFF the auto date/time feature in Power BI Desktop and either import a date
dimension table or create your own using CALENDAR functions (more on this soon!)

DATE TABLE REQUIREMENTS
Automatic Date
Tables
If you import or create your own date table, it must meet these requirements:
✓ Must contain all the days for all years represented in your fact tables
Calendar
Functions ✓ Must have at least one field set as a Date or DateTime datatype
✓ Cannot contain duplicate dates or datetime values
Date Formatting ✓ If using a time component within a date column, all times must be
identical (i.e. 12:00)
✓ Should be marked as a date table (not required but a best practice)
Time Intelligence
Functions

Week-Based
Calculations If Time is present in your date field, split the time component into a new column
(this adheres to relationship requirements and decreases column cardinality)

CALENDAR
Automatic Date
Tables
CALENDAR() Returns a table with one column of all dates between start and end date
Calendar =CALENDAR(StartDate, EndDate)

Functions
Start and End dates of your calendar table. Can be explicitly

Date Formatting assigned or defined using DAX functions (i.e. MIN/MAX)
Examples:
Time Intelligence • CALENDAR(
Functions DATE( 2019,01,01), DATE(2020,12,31))
• CALENDAR(
DATE( YEAR ( MIN(Sales by Store[Transaction Date] )), 1, 1),
Week-Based
Calculations DATE( YEAR ( MAX(Sales by Store[Transaction Date] )), 12, 31)

CALENDARAUTO
Automatic Date Returns a table with one column of dates based on a fiscal year end month. The
Tables CALENDARAUTO() Range of dates is calculated automatically based on data in the model
Calendar =CALENDARAUTO(FiscalYearEndMonth)
Functions
An integer from 1 to 12 that represents the last month of the fiscal year.
Date Formatting Can be explicitly assigned or created using DAX functions (i.e. MIN/MAX)
Examples:
Time Intelligence • CALENDARAUTO(6)
Functions
• Calendar Table =
VAR MinYear = YEAR( MIN( ‘Sales by Store’[Transaction Date]))
Week-Based VAR MaxYear= YEAR( MAX( ‘Sales by Store’[Transaction Date]))
Calculations RETURN
FILTER( CALENDARAUTO(),
YEAR( [Date] ) >= MinYear &&
YEAR( [Date] ) <= MaxYear )

PRO TIP: BUILDING A REUSABLE DATE TABLE
Automatic Date
Tables
Calendar
Functions
This code can be repurposed and

recycled across multiple data models!
Date Formatting
Time Intelligence
Functions
Week-Based
Calculations

DATE FORMATTING
Automatic Date
Use the FORMAT function to specify date/time formatting. Common examples include:
Tables
Code Description Example

Calendar dddd Display the full-day name Sunday, Monday, etc.
Functions
ddd Display the short-day name Sun, Mon, Tue, etc.
Date Formatting mmmm Show full month name July, August, etc.
mmm Show abbreviated month name Jul, Aug, Sept, etc.
Time Intelligence mm Display the month as a two-digit number 08, 09, 10, 11, etc.
Functions
q Display the quarter of the year 1, 2, 3, 4
Week-Based yyyy Show the year as a four-digit number 2018, 2019, 2020, etc.
Calculations
*Head to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dax/custom-date-and-time-formats-for-the-format-function for more

information about custom date and time formats and a complete list of user-defined date/time formats
ASSIGNMENT: DATE FORMATTING
MAVEN
KEY OBJECTIVES:
3:15 PM 1. Add columns to the calendar
CHANNELS (12) table to capture the weekday
Hey, I’m wondering what portion of our sales number and name
come in on weekends vs. weekdays. Could you
help with a quick analysis? 2. Add a binary Y/N column to
flag weekend dates
Jean and I would love to see a breakdown of 3. Use a Matrix visual to show
weekend vs. weekday sales, shown as a the percent of total sales for
MESSAGES (23) percent of total. Thanks! weekdays vs weekends
Jean LeBean
Lisa Latte
Mark Brewer 1

COMMON TIME INTELLIGENCE FUNCTIONS
Automatic Date
Tables Time Intelligence functions allow you to define and compare custom time periods:
Calendar
Functions Performance-to-Date Time Period Shift Running Total
Functions commonly used to calculate Functions commonly used to compare Functions commonly used to calculate
Date Formatting performance through the current date performance between specific periods running totals or moving averages

Time Intelligence
Functions • DATESYTD • SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR • DATESINPERIOD
• DATESQTD • DATEADD
• DATESMTD • PARALLELPERIOD
Week-Based • PREVIOUSYEAR
Calculations (QUARTER/MONTH/DAY)
• NEXTYEAR
(QUARTER/MONTH/DAY)

REVIEW: COMMON PATTERNS
Use these common time intelligence patterns for YTD, period-over-period, or running total calculations:
Performance = CALCULATE(Measure, DATESYTD(Calendar[Date]))

To-Date Use DATESQTD for Quarters or DATESMTD for Months
Previous = CALCULATE(Measure, DATEADD(Calendar[Date], -1, MONTH))

Period
Select an interval (DAY, MONTH, QUARTER, or YEAR) and the
# of intervals to compare (i.e. previous month, rolling 10-day)
Running = CALCULATE(Measure,
Total DATESINPERIOD(Calendar[Date], MAX(Calendar[Date]), -10, DAY))
PRO TIP:
To calculate a moving average, use a running total calculation and divide by the number of intervals

PARALLELPERIOD
Returns a column of dates from a parallel period, by shifting the dates specified
Automatic Date PARALLELPERIOD() forward or backward in time based on a given interval (month/quarter/year)
Tables
=PARALLELPERIOD(Date, NumberOfIntervals, Interval)

Calendar
Functions
The name of a column containing dates Number of Intervals (positive or negative); Interval value can only be:
Date Formatting
or a one column table containing dates If a decimal is supplied, number is rounded • Month
to nearest whole integer • Quarter
Example: • Year
Time Intelligence Example:
• Calendar[Transaction_Date]
Functions
• 1, 2, 3, etc.
• -1,-2,-3 etc.
• -1.4 (-1) -1.5 (-2)
Week-Based
Calculations
PARALLELPERIOD computes the entire period in the interval (i.e. entire year, quarter, etc.).
Values in total rows may not reflect the expected total if partial periods are present!

PARALLELPERIOD EXAMPLE
Automatic Date
Tables
Calendar
Functions
Total returned for the entire

previous quarter on each row
Date Formatting
Time Intelligence
Functions
Week-Based
Calculations
Year-level total = Q4 2018 + Q1 2019
Overall total is “missing” April 2019

PREVIOUSQUARTER
Returns a table containing a column of all dates from the previous quarter, based
Automatic Date PREVIOUSQUARTER on the first date in the date range specified
Tables
Calendar =PREVIOUSQUARTER(Dates)
Functions
The name of a column containing dates When first date specified is

Date Formatting or a one column table containing dates 5/9/2017, totals for May and
June reflect Jan-Mar (Q1) 2017
Example:
Time Intelligence • Calendar[Transaction_Date] 2018 Total row reflects the
Functions total for Q4 2017
Week-Based
Calculations HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!
PREVIOUSQUARTER works similarly to With no date context, total is
PARALLELPERIOD (QUARTER) and computes the based on first visible date in
entire prior period (but handles totals differently) the table (5/9/2017)

SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR
Automatic Date
Tables
SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR() Returns a set of dates in the current selection from the previous year
Calendar = SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(Dates)
Functions
Date Formatting The name of a column containing dates

or a one column table containing dates
Example:
Total Sales for 3/24/2017 –
Time Intelligence
• Calendar[Transaction_Date] 3/31/2017
Functions
Week-Based HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!

Calculations Pay attention to totals and filter context!
SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR is equivalent to 2019 total has filter context
DATEADD(‘Dates’, -1, YEAR) and may return of 1/1/2019 – 4/30/2019,
values which aren’t always intuitive or and returns 2018 YTD total
straightforward to understand through April

SYNTAX SUGAR: SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR
Automatic Date
Tables
SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR is really just a shortcut for DATEADD and YEAR:

Calendar
Functions
How it’s written: How it’s interpreted:
1 Store 3 Sales – Last Year = 1 Store 3 Sales – Last Year =

Date Formatting 2 CALCULATE( 2 CALCULATE(
3 [Total Sales], 3 [Total Sales],
4 DATEADD(
4 SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(‘Calendar’[Transaction_Date])
5 ‘Calendar’[Transaction_Date],
Time Intelligence 5 )
6 -1,
Functions
7 YEAR)
8 )
Week-Based
Calculations

ASSIGNMENT: TIME PERIODS
MAVEN
CHANNELS (12)
1. Using time intelligence
Hey there! I’m sure you’ve seen the increase
in our sales since Barry’s Beans went out of
functions to calculate total
business last month. Could you please share sales for the previous month,
the month-over-month change in sales from as well as the percent change
Mar-Apr 2019? month-over-month
2. Calculate the year-over-year
MESSAGES (23) One more thing – could you also look at April change in sales from April
2019 compared to April 2018? I’d love to see 2018 vs. April 2019
the YoY sales comparison too... Thanks!
Jean LeBean 1

WEEK-BASED CALCULATIONS
Automatic Date
Tables
Week-based DAX calculations (i.e. previous week sales, same week last year)
can be especially challenging for several reasons:
Calendar • Can’t use standard DAX functions (i.e. PARALLELPERIOD, SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR)
Functions
• Weeks can start on various days (Sunday, Monday, etc.)
• There can be partial weeks in any given month, quarter or year (i.e. partial 53rd week)
Date Formatting
• Weeks can be grouped differently based on different fiscal calendars (i.e. 5-4-4, 4-5-4)
Time Intelligence
Functions
PRO TIP:
Week-Based Using a 5-4-4 or 4-5-4 fiscal calendar (common in the retail industry) can enable some
Calculations week-based calculations, but you still can’t use standard DAX time intelligence functions

4-4-5 & 4-5-4 FISCAL CALENDARS
Automatic Date
Tables 4 weeks
In a 4-4-5 fiscal calendar, the

Calendar months in each quarter contain
Functions
4 weeks
exactly 4, 4, and 5 weeks
Date Formatting 5 weeks
Time Intelligence
Functions
PROS: CONS:
Week-Based • Standardizes the number of • Does not have standard start & end
Calculations dates for years, quarters, or months
days in each week (7)
• Standardizes the number of • Cannot be used with standard DAX
weeks in each year (52) time intelligence functions

PREVIOUS FISCAL WEEK (4-5-4)
Automatic Date To calculate performance for the previous fiscal week, you can use DATEADD
Tables with an interval of -7 days:
Calendar
Functions
This works with 4-5-4 or 4-4-5 fiscal calendars, but

Date Formatting
can break down when applied to standard calendars
where years often contain partial weeks
Time Intelligence
Functions
Week-Based
Calculations PRO TIP:
Use DATEADD with an interval of -364 days to compare the same week last year!

FISCAL PERIOD TO DATE (4-5-4)
Automatic Date
Instead of a standard DAX performance-to-date functions (i.e. DATESYTD, DATESMTD),
Tables you can use a combination of CALCULATE, MAX, and HASONEVALUE:
Calendar
Functions Here we’re calculating QTD sales based on a 4-5-4 fiscal calendar
Date Formatting
You can replace FiscalQuarter with

Time Intelligence the fiscal year or fiscal month for YTD
Functions and MTD calculations
Week-Based
Calculations

FISCAL PREVIOUS PERIOD (4-5-4)
Automatic Date
Instead of a standard DAX time period shifting functions (i.e. PREVIOUSYEAR,
Tables PARALLELPERIOD), you can use CALCULATE, FILTER, ALL and SELECTEDVALUE:
Calendar Here we’re calculating QTD sales for the previous quarter based on a 4-5-4 fiscal calendar
Functions
Date Formatting
You can replace FiscalQuarter with
the fiscal month or fiscal week for
MTD and WTD calculations
Time Intelligence Just make sure to update the fiscal
Functions period to either 4, 12 or 52!
Week-Based
Calculations

ASSIGNMENT: 4-5-4 CALENDAR
MAVEN
3:15 PM
CHANNELS (12) KEY OBJECTIVES:
Hey there! Looks like we’ve shifted into using
a standard 4-5-4 calendar. I’d love to be able 1. Using the 4-5-4 Calendar and
to look at our customer sales by YTD, QTD, [Customer Sales] create
and MTD measures for YTD and MTD
sales
Also, Darren and I were chatting, and we’d 2. Create a measure to compute
MESSAGES (23) love to look at week over week sales. Could week-over-week % change
you help us out here?
Darren Xu 3. Create a matrix (or two) to
Jamie Toast
Jean LeBean 1
visualize your results

PERFORMANCE TUNING

SNEAK PEEK: PERFORMANCE TUNING
Tools like DAX Studio and Power BI’s Performance Analyzer can you help you troubleshoot
issues, measure load times for visuals/DAX queries, and optimize your code
Performance • Identify issues with slow-loading visuals or queries

Copy Query
Analyzer • Test and compare measures to determine the impact
on speed and performance
Optimization
DAX Studio • Optimize measures or report configurations to
Workflow minimize processing and load times

PERFORMANCE ANALYZER
Power BI Desktop’s Performance Analyzer records user actions (like Excel’s macro
recorder), and tracks the load time (in milliseconds) for each step in the process:
Performance
Analyzer
DAX Query
• Shows the amount of time it takes for the
visual to send the query to the engines, and
Copy Query for the engines to return the result (Note:
DAX Studio can only help optimize this)
Visual Display
DAX Studio
• Shows the amount of time it takes for the
visual to populate, or “draw”, on the screen.
Includes time to retrieve web-based and
Optimization geocoded images
Workflow Other
• Shows the amount of time required by the
visual to prepare the query, wait for other
visuals to complete their queries and perform
other processing tasks

PRO TIP: COPY QUERY
The Performance Analyzer includes a Copy Query option, which you can use to copy
the actual code that DAX generates behind the scenes to produce specific visuals:
Performance
Analyzer
Copy Query
DAX Studio
Optimization
Workflow
Remember that VALUES will include a blank if it exists in the
model? Well if you see a blank option in a slicer, this is why!

DAX STUDIO
DAX Studio is a free tool that allows you to connect to your Power BI data model
to test and optimize your DAX queries
Performance
Analyzer
Copy Query
www.Daxstudio.org
DAX Studio
Optimization
Workflow

OPTIMIZATION WORKFLOW
1 Start Performance Analyzer in Power BI Desktop

• Click “Start Recording”, any actions will be logged and displayed in the Performance Analyzer pane
Performance
Analyzer 2 Analyze your query load times
• Each part of the query will likely take a different amount of time, and if the DAX Query load time is
long (100-200ms or more) you can likely optimize your code using DAX Studio
Copy Query
• Visual display load time may be decreased by changing the visual type or reducing data points
DAX Studio 3 Copy & paste or import queries into DAX Studio
• Copy and paste an individual query and analyze its performance in DAX Studio, or export the entire
performance analyzer results and use Analyze Performance Data to import a file containing all queries
Optimization
Workflow
4 Use DAX studio to optimize your code
• DAX Studio uses some specific functions which allow you to analyze your DAX queries (i.e. DEFINE,
EVALUATE and ORDER BY)
• In an optimized query, the storage engine (SE) should carry the majority of the CPU workload

WRAPPING UP

RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS
Need to brush up on your Power BI skills? Make sure to complete the

full Power BI Specialist stack from Maven Analytics:
• Up & Running with Power BI Desktop
• Publishing to Power BI Service
• Advanced DAX for Business Intelligence
Remember to check out these helpful resources for additional support:

• Dax.guide & docs.microsoft.com for DAX function reference
• Mavenanalytics.io/data-playground for free practice datasets
• pbiusergroup.com for helpful forums and local meetup groups
• Microsoft Power BI and Guy in a Cube YouTube channels for demos and advanced tutorials
Any feedback? Please take a moment to leave a rating or review!

• Please reach out if there’s anything we can do to improve your experience – we’re here to help!

THANK YOU
THANK YOU!

Advanced DAX For Business Intelligence

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ADVANCED

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

This is a project-based course, for students looking to build expert-

Course resources include:

Interactive, hands-on demos to keep you engaged, with downloadable

Address the core DAX concepts you should already know,

Introduce the Maven Roasters course project, and build the

Understand the DAX formula and storage engines, data types,

Review helpful tips for formatting queries, adding

Explore common scalar functions, including rounding,

Review CALCULATE modifiers, context transition,

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

Create calculated tables, review common filter functions,

Create calculated joins between physical and virtual

Explore expanded tables, physical & virtual relationships,

Explore iterator cardinality, nested iterators, context

Build date tables with DAX, compare custom time periods,

Introduce the performance analyzer, common optimization

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

3 Our goal is to help you build expert-level DAX skills

4 This course focuses on using DAX for Business Intelligence

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

DAX Formatter (daxformatter.com) by sqlbi.com is a great tool for

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

TOPICS WE’LL REVIEW:

DAX Operators Common Functions Columns & Measures Evaluation Context

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

This Data Table contains “quantity” values, and connects

*Copyright 2018, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

Cardinality refers to the uniqueness of values in a column

*Copyright 2018, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

Here we have two data tables (Sales_Data and Returns_Data),

Note the filter directions (shown as arrows) in each relationship;

• Similarly, filtering using TerritoryKey from the Returns table yields

3) Filtering using TerritoryKey from

A well-designed model is critical and

✓ Contain relationships with one-way filters (vs. bidirectional)

✓ Contain tables that each serve a specific purpose,

✓ Split out individual date and time components from

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

- Subtraction 5–3 > Greater than [Quantity]>10

* Multiplication 2*6 < Less than [Quantity]<10

/ Division 4/2 >= Greater than or equal to [Unit_Price]>=2.5

^ Exponent 2^5 <= Less than or equal to [Unit_Price]<=2.5

<> Not equal to [Country]<>”Mexico”

Text/Logical Operator Meaning Example

MATH & STATS LOGICAL TEXT FILTER DATE & TIME

CALCULATE() Evaluates a given expression or formula under a set of defined filters

=CALCULATE(Expression, [Filter1], [Filter2],…)

*Copyright 2018, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

Here we’ve defined a new measure named “Bike Returns”, which

HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT!

*Copyright 2018, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

CALCULATE If the measure being evaluated contains a CALCULATE

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

Bikes Product Table

Count of rows in the AW_Returns_Data

Product Table AW_Returns_Data

*Copyright 2018, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC

Calculated columns allow you to add new, formula-based columns to tables

*Copyright 2020, Excel Maven & Maven Analytics, LLC