Power BI Weekly Issue 246: 20th February 2024
We're still awaiting the first Power BI feature summary of the year, but from what I can tell from chat on social media, it's going to include some pretty cool features (around TMDL and Visual Calcs). The new version of Power BI Desktop has actually already been released, so you may already be using it without knowing! Anyway, I'll leave details until the official blog has been released. So onto this week's updates. There have been a few Improvements for creating new Direct Lake semantic models (note: not the default semantic model), and we can now use Copilot to Generate measure descriptions (preview) (an even easier way of documenting your model!) Elsewhere this week, Alberto Ferrari has described Optimizing time intelligence in DirectQuery, and Nandan Hegde has described how to Refresh Power BI Semantic Model from MSFT Fabric Data Pipeline (while we wait for a native Power BI refresh activity).
Data Prep
Covering: Power Query (M), Dataflows, Data connectors, AI Insights
- Chandeep Chhabra (@chandeep2786) describes How to Trigger Dynamic and Fixed Rankings in Power BI
- Hafeez Jimoh (@jimohhafeezco) shares a few blogs: Getting Data from Excel File with multiple sheets into Power BI, Fundamental Principles of Cleaning Dirty Data in Power BI, This is how to clean Dirty Data using Power Query and Creating Calendar Table with Power Query in Power BI
- Hima Bindu Marri (@sivahimabindu) talks about Adding additional rows to existing data in Power BI Power BI for beginners
Data Modeling
Covering: DAX (Measures & Calculated Tables/Columns), Relationships, Analysis Services, Composite models
- On the Power BI blog, Zoe Douglas (@MSPowerBI) announces Improvements for creating new Direct Lake semantic models and describes how to Generate measure descriptions with Copilot (preview)
- On the SQLBI blog, Alberto Ferrari (@FerrariAlberto) delves into Optimizing time intelligence in DirectQuery
- Reid Havens (@HavensBI) describes (Case Study) Field Parameters or Calculation Groups?
- Kevin Chant (@kevchant) writes about T-SQL Tuesday 171 – Using SemPy to view DAX in Microsoft Fabric
- Kim Leblanc (@lecfomasque) covers Vue de requêtes DAX : créez, modifiez et évaluez vos mesures en 5 étapes [French]
- Hafeez Jimoh (@jimohhafeezco) covers Master Data Modeling in Power BI, talks about Data Modeling Best Practice in Power BI and describes Creating Relationships in Power BI
Report Authoring and Interactivity
Covering: Layout and formatting, Visualizations, Interactivity, Themes, Mobile reports, Dashboards
- On the Business Intelligist blog, Business Intelligist (@bizintelligist) blogs about Visual Calculations – Update Your PBI Desktop Now
- Miguel Félix covers Calculos Visuais e agora? (1 de 3) [Portuguese]
- Andrzej Leszkiewicz (@avatorl) discusses Power BI Magic: SVG paths in Deneb and core Power BI visuals. Draw almost anything in real time.
- On the Learning Science YouTube channel, Learning Science describes Styling options for column and bar charts in Power BI
- Arul describes Building Slicers from Existing Attributes
Deployment, Security and Operations
Covering: Workspaces and Apps, Template Apps, Deployment Pipelines, Gateways, Security, Sharing, Licences, Admin operations, Developer Tooling
- Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) writes about Query Caching In Power BI Premium
- Nandan Hegde (@nandan_hegde15) explains how to Refresh Power BI Semantic Model from MSFT Fabric Data Pipeline
- On the Power BI community blog, Ignacio Barrau (@ignacho_07) writes about [SimplePBI][Python] Copy reports (pbix) between workspaces
- Laura Graham-Brown (@Laura_GB) explains how to Create a Power BI Service Principle Profile and writes about Power Automate and Power BI Rest API
- Roland Szirmai (@BILAnalytics) describes Fully Automated Power BI Access Management Tool using Power Apps and Power Automate - Part III
General
Covering: Cross-topic announcements & feature summaries, Whitepapers, Community events, Learning Resources & Certifications, Podcasts, Sample reports, End-to-end walkthroughs
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