Power BI Weekly

Issue 362

16^th June 2026

Welcome to the 362nd edition of Power BI Weekly! The headline from the Power BI/Fabric team is that org apps now support audiences and have reached general availability, letting you carve a single app into tailored experiences for different groups instead of maintaining near-identical copies (a long-standing request, and a welcome one). Also in preview, Kay Unkroth has announced simplified Oracle connectivity. Power BI Desktop now comes with the Oracle driver built in, and the service can connect straight to cloud-hosted Oracle, so you no longer have to install a separate driver or set up a gateway.

On the community side, Phil Seamark explains why the RLS bitmap default just quadrupled from 128K to 512K rows, diving deep into the caching the engine does to keep row-level security fast (and why you can be caught out by growing tables in your model). And Kurt Buhler reflects on lessons from Anthropic's agentic self-service BI rollout: unlike code, a business question usually has one right answer, so reliable AI analytics still rests on clean data, solid semantic models and curated metadata.

Data Prep

Simplified Oracle connectivity in Power BI (Preview) by Kay Unkroth · 1 min read Power BI’s upcoming preview removes the need for separate provider installations and data gateways, offering seamless connectivity to Oracle databases including cloud-hosted options like Autonomous Database.
AI is Only as Smart as Your Model by sharvu · 1 min read The article emphasizes that robust data quality is crucial for effective AI outcomes, arguing that a strong data foundation-supported by an optimized semantic layer-is more important than ever as AI integrates deeply into analytics experiences.
Power Query Remove Duplicates Keeps the WRONG Record (Here's the fix) by Leila Gharani · 2 min read Power Query's "Remove Duplicates" feature can silently keep the wrong record when processing large datasets due to lazy evaluation, but wrapping the sort step in Table.Buffer() ensures you always retain the latest entry.
Combining Multiple Excel Files in Power Query Using Claude by Chandeep Chhabra · 2 min read The video demonstrates how Claude in Excel can assist with merging multiple Excel files using Power Query, testing its effectiveness across simple to complex data structures while highlighting best practices and limitations.

Data Modeling

There Is More Than One Way to Query Your Data: Have You Tried DAX? by Matt Mair-Durrant · 4 min read DAX queries let you extract precise data slices from Power BI semantic models into Excel or other tools, offering built‑in business logic measures and automatic relationship handling without manual joins.
Rebuilding My First Fabric App (WITHOUT AI ❌🤖) by Edward (Ned) Charles · 1 min read Edward Charles rebuilds his first Microsoft Fabric App manually without AI assistance, detailing each step from creating an empty data app to publishing the final Fabric DataGrid, and sharing resources for learning TypeScript, React, SQL, and Power BI.
In Power BI, Is the Semantic Model Now the Real Product? by Renan Brognoli · 1 min read The semantic model in Power BI is emerging as the core product, influencing governance, reuse, scalability, and delivery of business value within modern BI workflows.

Report Authoring and Interactivity

Small Buttons, Big Problem: Fixing Target Size in Power BI Reports by Juliana Smith · 4 min read The accessibility checker tool identifies small interactive elements that violate WCAG 2.5.8, recommending at least 40 × 40 pixels for better usability across all users.
Power BI Date Preset Slicer (Last 30/60/90 Days + Custom) by Ashish kumar Jha · 1 min read This Power BI tutorial shows how to create dynamic date preset slicers (last 30, 60, 90 days, and custom range) that automatically disable the standard date slicer when a preset is chosen, enhancing user experience for executive dashboards and enterprise reports.
Cálculos Visuais no Power BI: A Simplicidade do Excel com o Poder do DAX [Portuguese] by Miguel Félix · 6 min read Power BI’s Visual Calculations simplify DAX by letting users perform calculations directly on chart elements, reducing complexity while still offering dynamic, virtual table-based computations that adapt to data context and interactions.
Preparing location data for Icon Map: from spatial source to Power BI map by the Icon Map team · 1 min read The guide explains how to clean and structure spatial data so Icon Map visuals in Power BI display accurately and quickly, covering coordinate validation and optimal layer selection.
Power BI Visual Design Tips | Modern Visual Defaults Explained by Zoe Douglas, Sandeep Pawar, Parv Chana · 1 min read Learn how modern visual defaults, design strategies, and productivity tips from a Microsoft Principal Product Manager can transform your Power BI reports into cleaner, clearer, and more user‑friendly experiences.
Actualización Power BI: Todo sobre el nuevo selector de fecha by Guillermo Perdomo Sosa · 1 min read The new Power BI date selector introduced in the June 2026 update features a calendar interface for filtering dates, combines manual and relative filters, saves dashboard space, and offers customizable formatting to enhance user experience.
Dashboard PRO en Power BI: Cómo pasar de un reporte básico a uno profesional en Power BI by Guillermo Perdomo Sosa · 2 min read Learn step-by-step to elevate a basic Power BI report into a professional dashboard by adding advanced DAX measures, new visualizations, and optimized layouts in this comprehensive tutorial.

Deployment, Security and Operations

Power BI Large Semantic Model Storage Format: Do You Need It? by Tom Owen · 4 min read Power BI’s large semantic model storage format lets models exceed 1GB by persisting data on Azure Premium Files Storage, reducing refresh failures and enabling advanced XMLA write operations, but requires Premium licenses and careful management of eviction latency.
Fabric Apps – náhrada Power BI reportů? by Jiří Neoral · 5 min read Fabric Apps offer a new type of web application running directly on Azure Fabric, eliminating external hosting and leveraging Entra ID authentication and workspace governance through OneLake, with potential for both operational apps that allow data writing and data apps as visual dashboards powered by DAX queries.
Org apps with audiences for Power BI and Fabric (Generally Available) by Dustin Askins · 1 min read The general availability of org apps in Power BI and Fabric now includes audiences, a highly requested feature that enhances data sharing and collaboration within organizations.
Why the RLS bitmap default just went up 4x by Phil Seamark · 5 min read The Power BI engine has raised the RLS bitmap default threshold from 128,000 to 512,000 rows, allowing row-level security filters to be cached as larger bitmaps and reducing query performance degradation for models exceeding that size.
No Code, No Tools: Documentation for Power BI & Fabric Using Fabric Skills and Github Copilot by Reza Rad · 1 min read This video demonstrates how GitHub Copilot combined with Fabric Skills automates Power BI and Fabric object documentation, reducing manual effort by teaching AI full context of the Fabric environment.

General

Building a Banking Dashboard in Power BI with Loans, Risk, and Customer Segmentation by Rishikesh Singh · 1 min read This Power BI project guides learners through building a comprehensive Banking Dashboard focused on loans, risk assessment, and customer segmentation, enhancing skills in data cleaning, modeling, DAX calculations, and interactive design.
Lessons from Anthropic’s implementation of agentic self-service BI by Kurt Buhler · 2 min read Anthropic’s agentic Self-Service BI implementation highlights the need for rigorous data quality, semantic modeling, and curated metadata to ensure AI-generated analytics are accurate and reliable in Microsoft BI solutions.