Course details
Duration: One-day
Location: This course is run remotely online.
DAX, or Data Analysis Expressions, is the language that’s used to create formulas in Power BI Desktop, and they allow us to extend our data model. DAX gives us the ability to create additional information at runtime so that we can quickly and easily generate new information beyond what we have in our Power BI data model already.
If you are already familiar with data models in Power BI, then learning DAX is the logical next step. There are things that we can do with DAX that we can’t do as easily or at all without it. This course is designed to explore the capabilities of DAX within Power BI. This course focuses on modelling, the data model, not on reports. The only visualizations incorporated in this course are simple tables.
Prerequisite
This is not a beginner’s course in Power BI, my assumption is that you already know some things before attending. For example, you know how to connect to a data source, and once you have, you know how to add and remove columns, and change data types for example. If not, I recommend attending the Power BI Introduction course first.
Learning objectives
Lesson 1. Set Up a Data Model
- Data modelling: the basics
- Connect to a source file
- Check relationships
Lesson 2. DAX Aggregate Functions
- DAX filter context
- Step-by-step measure calculation
- Basic math and stats functions
- Create a SUM measure
- Understanding DAX syntax
- Display a measure in a matrix
- Aggregate COUNT measure
- COUNTS and COUNTROWS measures
- Check data with COUNTBLANK
- Create a DISTINCTCOUNT measure
Lesson 3. Edit a Measure
- Format a measure
- Delete and edit a measure
- Make DAX easier to read
- Add comments to a measure
- The quick measure option
- Move a measure
Lesson 4. New Column Measures
- Add a new column
- Explicit vs. implicit measure
- Create a measure with operators
- The advantages to using DIVIDE
Lesson 5. Logical and Filter Measures
- Logical functions IF, AND, and OR
- Create a FIND new column
- Create an IF new column
- Using more than two conditions
- Best practices
- New columns vs. measures
- Common function categories
Lesson 6. The SWITCH Function
- Use SWITCH with TRUE
Lesson 7. Text Functions
- Basic text functions
- The CONCATENATE function
- Use UPPER with LEFT
- Use LEFT with S EARCH
Lesson 8. The CALCULATE Measure
- Anatomy of CALCULATE
- Use CALCULATE as a filter
- Advanced filtering
Lesson 9. The ALL Measure
- Anatomy of ALL
- Create an ALL measure
- Use ALL as a filter
- Use ALL in percentage measures
- Pass a table or column to ALL
Lesson 10. The RELATED Function
- Create a RELATED function
Lesson 11. Iterators and Row Context
- Iterator “X” measure SUMX
- Anatomy of iterators and row context
- A closer look at SUMX
- Create a RANKX
Lesson 12. Date and Time Functions
- Basic date and time functions
- Create a DATEDIFF function
- The EOMONTH function
Lesson 13. Time Intelligent Measures
- Compare historical monthly data
- Create TOTALYTD/QTD/MTD measures
- Create a DATEADD measure
- Run cumulative totals
- Use FILTER with ALLSELECTED and MAX
- The DATESINPERIOD measure