Power BI Performance

…Tips and Techniques

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Rachael Martino
Principal Consultant
[email protected]
@RMartinoBoston
About Me
• SQL Server and Oracle
developer and IT Manager
since SQL Server 2000
• Focused on BI and building
a data culture of excellence
• Boston area resident
• Ravelry fan and avid knitter

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Agenda
Impact of poor performance

Performance Tips and Techniques

Demonstration

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Power BI is fast
Or, why worry about performance?

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Power BI

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Power BI
Power BI leverages Power Pivot and
Power View (and Power Query)

In-memory, columnar database and

formula engine are fast

“Now is 3 seconds”
http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2012/03/analysis-in-the-
three-seconds-of-now/

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Architecture
• xVelocity in-memory analytics engine
• Columnar storage
• Compression
• In-memory cache
• “Microsoft’s family of in-memory and memory-
optimized data management technologies”
• https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh922900(v=sql.110).aspx

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xVelocity (Vertipaq)

*Ashvini Sharma and Allan Folting at TechEd North America 2012, courtesy of Mark Schneeberger
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https://blacksheepbi.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/microsoft-sql-server-2012-tabular-model-resources/ WWW.PRAGMATICWORKS.COM
Performance impacts
Slow Processing on data loads

Long waits during Design, especially:

• Calculated column
• Relationships

Visualization:
• Slow slicers
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File size and memory indicators
Large file size of pbix file:
• Not necessarily indicator of bad performance
• Sudden changes

Memory usage
• Direct impact on
performance Screenshot of my local drive, showing improvements in file size as I
resolved data issues.

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Performance impact demo

Behaviors affect:
1) Data Load
2) Design
3) Visualizations

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Tips and Techniques
Let’s solve this…

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Tip #1: Tall, narrow tables are faster*
• Corollary Tip #1a: remove any unused fields
• http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2011/08/less-columns-more-rows-more-speed/
• Tables must efficiently compress columns for speed
• Remove relationship ID’s not in use – these may
have high cardinality and are unnecessary
• Remove all fields not used for analysis
*The exception:
In the case of tables with 10’s of millions of rows, the 1M-row partitions or “Chunking” may interfere
with efficient compression rates
http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2012/03/powerpivot-compression-mysterious-ways/

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Tip #2: Integers are faster than strings
• Strings, stored in hash table, require two queries
to get a single value.
• Hash table uses less memory unless there is high
cardinality, then the hash table becomes
overhead
• http://tinylizard.com/how-does-power-pivot-store-and-
compress-data/
• Strings used as ID’s can use unreasonable
amounts of memory and slow performance.
• http://tinylizard.com/unique-and-ugly-primary-keys-of-doom/

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Tip #3: Slicers use multiple queries
• Slicers issue two queries each:
• The first to get the list
• The second query to check which rows of the pivot tables are related
• Cross-filtering slicers cause those same two queries
to be executed for multiple sets of slicers.
• High cardinality slicers from large tables make poor
user experience (too many options) and are slow
• https://datasavvy.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/improving-performance-in-excel-and-
power-view-reports-with-a-power-pivot-data-source/
• http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2010/07/slicers-and-pivot-update-performance/
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Tip #4: Understand DAX functions
• Understand formula engine interaction with the
xVelocity engine for your DAX
• The FILTER statement must check every row
individually (no bulk scans)
• http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2014/02/speed-another-reason-to-trim-
calendar-tables/
• MIN will have to scan the entire table to find the
answer
• http://www.powerpivotblog.nl/tune-your-powerpivot-dax-query-dont-use-the-
entire-table-in-a-filter-and-replace-sumx-if-possible/

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Tips #5 & 6:
5. Remove unnecessary precision or split granularity values to
reduce cardinality
For example: split datetime into Date and Time
http://tinylizard.com/power-pivot-performance-gotchas/

6. Remove unnecessary rows in Calendars:

Extra rows in reference tables cause unnecessary attempts at
computation; rows not shown on tables or slicers have been
computed against the fact data
http://tinylizard.com/power-pivot-performance-gotchas/

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Sometime Tip #7: Caution with calculations
• The formula engine is I/O intensive and runs on one thread
only, if processing performance is problematic, move simple
calculations to the database
• Once processed calculated columns are static values in the
data store
• Measures are calculated during query execution

• Caution: In design every change to the data model requires a

recalc of all calculated columns
• https://datasavvy.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/improving-performance-in-excel-and-
power-view-reports-with-a-power-pivot-data-source/

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Technique #1: Check your memory usage
• File size is a rough estimate of performance, but not
100% accurate.
• http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2011/08/less-columns-more-rows-more-speed/

• Measure relative memory usage of each table and

field using Kasper de Jonge’s Power Pivot Memory
Usage tool by loading you data into Excel
• http://www.powerpivotblog.nl/what-is-eating-up-my-memory-powerpivot-excel-
edition/

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Technique #2: Check your DAX
• Slow measures and calculations can cause big
problems at design time and in visualizations
• Lookup DAX

• You may want to test and evaluate DAX using

DAX Studio – I have not used this tool.
https://www.sqlbi.com/tools/dax-studio/

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So, is this better?
….Let’s see

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Performance improvement demo

Using our tips and

techniques

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Conclusions

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 Power BI is fast and will perform
• Performance is very good in Power BI and
PowerPivot models
• Large is relative depending on efficiency of data
• Think about your data model and calculations

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References (not on slides)
• Power Pivot and Power BI by Rob Collie and Avichal Singh
• Pragmatic Works’ Tabular and Power Pivot On Demand
Training course
• Power Pivot Pro
• Brad Gall’s Power BI v2 and Beyond, January 19, 2016
• http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2015/08/so-your-detailedflat-
pivot-is-slow-and-doesnt-sort-properly-try-text-measures/
• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/gg413463(v=sql.110).aspx

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Rachael Martino
Principal Consultant
[email protected]
@RMartinoBoston