Exercise 1:

Design a Data Model in Power BI

Create Model
Relationships The estimated time to complete the lab is 45 minutes.

Exercise 2: In this lab you will commence developing the data model. It will involve creating relationships between tables,
Configure Tables and then configuring table and column properties to improve the friendliness and usability of the data model.
You will also create hierarchies and create quick measures.
Exercise 3:
Review the
In this lab you learn how to:
Model Interface

Create model relationships

Exercise 4:
Create Quick
Measures Configure table and column properties

Create hierarchies

Lab story

This lab is one of many in a series of labs that was designed as a complete story from data preparation to
publication as reports and dashboards. You can complete the labs in any order. However, if you intend to work
through multiple labs, we suggest you do them in the following order:

1. Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop

2. Load Data in Power BI Desktop

3. Design a Data Model in Power BI

4. Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 1

5. Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 2

6. Design a Report in Power BI Desktop, Part 1

7. Design a Report in Power BI Desktop, Part 2

8. Analyze Data with AI Visuals

9. Create a Power BI Dashboard

10. Enforce Row-Level Security

Exercise 1: Create Model Relationships

In this exercise you will create model relationships.

Task 1: Get started

In this task you will setup the environment for the lab.

Important: If you are continuing on from the previous lab (and you completed that lab successfully), do not
complete this task; instead, continue from the next task.

1. To open the Power BI Desktop, on the taskbar, click the Microsoft Power BI Desktop shortcut.

2. To close the getting started window, at the top-left of the window, click X.
 1. To open the starter Power BI Desktop file, click the File ribbon tab to open the backstage view.

2. Select Open Report.

1. Click Browse Reports.

1. In the Open window, navigate to the D:\PL300\Labs\03-configure-data-model-in-power-bi-

desktop\Starter folder.

2. Select the Sales Analysis file.

3. Click Open.

1. Close any informational windows that may open.

2. To create a copy of the file, click the File ribbon tab to open the backstage view.

3. Select Save As.

1. If prompted to apply changes, click Apply.

1. In the Save As window, navigate to the D:\PL300\MySolution folder.

2. Click Save.

Task 2: Create model relationships

In this task you will create model relationships.

1. In Power BI Desktop, at the left, click the Model view icon.

2. If you do not see all seven tables, scroll horizontally to the right, and then drag and arrange the tables
more closely together so they can all be seen at the same time.

Tip: You can also use the zoom control located at the bottom of the window.

In Model view, it’s possible to view each table and relationships (connectors between tables). Presently, there
are no relationships because in the Prepare Data in Power BI Desktop lab, you disabled the data load
relationship options.

3. To return to Report view, at the left, click the Report view icon.

4. To view all table fields, in the Fields pane, right-click an empty area, and then select Expand All.

5. To create a table visual, in the Fields pane, from inside the Product table, check the Category field.

The labs use a shorthand notation to reference a field. It will look like this: Product | Category. In this
example, Product is the table name and Category is the field name.

6. To add an additional column to the table, in the Fields pane, check the Sales | Sales field.

7. Notice that the table visual lists four product categories, and that the sales value is the same for each, and
the same for the total.

The issue is that the table is based on fields from different tables. The expectation is that each product
category displays the sales for that category. However, because there isn’t a model relationship between these
tables, the Sales table is not filtered. You’ll now add a relationship to propagate filters between the tables.

8. On the Modeling ribbon tab, from inside the Relationships group, click Manage Relationships.
 9. In the Manage Relationships window, notice that no relationships are yet defined.

10. To create a relationship, click New.

11. In the Create Relationship window, in the first dropdown list, select the Product table.

12. In the second dropdown list (beneath the Product table grid), select the Sales table.

13. Notice the ProductKey columns in each table have been automatically selected.

The columns were selected because they share the same name and data type.

14. In the Cardinality dropdown list, notice that One To Many (1:*) is selected.

The cardinality was automatically detected, because Power BI understands that the ProductKey column from
the Product table contains unique values. One-to-many relationships are the most common cardinality, and
all relationship you create in this lab will be this type.

15. In the Cross Filter Direction dropdown list, notice that Single is selected.

Single filter direction means that filters propagate from the “one side” to the “many side”. In this case, it
means filters applied to the Product table will propagate to the Sales table, but not in the opposite direction.

16. Notice that the Mark This Relationship Active is checked.

Active relationships propagate filters. It’s possible to mark a relationship as inactive so filters don’t propagate.
Inactive relationships can exist when there are multiple relationship paths between tables. In this case, model
calculations can use special functions to activate them.

17. Click OK.

18. In the Manage Relationships window, notice that the new relationship is listed, and then click Close.

19. In the report, notice that the table visual updated to display different values for each product category.

Filters applied to the Product table now propagate to the Sales table.

20. Switch to Model view, and then notice there is now a connector between the two tables (it does not matter
if the tables are positioned next to each other).

21. In the diagram, notice that you can interpret the cardinality which is represented by the 1 and *****
indicators.

Filter direction is represented by the arrow head. A solid line represents an active relationship; a dashed line
represents an inactive relationship.

22. Hover the cursor over the relationship to highlight the related columns.

There’s an easier way to create a relationship. In the model diagram, you can drag and drop columns to
create a new relationship.

23. To create a new relationship using a different technique, from the Reseller table, drag the ResellerKey
column on to the ResellerKey column of the Sales table.
 Tip: Sometime a column doesn’t want to be dragged. If this situation arises, select a different column, and
then select the column you intend to drag again, and then try again. Ensure that you see the new relationship
added to the diagram.

24. Use the new technique to create the following two model relationships:

Region | SalesTerritoryKey to Sales | SalesTerritoryKey

Salesperson | EmployeeKey to Sales | EmployeeKey

25. In the diagram, arrange the tables so that the Sales table is positioned in the center of the diagram, and
the related tables are arranged about it. Position the disconnected tables to the side.

26. Save the Power BI Desktop file.

Exercise 2: Configure Tables

In this exercise you will configure each table by creating hierarchies, and hiding, formatting, and categorizing
columns.

Task 1: Configure the Product table

In this task you will configure the Product table.

1. In Model view, in the Fields pane, if necessary, expand the Product table to reveal all fields.

2. To create a hierarchy, in the Fields pane, right-click the Category column, and then select Create
Hierarchy.

3. In the Properties pane (to the left of the Fields pane), in the Name box, replace the text with Products.

4. To add the second level to the hierarchy, in the Properties pane, in the Hierarchy dropdown list, select
Subcategory (you might need to scroll down inside the pane).

5. To add the third level to the hierarchy, in the Hierarchy dropdown list, select Product.

6. To complete the hierarchy design, click Apply Level Changes.

Tip: Don’t forget to click Apply Level Changes—it’s a common mistake to overlook this step.

7. In the Fields pane, notice the Products hierarchy.

8. To reveal the hierarchy levels, expand the Products hierarchy.

 9. To organize columns into a display folder, in the Fields pane, first select the Background Color Format
column.

10. While pressing the Ctrl key, select the Font Color Format column.

11. In the Properties pane, in the Display Folder box, enter Formatting.

12. In the Fields pane, notice that the two columns are now inside a folder.

Display folders are a great way to declutter tables—especially for tables that comprise many fields.

Task 2: Configure the Region table

In this task you will configure the Region table.

 1. In the Region table, create a hierarchy named Regions, with the following three levels:

Group

Country

Region

2. Select the Country column (not the Country hierarchy level).

3. In the Properties pane, expand the Advanced section (at the bottom of the pane), and then in the Data
Category dropdown list, select Country/Region.

Data categorization can provide hints to the report designer. In this case, categorizing the column as country
or region provides more accurate information to Power BI when it renders a map visualization.

Task 3: Configure the Reseller table

In this task you will configure the Reseller table.

1. In the Reseller table, create a hierarchy named Resellers, with the following two levels:

Business Type

Reseller
2. Create a second hierarchy named Geography, with the following four levels:

Country-Region

State-Province

City

Reseller

3. Set the Data Category for the Country-Region, State-Province, and City columns (not the hierarchy
level) to Country/Region, State or Province, and City, respectively.
Task 4: Configure the Sales table

In this task you will configure the Sales table.

1. In the Sales table, select the Cost column.

2. In the Properties pane, in the Description box, enter: Based on standard cost

Descriptions can be applied to tables, columns, hierarchies, or measures. In the Fields pane, description text is
revealed in a tooltip when a report author hovers their cursor over the field.

3. Select the Quantity column.

4. In the Properties pane, from inside the Formatting section, slide the Thousands Separator property to
Yes.

5. Select the Unit Price column.

6. In the Properties pane, from inside the Formatting section, set the Decimal Places property to 2.

7. In the Advanced group (you may need to scroll down to locate it), in the Summarize By dropdown list,
select Average.

By default, numeric columns will summarize by summing values together. This default behavior is not suitable
for a column like Unit Price, which represents a rate. Setting the default summarization to average will
produce a meaningful result.

Task 5: Bulk update properties

In this task you will update multiple columns using single bulk updates. You will use this approach to hide
columns, and format column values.
 1. In the Fields pane, select the Product | ProductKey column.

2. While pressing the Ctrl key, select the following 13 columns (spanning multiple tables):

Region | SalesTerritoryKey

Reseller | ResellerKey

Sales | EmployeeKey

Sales | ProductKey

Sales | ResellerKey

Sales | SalesOrderNumber

Sales | SalesTerritoryKey

Salesperson | EmployeeID

Salesperson | EmployeeKey

Salesperson | UPN

SalespersonRegion | EmployeeKey

SalespersonRegion | SalesTerritoryKey

Targets | EmployeeID

3. In the Properties pane, slide the Is Hidden property to Yes.

The columns were hidden because they’re either used by relationships or will be used in row-level security
configuration or calculation logic.

You’ll use the SalesOrderNumber in a calculation in the Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop,
Part 1 lab.

4. Multi-select the following three columns:

Product | Standard Cost

Sales | Cost

Sales | Sales

5. In the Properties pane, from inside the Formatting section, set the Decimal Places property to 0 (zero).

Exercise 3: Review the Model Interface

In this exercise you will switch to Report view, and review the model interface.

Task 1: Review the model interface

In this task you will switch to Report view, and review the model interface.

1. Switch to Report view.

2. In the Fields pane, notice the following:

 Columns, hierarchies and their levels are fields, which can be used to configure report visuals

Only fields relevant to report authoring are visible

The SalespersonRegion table is not visible—because all of its fields are hidden

Spatial fields in the Region and Reseller table are adorned with a spatial icon

Fields adorned with the sigma symbol (Ʃ) will summarize, by default

A tooltip appears when hovering the cursor over the Sales | Cost field

3. Expand the Sales | OrderDate field, and then notice that it reveals a date hierarchy.

The Targets | TargetMonth field delivers a similar hierarchy. These hierarchies were not created by you. They
were created automatically. There is a problem, however. The Adventure Works financial year commences on
July 1 of each year. But, in these automatically created date hierarchies, the date hierarchy year commences
on January 1 of each year.

You’ll now turn this automatic behavior off. In the Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 1
lab, you’ll use DAX to create a date table, and configure it define the Adventure Works’ calendar.

4. To turn off auto/date time, click the File ribbon tab to open the backstage view.

5. At the left, select Options and Settings, and then select Options.
 6. In the Options window, at the left, in the Current File group, select Data Load.

7. In the Time Intelligence section, uncheck Auto Date/Time.

8. Click OK.

9. In the Fields pane, notice that the date hierarchies are no longer available.

Exercise 4: Create Quick Measures

In this exercise you will create two quick measures.

Task 1: Create quick measures

In this task you will create two quick measures to calculate profit and profit margin.

1. In the Fields pane, right-click the Sales table, and then select New Quick Measure.

2. In the Quick Measures window, in the Calculation dropdown list, from inside the Mathematical
Operations group, select Subtraction.

3. In the Fields pane of the Quick Measures window, expand the Sales table.

4. Drag the Sales field into the Base Value box.

5. Drag the Cost field into the Value to Subtract box.

6. Click OK.

A quick measure creates the calculation formula for you. They’re easy and fast to create for simple and
common calculations. You’ll create measures without using this tool in the Create DAX Calculations in
Power BI Desktop, Part 1 lab.

7. In the Fields pane, inside the Sales table, notice that new measure.

Measures are adorned with the calculator icon.

8. To rename the measure, right-click it, and then select Rename.

Tip: To rename a field, you can also double-click it, or select it and press F2.

9. Rename the measure to Profit, and then press Enter.

10. In the Sales table, add a second quick measure, based on the following requirements:

Use the Division mathematical operation

Set the Numerator to the Sales | Profit field

Set the Denominator to Sales | Sales field

Rename the measure as Profit Margin

11. Ensure the Profit Margin measure is selected, and then on the Measure Tools contextual ribbon, set the
format to Percentage, with two decimal places.

12. To test the two measures, first select the table visual on the report page.

13. In the Fields pane, check the two measures.

 14. Click and drag the right guide to widen the table visual.

15. Verify that the measures produce reasonable results that are correctly formatted.

Task 2: Create a many-to-many relationship

In this task you will create a many-to-many relationship between the Salesperson table and the Sales table.

1. In Power BI Desktop, in Report view, in the Fields pane, check the follow two fields to create a table visual:

Salesperson | Salesperson

Sales | Sales

The labs use a shorthand notation to reference a field. It will look like this: Salesperson | Salesperson . In this
example, Salesperson is the table name and Salesperson is the field name.

The table displays sales made by each salesperson. However, there’s another relationship between salespeople
and sales. Some salespeople belong to one, two, or possibly more sales regions. In addition, sales regions can
have multiple salespeople assigned to them.

From a performance management perspective, a salesperson’s sales (based on their assigned territories) need
to be analyzed and compared with sales targets. You’ll create relationships to support this analysis in the next
exercise.

2. Notice that Michael Blythe has sold almost $9 million.

3. Switch to Model view.

 4. Drag the SalespersonRegion table to position it between the Region and Salesperson tables.

5. Use the drag-and-drop technique to create the following two model relationships:

Salesperson | EmployeeKey to SalespersonRegion | EmployeeKey

Region | SalesTerritoryKey to SalespersonRegion | SalesTerritoryKey

The SalespersonRegion table can be considered to be a bridging table.

6. Switch to Report view, and then notice that the visual has not updated—the sales result for Michael Blythe
has not changed.

7. Switch back to Model view, and then follow the relationship filter directions (arrowhead) from the
Salesperson table.

Consider that the Salesperson table filters the Sales table. It also filters the SalespersonRegion table, but it
does not continue by propagating filters to the Region table (the arrowhead is pointing the wrong direction).

8. To edit the relationship between the Region and SalespersonRegion tables, double-click the relationship.

9. In the Edit Relationship window, in the Cross Filter Direction dropdown list, select Both.

10. Check the Apply Security Filter in Both Directions checkbox.

11. Click OK.

12. Notice that the relationship has a double arrowhead.

13. Switch to Report view, and then notice that the sales values have still not changed.

The issue now relates to the fact that there are two possible filter propagation paths between the Salesperson
and Sales tables. This ambiguity is internally resolved, based on a “least number of tables” assessment. To be
clear, you shouldn’t design models with this type of ambiguity—the issue will be addressed in part later in this
lab, and by the completion of the Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 1 lab.

14. Switch to Model view.

15. To force filter propagation via the bridging table, edit (double-click) the relationship between the
Salesperson and Sales tables.

16. In the Edit Relationship window, uncheck the Make This Relationship Active checkbox.

17. Click OK.

The filter propagation will now follow the only active path.

18. In the diagram, notice that the inactive relationship is represented by a dashed line.

19. Switch to Report view, and then notice that the sales for Michael Blythe is now nearly $22 million.

20. Notice also, that the sales for each salesperson—if added—would exceed the table total.

It’s a common observation of a many-to-many relationship due to the double, triple, etc. counting of regional
sales results. Consider Brian Welcker, the second salesperson listed. His sales amount equals the total sales
amount. It’s the correct result simply due to the fact the he’s the Director of Sales; his sales are measured by
the sales of all regions.

While the many-to-many relationship is now working, it’s now not possible to analyze sales made by a
salesperson (because the relationship is inactive). You’ll be able to reactivate the relationship when you
introduce a calculated table that will allow analyzing sales made in the sales region(s) assigned to the
salesperson (for performance analysis) in the Create DAX Calculations in Power BI Desktop, Part 1 lab.

21. Switch to Modeling view, and then in the diagram, select the Salesperson table.

22. In the Properties pane, in the Name box, replace the text with Salesperson (Performance).

The renamed table now reflects its purpose: it’s used to report and analyze the performance of salespeople
based on the sales of their assigned sales regions.
Task 3: Relate the Targets table

In this task you will create a relationship to the Targets table

1. Create a relationship from the Salesperson (Performance) | EmployeeID column and the Targets |
EmployeeID column.

2. In Report view, add the Targets | Target field to the table visual.

3. Resize the table visual so all columns are visible.

It’s now possible to visualize sales and targets—but take care for two reasons. First, there’s no filter on a time
period, and so targets also include future target amounts. Second, targets are not additive, and so the total
should not be displayed. They can either be disabled by formatting the visual or removed by using calculation
logic. You’ll follow the second approach by creating a target measure in the Create DAX Calculations in
Power BI Desktop, Part 2 lab that’ll return BLANK when more than one salesperson is filtered.

Task 4: Finish up

In this task you will complete the lab.

1. Save the Power BI Desktop file.

2. If prompted to apply queries, click Apply Later.

3. If you intend to start the next lab, leave Power BI Desktop open.