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06: Modelling Data in Power BI Desktop: Chris Webb Chris@crossjoin - Co.uk

The document discusses Power BI data modeling concepts including: 1) The Power BI data model represents all imported data and consists of tables connected by relationships. Relationships can be one-to-one or one-to-many and filter data between tables. 2) Tables have columns and rows with data types. Columns can be formatted, sorted by other columns, and hidden from reports. 3) Power BI can import large amounts of data by compressing it, though memory usage depends on factors like distinct column values. Reducing these values through techniques like rounding can improve performance.

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37 views13 pages

06: Modelling Data in Power BI Desktop: Chris Webb Chris@crossjoin - Co.uk

The document discusses Power BI data modeling concepts including: 1) The Power BI data model represents all imported data and consists of tables connected by relationships. Relationships can be one-to-one or one-to-many and filter data between tables. 2) Tables have columns and rows with data types. Columns can be formatted, sorted by other columns, and hidden from reports. 3) Power BI can import large amounts of data by compressing it, though memory usage depends on factors like distinct column values. Reducing these values through techniques like rounding can improve performance.

Uploaded by

who23
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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06: Modelling Data In Power

BI Desktop
Chris Webb
[email protected]
Agenda
• What is the Data Model?
• Tables
• Relationships
• How much data can you import into Power BI?
• Formatting columns
• Sorting columns by other columns
• Other properties
What Is The Data Model?
• The Power BI Data Model is a representation of all of the data you
need for your reports
• The Data Model consists of tables connected by relationships
• It is only visible if you are importing data into Power BI or using
DirectQuery mode
• If you are using a live connection to SQL Server Analysis Services, then
you use the Analysis Services Tabular model/cube instead
Tables
• Tables in the Data Model have a fixed number of columns and a
variable number of rows
• Tables can be previewed in the Tables view in Power BI Desktop
• Each column has a data type
• Tables and columns are visible to end users in the Fields pane on the
Report view by default
• Columns are what you drag and drop to build visualisations
• You can hide columns and entire tables from the Report pane though
Relationships
• Tables can be joined to each other using relationships
• Think of a relationship as being like a lookup
• They may be built automatically when you load data, or you may have
to build them yourself manually in the Relationships view
• Relationships can only join using one column on each table
• If there is a value on the ‘many’ side that doesn’t match a value on
the ‘one’ side, it is matched to a blank value instead
Relationships
• Relationships can be either:
• One-to-one
• One-to-many
• Relationships can also be either:
• Active
• Inactive – that’s to say present, but they don’t do anything. Inactive
relationships can be activated inside DAX calculations.
Relationship Filter Direction
• Relationships have a cross filter direction
• If this is set to Both then making a selection on a column in a table on
one side of the relationship will filter the columns in the table on the
other
• If this is set to Single then
• Selecting something from the one side of the relationship will filter the many
side of the relationship
• Selecting something from the many side of the relationship will not filter the
one side of the relationship
• Filters can travel across multiple relationships
How Much Data Can You Import?
• As always: it depends. There is no easy answer!
• The amount of RAM on your desktop PC is one factor – though if you
deploy to PowerBI.com, model size is limited to 1GB
• The 32-bit version can’t address as much memory as 64-bit
• Compression is the other factor:
• Number of rows is not so important
• Neither is data type
• The number of distinct values in each column is important!
• Power BI can compress data extremely well: it is normal for the Data
Model to be 10-20% of the size of the original data
Reducing Memory Usage
• Do not import columns you have no use for
• Think carefully about importing columns with a large number of
distinct values
• Reduce the number of distinct values in columns by:
• Rounding numbers
• Avoiding junk dimensions
• Splitting single values into two or more separate columns, eg datetime values
into dates and times
• Avoiding calculated columns that ‘stage’ values for other calculations
Formatting Columns
• Values in fields can have formats applied in the Data view
• Different formatting options are available for different data types
• The formats only affect the values as they are displayed in the report,
not the values that are actually stored
Sorting Columns By Other Columns
• By default values will appear in alphabetical order in reports
• Though sort order can be changed in a particular report component
• Some values, like days of the week or months of the year, should
always appear in a set order in reports
• In these cases you can use the Sort By Column button in the Data view
to sort values in one column by those in another
• The values in the column you’re using for the sort order must:
• Sort in ascending order to get the order you want
• Have a one-to-one relationship with the values in the column you’re sorting
Hierarchies
• Hierarchies allow you to combine multiple columns together to let
users drill down through the data
• For example, a Calendar hierarchy would allow users to drill from Year to
Month to Date
• Hierarchies can be created by right-clicking on a column in the Fields
pane in the Report view
• Levels in a hierarchy can have different named to the underlying
columns
Other Properties
• Hide In Report View stops a column being visible when building
reports – useful for key columns
• Data Category tells Power BI what type of data is held in a column,
and therefore what kind of default visualisation is appropriate
• Default Summarization tells Power BI how a column should be
aggregated when it is dragged onto a report
• The Do Not Summarize option is particularly useful for numeric columns like
Years that should never be aggregated
• Synonyms give Power BI alternative words for Q&A querying

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