Power BI Weekly Newsletter Issue #299

powered by endjin

If you have any content you'd like to contribute to the newsletter, please tweet @PowerBIWeekly or ping an email to PowerBIWeekly@endjin.com.

Interested in Azure? Sign up to our sibling newsletter Azure Weekly to receive all the week's Azure news.

@edfreeman_ | @endjin
powerbiweekly.info | endjin.com

Data Prep

Covering: Power Query (M), Dataflows, Data connectors, AI Insights

• On the RADACAD blog, Reza Rad (@RADACAD_COM) discusses Power Query Library of Functions; Shared Keyword
• On the Power BI community blog, Anmol Malviya describes How to Append Queries in Power BI

Data Modeling

Covering: DAX (Measures & Calculated Tables/Columns), Relationships, Analysis Services, Composite models

• On the endjin blog, Jessica Hill (@JessRoseHill_) writes about Encoding categorical data for Power BI: Using label encoded data vs one-hot encoded data in Power BI
• Purna (Chandoo) Duggirala (@r1c1) writes about New vs. Returning Customers Analysis with DAX [Easy Formulas]
• Hariharan Rajendran (@imhariharanr) walks through Transforming Power BI Development with DAX Query View and TMDL View
• On the Learning Science YouTube channel, Learning Science (@learn_scitech) explains How to use RELATED & RELATEDTABLE DAX function in Power BI?
• Reid Havens (@HavensBI) talks about Building Income Statements in Power BI (with Chris Barber)

Report Authoring and Interactivity

Covering: Layout and formatting, Visualizations, Interactivity, Themes, Mobile reports, Dashboards

• On the SQLBI blog, Marco Russo (@marcorus) discusses [FIXED] Dialog boxes in custom visuals are broken in Power BI Desktop February 2025
• On the Power BI community blog, Mike Honey (@Mike_Honey_) describes PBIP fx hack: dynamic expressions for properties - everywhere
• Also on the Power BI community blog, Trupti Shirsat explains How to add Gradient Text in Power BI Dashboard
• Bas Dohmen (@HowToPowerBI) talks about Special Effects in Power BI Visuals
• Valerie Junk (@porcubi) discusses Heatmap in Power BI and talks about Help Tooltip Button in Power BI
• Parul Sagar (@parulsagar) describes Mastering Visual Calculations in Power BI — A Practical Guide

Deployment, Security and Operations

Covering: Workspaces and Apps, Template Apps, Deployment Pipelines, Gateways, Security, Sharing, Licences, Admin operations, Developer Tooling

• Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) writes about Refreshing Hidden Tables In Power BI Semantic Models With Fabric Data Pipelines
• On the Fabric blog, Bogdan Blaga (@MSPowerBI) highlights some Fabric Admin API updates and upcoming definition changes

General

Covering: Cross-topic announcements & feature summaries, Whitepapers, Community events, Learning Resources & Certifications, Podcasts, Sample reports, End-to-end walkthroughs

• Vahid Doustimajd (@VahidDoustiM) presents Persian Power BI and Fabric Conference 2025 - Farsi Day - 7th of March [Persian]
• On the Power BI community blog, Stephanie Bruno (@StephTBruno) writes about Basic Power BI accessibility is easier than you think
• On the Power BI blog, Pam Spier highlights the Last Chance to Enter the Power BI DataViz World Championships

Useful Links

• Power BI Maturity Scorecard - 97% of the Fortune 500 are using Power BI. Only 20% of analytics deliver business value. How do you score?
• Azure Weekly - Interested in Azure? Sign up to our sister newsletter Azure Weekly to receive all the week's Azure news
• M language reference - Official Power Query M Reference
• PowerQuery How - Alternative M Language Reference created by Rick de Groot, including improved function explanations, code formatting, practical examples and further reading
• DAX Studio - Useful open source tool for executing and analyzing DAX queries, founded by Darren Gosbell
• DAX Guide - Your go-to reference on the DAX language, created by the SQLBI team
• Power BI Visuals Reference - An exhaustive list (as of Sep. 2018) of all Power BI native & custom visuals, placed into separate categories, again created by the SQLBI team
• Report Theme Generator - A handy report theme generator created by the Power BI Tips and Tricks team
• Power BI Theme templates - Detailed Power BI Theme templates for all the native visuals, created by David Eldersveld
• Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star - Free, detailed eBook to get up and running with Power BI, written by Reza Rad
• Power BI Architecture diagram - An informative Power BI Architecture diagram, created by Dustin Ryan
• Power BI Whitepapers - A list of official Power BI whitepapers, covering Security, Premium deployment, Advanced Analytics and more