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VAR: The best thing to happen to DAX since CALCULATE()

July 11, 2017 By Scott Senkeresty 11 Comments

Varface - Say hello to my little friend I used to use the bad joke, “CALCULATE is the Ummmm of DAX” – like, when you want to start talking/writing out a DAX expression before you really know the answer, you just start typing CALCULATE slowly cuz you know it’s coming – it always does!But now, I’m not so sure. Maybe I need a new joke that includes VAR.  Maybe something with “Dude, Where’s My VAR?” or “Two priests walk into a VAR” ?  Varship Troopers.   Something VAR VAR Continue Reading

DAX Studio

August 31, 2015 By Scott Senkeresty 5 Comments

The blog has been a bit stagnant… even though I have quite a backlog of things to share.  In my defense, I did create over 900 measures in a single Power Pivot model for a customer since we last talked.  Though… that idea sounds so crazy I probably shouldn’t bring it up. There has been a ton of changes in the Power BI landscape… I’m skipping that discussion.  I have two different “Part 1” posts… without completing the corresponding Part 2.  I’m skipping those, Continue Reading

Nested Measure Performance

February 12, 2015 By Scott Senkeresty 1 Comment

Thanks to SimonNU at the Mr Excel Power BI forums for this question: Would a measure process slower if there are many embedded measures inside of it? A basic example for illustrative purposes: which would be a quicker measure for [Bikes]: 1. Generic Amount:=SUM([Col a]) Bikes:= CALCULATE([Generic Amount],[Col b] = "Bikes") 2. Bikes:= CALCULATE(SUM([Col a]),[Col b] = "Bikes") I admit I have had the same question, but so far properly suppressed it, but… fine, since you asked, let’s Continue Reading

Unique and Ugly Primary Keys of Doom

October 20, 2014 By Scott Senkeresty 2 Comments

I’m currently working with a bunch of data about real estate.  The properties are identified by an ugly string.  Of DOOOM!  There are quite a few relationships built on this ugly sucker, which led me to wonder… what if I mapped them all into a simple integer? I whipped up some totally bogus sample data to test this, using Property Ids that look like “WA534879” and “CA35849”.  Properties have attributes like SqrFt, # of Beds, and what region it is in.  And I hooked up a few million rows of Continue Reading

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Latest Blog Posts

  • The streak is alive! August 10, 2017
  • DAX KEEPFILTERS Plus Bonus Complaining! July 20, 2017
  • VAR: The best thing to happen to DAX since CALCULATE() July 11, 2017
  • Review: Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel June 20, 2017
  • Power BI Date Table June 2, 2017

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