Unlock Simpler Analytics with Power BI's New Visual Calculations

Are you tired of grappling with complex DAX measures and intricate filter contexts in Power BI? Get ready for a game-changer. Power BI has introduced a powerful new feature, ‘Visual Calculations’ (currently in preview), designed to simplify how you create and manage calculations directly within your visuals.

What are Visual Calculations?

Visual calculations are essentially DAX calculations defined and executed on and only within a selected visual. This means you can create dynamic and insightful calculations right where you need them, without altering your underlying data model. You can refer to existing columns, measures, even other visual calculations, right in the chart or table you're editing. Imagine the possibilities for cleaner, more focused analytics. 

New visual calculation in Power BI Desktop

Key Benefits You'll Love:

• Simplicity at its Core: Say goodbye to complex DAX and intricate filter contexts. Visual calculations are designed to be intuitive, allowing you to easily refer to any data within your visual, be it columns, measures, or even other visual calculations.

• Reduced Semantic Model Complexity: Since visual calculations are stored on the visual itself and not within your semantic model, they help in streamlining your model. This leads to easier maintenance and a more organised workspace.

• Enhanced Performance: By operating directly on aggregated data within the visual, visual calculations can offer performance benefits compared to traditional measures, especially for complex analytical scenarios.

• Unparalleled Flexibility: These calculations inherently understand the structure of your visual, providing a level of flexibility that was previously more challenging to achieve.

How Do They Differ from Existing Calculations?

Unlike traditional measures, visual calculations reside on the visual and operate on aggregated data. They cleverly combine the ease of context seen in calculated columns with the on-demand flexibility of measures, liberating you from the complexities often associated with filter context and the broader data model.

Visual Calculations can cover Many Common Analytical Tasks:

• Profit columns: [Sales] – [Cost]

• Running sums: RUNNINGSUM([Profit])

• Moving averages, percent-of-parent, vs‑previous, vs‑next

• The feature also supports a growing set of templates and even window functions like LOOKUP, FIRST, LAST, PREVIOUS, NEXT,

Getting Started:

The official Microsoft documentation provides detailed guidance on how to enable, add, and utilise visual calculations here, but take a look at how easy it is in our example below:

This new feature promises to be a significant step forward in making Power BI even more accessible and powerful for data analysts. It’s an exciting time to explore and integrate visual calculations into your reporting workflow!

Hope this is useful! Any questions or comments please contact us at info@reportsimple.com.au