What’s new in Power BI in the last quarter?

28/12/2022

 

Each month, Power Bi is updated in a continuous improvement process. These updates add new content that improves your integration or analysis capabilities, but they also correct bugs or security holes.

In this article, we summarize the top features of the last 3 months. We also detail our opinion on the additions and give you our favorites (💖).

Reporting

  • Previously to change from one type of slicer to another, for example, it took two manipulations. Now the slicer format setting is moved to a panel on the right. This should make the setting easier
  • 💖 : Previously it was not possible to desynchronize the y-axis for the presentation in small multiples, which could make the interpretation of the data less relevant. Example below with the color “purple”.

 

From now on, we can dissociate the y-axis and make it independent at each small multiple. This allows to have a more intelligible scale of values, as below for the same data set:

  • You can now customize the labels on Azure Maps to better adapt the visual to your needs.
  • You can use one slicer to update another slicer dynamically. Create a second slicer and set it to “Show values from selection”, to get a ribbon containing the values of the selected field from the first slicer.

  • Maybe you use highlighting of items in your analysis? Now you will be able to pin the highlighting state (Bookmark) like slicers, filters or any other pinnable item.

 

Modeling

  • 💖 : Five new DAX functions that facilitate comparison calculations: INDEX, OFFSET, WINDOW, PARTITIONBY and OREDERBY.

– INDEX will allow us to compare values to a baseline,

– OFFSET will allow us to compare values to a previous value,

– WINDOW will allow us to add a cumulative total, a rolling average or other calculations that essentially rely on the selection of a data range,

– PARTITIONBY & ORDERBY are helper functions to the previous 3 that can only be used inside another function. Therefore, they do not return any value.

These three functions are similar to the windowing functions in SQL.

  • Release of Optimize Ribbon, a new editing mode. Would you like your visuals to remain static while you make several changes? Well, thanks to this mode the visuals will go into “Wait” when you change parameters, then you can click on a “Refresh” button to restart the calculation of the visuals. This way you gain efficiency and performance when working with many elements.

 

Services

  • When you download your report in .pbix format, you can now choose between two download modes :

You have the choice of downloading your report with all the data included. Or you can download the report with an online connection to the data. In some cases, it was impossible to download the report, because it exceeded 1GB or because the dataset had been modified using the XMLA endpoint for example.

  • Previously, report subscriptions could not be customized in the subscription interface. This meant that the user had to review the changes related to their selection online. Now, users can customize their subscriptions by including the changes they have made to the filter selection. They receive the most relevant information directly by e-mail.

 

Data Connectivity

  • Add the following connectors:

– Anaplan (Connector update)
– Azure Databricks, Databricks (Connector update)
– CData Connect Cloud (New Connector)
– Cosmos DB V2 (New Connector)
– Dremio Cloud (Connector update)
– Google BigQuery (Azure AD) (New Connector)
– Adobe Analytics connector (preview)
– HDInsight Interactive Query connector
– Data.World connector

  • Added option in Power BI Datamart settings, allowing Power BI Service administrators to limit the ability to create Datamarts to certain groups or individuals.

 

Over the past three months, the Power BI team has implemented some key features into the Reporting work. Developers will appreciate the contributions in graphical customization, and the ability to desynchronize the Y-axis on multiple graphs, allowing for a more consistent visualization.

In terms of modeling, developers will benefit from the new DAX features, which provide flexibility in processing and comparing data. The new “Optimize” section of the ribbon offers a very useful addition. When editing data on a sheet with many graphical elements, each change causes a reload that can freeze your application. With the waiting state and a button that refreshes the graphs on demand, the problem is solved.

Each month, multiple connectors are added to simplify data integration for all users of the services concerned. During the last quarter, for example, the BigQuery connector has been added and gives the possibility to import data from the Google Data Warehouse.

All the new features in Power BI can be found on their official blog. They also post a complete summary on Youtube every month in which they go into detail on all the points.

For more information, see our other BI article:

 

Consultante Qlik Laetitialaetitia.larchanche@weqan.be
+32(0)489/970.736
Laetitia, Sales & Marketing manager