DAX: Part 1: Basics of DAX and Calculations in Power BI

From the series of Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star [Best seller Power BI training worldwide] Delivered by the all-star team at RADACAD

Calculations are an essential part of any Power BI report. No matter what data you want to visualize, real-world analytics on that data requires a calculation. Calculations in Power BI are done using Power Query and DAX. This course goes explicitly through the basics of DAX and will teach you how to get familiar with this language. You will learn the difference between different types of calculations and how to write DAX measures.

This is not training for visualizing data using Power BI. It would be best if you had some understanding about Power BI Desktop to attend this course. This course is for those who know how to get data from a dataset and build visualization but want to learn more about how to write calculations.

This course is delivered by Reza Rad, Microsoft Regional Director, MVP of Power BI and Data Platform for over ten years, the Microsoft Power BI Fast Track Solution Architect, Author of many Power BI books, and international speaker of many conferences such as Ignite, Business Applications Summit, Build, PASS, Difinity, Power BI Summit. Reza is an all-star Power BI community award winner and the author of Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star best-seller training that is well-received worldwide.

After this training, you will be able to understand the concepts and basics of DAX expressions; you will understand the evaluation context of a calculation. You will understand different types of calculations in Power BI and the best type of calculation for your scenario. You will be able to distinguish tabular and scalar functions and use them inside an expression. You will be able to write simple DAX calculations and understand how it is working.

The schedule of the day:

• 9:00 am – 10:30 am; Course and lab
• 10:30 am – 11:00 am; morning tea
• 11:00 am – 12:30 pm; Course and lab
• 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm; Lunch and talks
• 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm; Course and lab
• 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm; afternoon break
• 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm; Course wrap up, Q&A

This training includes but not limited to the topics below;

1: Introduction to DAX

DAX is an abbreviated name for Data Analysis eXpression language. This is the expression language in Power BI for analytics. DAX is a dynamic expression language that will consider the user’s interaction at the time of visualization. Using DAX, you can do calculations such as year to date, year over year comparison, etc. Most of the data modeling training is about DAX. In this section, you will learn the basics of DAX.

• Syntax of DAX
• Naming in DAX
• Operators and Operands
• Logical Operations
• Data Types in Power BI Model
• Overview of Functions in DAX
• Variables
• DAX or M? When to use Which?

2: Calculations in Power BI

There are three types of calculations in Power BI. Calculated Column, Measure, and Calculated Table. You can write DAX expressions in all these three types of objects. This section will teach you the main difference between the calculated column, measure, and the calculated table, and the scenarios of using them.

• Calculated Column; Row by Row
• Measure; Single Output
• Calculated Table; A derived table
• Calculated Column? Maybe a good candidate for Power Query transformation
• Measures are Dynamic
• Quick Measures; An easy start
• Context of calculations

3: Tabular or Scalar functions

One of the fundamental understandings of DAX starts with understanding two different types of functions; Tabular and Scalar. You will learn the difference between these two types of functions and learn some examples of using them.

• Tabular vs. Scalar functions
• Variables in DAX
• Calculate: Scalar function
• Tabular functions
  • ALL
  • AddColumns
  • SelectColumns

4: Aggregation and Iterator Functions

The first set of important functions in DAX are aggregation functions. There is a set of normal aggregation functions such as SUM, MIN, MAX, and there is another set called iterators. The way of working with iterators is different. Iterators get an input table and an expression. An example of an iterative function is SUMX. In this section, you will learn the difference between SUM and SUMX and scenarios of using those two.

• Aggregation Functions
• Implicit Measures vs. Explicit Measures
• Sum of an Expression: SumX.
• Iterator Functions
• Difference between SUM and SUMX

5: Filter Functions

Filter functions are probably the most important functions in DAX. You can refer to a column in DAX (like Excel), but you cannot refer to rows. If you want to refer to rows in an expression, you must filter it, and that is why Filter functions are important. There are several filter functions, and the behavior of all of them is unique. In this section, we will talk about some of these functions through real-world examples.

• ALL
• Filter Functions to be used inside other functions
• Examples of using ALL function
• ALL and SUMX; Percentage Calculation
• AllExcept
• Filter Function: Custom Filter
• Values/Distinct; getting a unique list of values

• Conditional Sum; Three ways of Implementing; pros and Cons

Instructor

Reza Rad is a Microsoft Regional Director, an Author, Trainer, Speaker, and Consultant. He has a BSc in Computer engineering; he has more than 20 years of experience in data analysis, BI, databases, programming, and development mostly on Microsoft technologies. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for 10 continuous years (from 2011 till now) for his dedication in Microsoft BI. Reza is an active blogger and co-founder of RADACAD. Reza is also co-founder and co-organizer of Difinity conference in New Zealand, and the Power BI Summit (the biggest Power BI conference)

• CEO at RADACAD
• Chairman, and Director at Power BI Summit
• Chairman, and Director at Difinity conference (Since 2017)
• Microsoft Regional Director (Since 2018)
• Microsoft Data Platform MVP (Since 2011)
• Leader of Data, Insights, and Power BI user group in Auckland, New Zealand (Since 2013)
• Microsoft Fast Track Recognized Solution Architect – Power Platform
• Power BI All-Star award winner
• Dynamic Communities Emerald award winner
• Author of more than 10 books on BI, analytics, and Power BI
• Speaker at many conferences such as Ignite, Microsoft Business Applications Summit, PASS, and etc.
• Blogger, and content creator
• Consultant, and trainer
• Microsoft Certified trainer
• Microsoft Certified professional

His articles on different aspects of technologies, especially on BI, can be found on his blog: https://radacad.com/blog.

He wrote some books on Microsoft BI and also is writing some others, He was also an active member on online technical forums such as MSDN and Experts-Exchange, and was a moderator of MSDN SQL Server forums, and is an MCP, MCSE, and MCITP of BI. He is the leader of the New Zealand Business Intelligence users group. He is also the author of very popular book Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star, which is free with more than 1700 pages of content and the Power BI Pro Architecture published by Apress.

He is an International Speaker in Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Business Applications Summit, Data Insight Summit, PASS Summit, SQL Saturday and user groups. And He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer.

Price:

Early-bird: $399.99 NZD ($285.99 USD)

Standard: $499.99 NZD ($356.99 USD)

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