Book Image

Expert Data Modeling with Power BI

By : Soheil Bakhshi
Book Image

Expert Data Modeling with Power BI

By: Soheil Bakhshi

Overview of this book

This book is a comprehensive guide to understanding the ins and outs of data modeling and how to create data models using Power BI confidently. You'll learn how to connect data from multiple sources, understand data, define and manage relationships between data, and shape data models to gain deep and detailed insights about your organization. In this book, you'll explore how to use data modeling and navigation techniques to define relationships and create a data model before defining new metrics and performing custom calculations using modeling features. As you advance through the chapters, the book will demonstrate how to create full-fledged data models, enabling you to create efficient data models and simpler DAX code with new data modeling features. With the help of examples, you'll discover how you can solve business challenges by building optimal data models and changing your existing data models to meet evolving business requirements. Finally, you'll learn how to use some new and advanced modeling features to enhance your data models to carry out a wide variety of complex tasks. By the end of this Power BI book, you'll have gained the skills you need to structure data coming from multiple sources in different ways to create optimized data models that support reporting and data analytics.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Data Modeling in Power BI
4
Section 2: Data Preparation in Query Editor
10
Section 3: Data Modeling
13
Section 4: Advanced Data Modeling

Understanding dataset storage modes

As you may have already guessed, dataset storage modes refer to whether the data in a dataset is cached in the memory or not. With that in mind, from a dataset perspective, there are three different modes, as outlined next:

  • Import: When the whole data is cached in the memory. In this mode, all tables are in the Import storage mode setting.
  • DirectQuery: When the data is not cached in the memory. In this mode, all tables are in the DirectQuery storage mode setting.
  • Composite (Mixed): When a portion of data is cached in the memory, while the rest is not. In this mode, some tables are in the Import storage mode setting; other tables are in DirectQuery storage mode or the Dual storage mode setting.

To see and edit the dataset storage modes in Power BI Desktop, look at the right side of the status bar, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 4.42 – Identifying dataset storage modes in Power BI Desktop...