Book Image

Hands-On Business Intelligence with DAX

By : Horne
Book Image

Hands-On Business Intelligence with DAX

By: Horne

Overview of this book

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is known for its ability to increase efficiency by extracting new information from data that is already present in your model. With this book, you’ll learn to use DAX’s functionality and flexibility in the BI and data analytics domains. You’ll start by learning the basics of DAX, along with understanding the importance of good data models, and how to write efficient DAX formulas by using variables and formatting styles. You’ll then explore how DAX queries work with the help of examples. The book will guide you through optimizing the BI workflow by writing powerful DAX queries. Next, you’ll learn to manipulate and load data of varying complexity within Microsoft products such as Power BI, SQL Server, and Excel Power Pivot. You’ll then discover how to build and extend your data models to gain additional insights, before covering progressive DAX syntax and functions to understand complex relationships in DAX. Later, you’ll focus on important DAX functions, specifically those related to tables, date and time, filtering, and statistics. Finally, you’ll delve into advanced topics such as how the formula and storage engines work to optimize queries. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained hands-on experience in employing DAX to enhance your data models by extracting new information and gaining deeper insights.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction to DAX for the BI Pro
7
Section 2: Understanding DAX Functions and Syntax
14
Section 3: Taking DAX to the Next Level

Working with DAX in Power BI, Excel, and SSAS

In this chapter, we will look at the three different platforms that support DAX – Power BI Desktop, Excel Power Pivot, and SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) Tabular. By the end of this chapter, you will be familiar with using the DAX formula editor in Power BI Desktop. You will also have learned how to load data into an Excel Power Pivot data model and expand it using DAX formulas. Finally, you will learn how to use DAX with SSAS Tabular, import the data model from Excel Power Pivot, and use DAX to query the data in SSAS.

The chapter is broken down into the following sections:

  • Working with DAX in Power BI Desktop
  • Working with DAX in Excel Power Pivot
  • Working with DAX in SSAS Tabular