Tips, Tricks and Best Practices useful in a PowerBI Project

1. #sqlsat
Progetto Power BI – Un Decalogo
Lorenzo Vercellati

3. Speaker
 Business Intelligence Specialist @ SolidQ
 Data Visualization Addicted
 Speaker al SQL Saturday
 DIAD Trainer
 PBIUG Milan Administrator
 @supergimi
 lorenzovercellati

4. Agenda
 Centralizzare la DataSource
 A ciascuno la sua dieta
 Lavoriamo solo su misure
 Calendar & Time Dimension from scratch
 Filters Applied
 A ciascuno il suo visual
 Custom Topojson
 Tips, Tricks & Tools
 Buone letture

5. Il Progetto PowerBI

6. Il Progetto BI
DataSource
ETL Flow
Visuals
Data Model

7. Il Progetto PowerBI
DataSource
ETL Flow
Visuals
Data Model

8. Centralizzare e Parametrizzare
la DataSource

9. Centralizzare la DataSource
Data
Source
Data
Set
Data
Set
Data
Source
Data
Source
Data
Set
Data
Set

10. A Ciascuno la sua dieta

11. Vertipaq Storage
Tab
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AAA
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Diz
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Tab
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Diz
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12. Togliere ai Ricchi…
Tab
XX A
XX B
YY A
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Diz
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Tab
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Diz
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13. …e dare ai Poveri
Se non abbiamo Longitudine e Latitudine dobbiamo affidarci ai
nomi dei luoghi geografici!
I casi di omonimia geografica sono tantissimi e i servizi di
geolocalizzazione di Bing non sempre rispondono a dovere.
Più informazioni gli diamo, più facile sarà il loro lavoro e più
precise saranno le risposte.
Categorizziamo sempre le colonne geografiche.

14. Lavoriamo solo su misura

15. Lavoriamo solo su Misura
Per il semplice fatto che Power BI ce le
propone come misure, non significa che
dobbiamo usare le colonne numeriche
come misure nei visual!

16. Lavoriamo solo su Misura
 Creo le misure Base a partire dalle colonne
numeriche
ColValue
TotaleValue
TotaleValue
PreviousYear
Saldo vs
PreviousYear
% vs
PreviousYear
 Creo le misure Complesse a partire dalle
misure Base
 Nascondo le colonne

17. Calendar and Time Dimension
from scratch

18. All You Need is Date Dim

19. All You Need is Date Dim
let
StartDate = #date(StartYear,12,1),
// EndDate = #date(EndYear,12,31),
EndDate = Date.From(DateTime.LocalNow()),
NumberOfDays = Duration.Days( EndDate - StartDate ),
Dates = List.Dates(StartDate, NumberOfDays+1, #duration(1,0,0,0)),
#"Converted to Table" = Table.FromList(Dates, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
#"Renamed Columns" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Converted to Table",{{"Column1", "FullDateAlternateKey"}}),
#"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Renamed Columns",{{"FullDateAlternateKey", type date}}),
#"Inserted Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "Year", each Date.Year([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year", "Month Number", each Date.Month([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Month Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Month", "Month", each Date.MonthName([FullDateAlternateKey]), type text),
#"Inserted Quarter" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Month Name", "Quarter Number", each Date.QuarterOfYear([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Week of Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Quarter", "Week of Year", each Date.WeekOfYear([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Week of Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Week of Year", "Week of Month", each Date.WeekOfMonth([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Day" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Week of Month", "Day", each Date.Day([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Day of Week" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day", "Day of Week Number", each Date.DayOfWeek([FullDateAlternateKey],1), type number),
#"Inserted Day of Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day of Week", "Day of Year", each Date.DayOfYear([FullDateAlternateKey]), type number),
#"Inserted Day Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day of Year", "Day of Week", each Date.DayOfWeekName([FullDateAlternateKey]), type text),
#"Inserted Year Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day Name", "Year Month Number", each [Year] * 100 + [Month Number], type number),
#"Inserted Year Month Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year Month", "Year Month", each Text.Combine({[Month], " ", Text.From([Year], "en-US")}), type text),
#"Inserted Year Quarter" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year Month Name", "Year Quarter Number", each [Year] * 10 + [Quarter Number], type number),
#"Inserted Quarter Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year Quarter", "Quarter", each Text.Combine({"Q", Text.From([Quarter Number], "en-US")}), type text),
#"Inserted Year Quarter Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Quarter Name", "Year Quarter", each Text.Combine({[Quarter], " ", Text.From([Year], "en-US")}), type text),
#"Inserted Year Week" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year Quarter Name", "Year Week Number", each [Year] * 100 + [Week of Year], type number),
#"Inserted Year Week Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year Week", "Year Week", each Text.Combine({"Week", " ", Text.From([Week of Year], "en-US"), " ", Text.From([Year], "en-US")}), type text),
#"Renamed Columns1" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Inserted Year Week Name",{{"FullDateAlternateKey", "Date"}})
in
#"Renamed Columns1"

20. All You Need is Date Dim
let
SecondCount = 86400,
Source = List.Times(#time(0, 0, 0),SecondCount, #duration(0,0,0,1)),
TableFromList = Table.FromList(Source, Splitter.SplitByNothing()),
ChangedType = Table.TransformColumnTypes(TableFromList,{{"Column1", type time}}),
RenamedColumns = Table.RenameColumns(ChangedType,{{"Column1", "Time"}}),
InsertHour = Table.AddColumn(RenamedColumns, "Hour", each Time.StartOfHour([Time])),
InsertMinute = Table.AddColumn(InsertHour, "Minute", each Time.Minute([Time])),
ChangedTypeHour = Table.TransformColumnTypes(InsertMinute,{{"Hour", type time}}),
InsertQuarterHour = Table.AddColumn(ChangedTypeHour, "Quarter Hour", each if [Minute]<15 then [Hour] else if [Minute] < 30 then Value.Add([Hour],#duration(0,0,15, 0)) else if [Minute] < 45 then
Value.Add([Hour],#duration(0,0,30, 0)) else Value.Add([Hour],#duration(0,0,45, 0))),
ChangedTypeQtrHr = Table.TransformColumnTypes(InsertQuarterHour,{{"Quarter Hour", type time}}),
ReorderedColumns = Table.ReorderColumns(ChangedTypeQtrHr,{"Time", "Hour", "Quarter Hour", "Minute"}),
InsertHourNumber = Table.AddColumn(ReorderedColumns, "Hour Number", each Time.Hour([Time])),
NextHour = Table.AddColumn(InsertHourNumber, "Next Hour", each Value.Add([Hour],#duration(0,1,0, 0))),
NextQuarterHour = Table.AddColumn(NextHour, "Next Quarter Hour", each Value.Add([Quarter Hour],#duration(0,0,15, 0))),
InsertPeriod = Table.AddColumn(NextQuarterHour, "Period of Day",
each if [Hour Number] >= 0 and [Hour Number] < 4 then "After Midnight" else
if [Hour Number] >= 4 and [Hour Number] < 8 then "Early Morning" else
if [Hour Number] >= 8 and [Hour Number] < 12 then "Late Morning" else
if [Hour Number] >= 12 and [Hour Number] < 16 then "Afternoon" else
if [Hour Number] >= 16 and [Hour Number] < 20 then "Evening" else "Late Night"),
InsertPeriodSort = Table.AddColumn(InsertPeriod, "PeriodSort", each
if [Hour Number] >= 0 and [Hour Number] < 4 then 0 else
if [Hour Number] >= 4 and [Hour Number] < 8 then 1 else
if [Hour Number] >= 8 and [Hour Number] < 12 then 2 else
if [Hour Number] >= 12 and [Hour Number] < 16 then 3 else
if [Hour Number] >= 16 and [Hour Number] < 20 then 4 else 5),
InsertTimeKey = Table.AddColumn(InsertPeriodSort, "TimeKey", each Time.ToText([Time], "HHmm"), type text)
in
InsertTimeKey

21. Applied Filters

22. Applied Filters: un po’ di Chiarezza

23. Applied Filters: una Nuova Frontiera
From: https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/displaying-filter-context-in-power-bi-tooltips/

24. A ciascuno il suo Visual

25. Cleveland and McGill

26. Anche l’occhio vuole la sua parte…
L’occhio umano non è fatto per misurare gli
angoli ma lunghezze e distanze.
(cit. Alberto Cario, L’Arte Funzionale)

27. Tools

28. DAX Studio

29. Vertipaq Analyzer

30. Power BI Helper

31. Tips

32. M Helper
= #shared

33. Power Query Alert
PowEr qUeRy è CaSe sENsItivE

34. PowerBi Dataflows
I dataflows sono dataset condivisi?
Per i dataflows serve Premium Storage?
Posso combinare query su dataflows senza
Premium Storage?
NO!
NO!
NO…
…Anzi SI!

35. Tricks

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Customizzare Topojson
Se non hai una mappa da convertire in topojson
Se non hai alternative (QGIS),
puoi sempre editare manualmente il file topojson
che generata la mappa
Topojson è un sottotipo del geojson file type
La struttura di un Topojson consistse in:
Una lista di arcs (segmenti)
Una lista di oggetti (poligoni) definiti da una
sequenza ordinata e chiusa di segmenti

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Customizzare Topojson
Ogni Arc è definito da un entry point e da una
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Ogni Arc ha una direzione definita
Gli oggetti definiti da un arc con direzione opporta
sono referenziati come –1 * (arc + 1)
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38. Bibliografia

39. Buone Letture
PowerQuery
Chriss Webb: https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/
DAX
SQLBI: https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/
PowerBI
Reza Rad: http://radacad.com/blog
Guy in a Cube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFp1vaKzpfvoGai0vE5VJ0w
Dataflows
BI Polar: https://ssbipolar.com/2018/10/23/dataflows-in-power-bi/

40. Grazie!