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How to Capture Power BI Queries sent to Dynamics 365
Colin Maitland, 10 December 2019
In this article I briefly demonstrate how to capture the queries that are sent by Power BI to Dynamics 365 (Online) when refreshing a table in a Power BI Data Model.The example used in this article is based on an Account query. This query includes steps to filter, select, sort and expand the retriev
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Custom Power BI UTC to Local Date/Time with Daylight Saving Time Function
Colin Maitland, 03 December 2019
In a previous article, I demonstrated several approaches for transforming Dynamics 365 UTC Date/Time values to New Zealand (NZ) Local Date/Time and Date values. In this article I demonstrate the structure of the custom Power BI function referred to in that article. This article demonstrates the inte
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Using Microsoft Power BI Report Builder to create Power BI Paginated Reports
Colin Maitland, 18 November 2019
In this article, I briefly describe the steps for creating a Power BI paginated report, connected to a published Power BI Dataset, using the Microsoft Power BI Report Builder.The following image shows the top level of a multi-level paginated report built using the Power BI Report Builder.You can dow
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How to sort Dynamics 365 Sales Pipeline stages in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 05 November 2019
In this article, I demonstrate how to sort Dynamics 365 Sales Pipeline stages in Power BI.The following image shows part of an analysis of Open Opportunities by Sales Pipeline stage. The Sales Pipeline stages have been implemented using Business Process Flow stages; e.g. Qualify, Develop, Propose an
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Transforming Dynamics 365 UTC Date/Time to local Daylight Saving and Standard Date/Time in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 04 November 2019
In this article, I demonstrate the transformation of Dynamics 365 UTC Date/Time values to New Zealand (NZ) Local Date/Time and Date values in Power BI, taking into account Daylight Saving Time.This demonstration highlights a significant difference in the transformation of these values when the Power
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Configuring Dynamics 365 Currency Fields in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 10 October 2019
In this article, I demonstrate the data type conversion that should be applied to Dynamics 365 Currency fields in Power BI; ie. to Fixed Decimal Number instead of to Decimal Number.In Microsoft Dynamics 365, “Currency” fields are stored in the underlying SQL Server database using the SQL Server Mone
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How to Accurately Calculate Ages in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 07 October 2019
In this article, I demonstrate how to calculate Ages in whole-years and fractional-years in Power BI using several different approaches. I also identify the approach that calculates the most accurate Age.The following image shows a list of people in Power BI. These records were loaded into the Power
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A Best Practice Use of Formatting, Variables and Comments in Power BI DAX Expressions
Colin Maitland, 16 September 2019
In this article I demonstrate a best practice for the writing of a Data Analysis Expression (DAX) in Power BI regarding the use of formatting, variables and comments.The formula used for my demonstration adds a calculated field named Is Supporter to a table named Supporter. This is a table of merged
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How to use Parameters in Power Query in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 09 September 2019
In my previous article I demonstrated how to use Connection Parameters in Power BI for the configuration of the Source step in Power Queries used to load data from Dynamics 365 (Online). In this article I will demonstrate how to use Parameters in Power Query.The following image shows the first three
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How to Configure Data Source Setting Parameters for a Power BI Data Model
Colin Maitland, 06 September 2019
In this article, I demonstrate the use of parameters for connecting a Power BI Data Model to Dynamics 365 (Online). This approach simplifies the subsequent task of updating the Data Source Settings after the Data Model has been published to the Power BI Service. For instance, it may be desired to co
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How to Change a Power BI Relationship from Many-to-Many to One-to-Many
Colin Maitland, 05 September 2019
Recently when configuring a Power BI Data Model for Dynamics 365 I encountered a situation where I was not permitted to create a One-to-Many relationship in the data model between a Dimension table and a Fact table. Power BI automatically created a Many-to-Many relationship between the tables concer
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Power Platform Licensing
John Eccles, 18 June 2019
Power Platform unlocks the potential of Dynamics 365 and Office 365. It opens the door for non-software developer users within organisations to manage data and electronic forms, automate business processes and enable mobility. An organisation needs licensing to use Power Platform. In this blog, I wa
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Context Transition when Using CALCULATE Function in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 23 May 2019
When writing and testing DAX formulas, it is important to understand the Evaluation Context in effect for each part of the formula; i.e. Row Context and Filter Context. The purpose of the DAX CALCULATE function is to modify the Evaluation Context of an expression. In this article, I will demonstrate
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How to Sort Multiple Sets of Age Groups in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 22 May 2019
In this article, I will describe how to configure sorting for an Age Group dimension in Power BI that has multiple sets of Age Groups for the same age ranges. The example discussed in this article is based on aggregating Referrals stored in Dynamics 365 by Age Group. The Power BI Data Model has an
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Flattening Opportunity and Opportunity Products in Power BI
Colin Maitland, 08 May 2019
In Microsoft Dynamics 365 the Opportunity and Opportunity Products entities form a Header/Detail relationship. This is a common type of relationship between entities. Other examples include Quote, Order, Invoice and their corresponding Quote Product, Order Product and Invoice Product entities. In Po
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