Alberto Ferrari – författare

Seasoned Experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo Help You Master DAX for Superior Business Intelligence Solutions

The Definitive Guide to DAX is an authoritative resource for mastering the DAX language, which is pivotal for creating measures for semantic models in Microsoft Power BI, Fabric, Analysis Services, and Excel. With years of experience since the inception of Power Pivot, the authors offer a comprehensive reference that navigates through the unique and complex concepts of DAX, making it an essential tool for BI professionals. This third edition updates you with the latest features and provides a framework for writing efficient DAX code, enhancing your ability to customize calculations in data models. You will gain the skills necessary to understand and apply advanced DAX concepts, structure code in user-defined functions, and leverage new calendars for time intelligence calculations.

By reading this book, you will:

Understand the foundational concepts of DAX and its unique language structure Master the use of evaluation contexts to enhance data analysis Utilize CALCULATE and CALCULATETABLE functions effectively Implement variables to simplify complex DAX expressions Leverage classic and new calendar based time intelligence functions Work with iterators to perform advanced calculations Apply visual calculations to improve report interactivity Create and manage calculation groups for dynamic reporting Handle complex hierarchies and relationships in data models Author DAX queries for testing and troubleshooting

About This Book

For BI professionals and Excel power users eager to deepen their understanding of DAX and enhance their data modeling capabilities with advanced techniques For data analysts and IT specialists seeking to optimize their use of Microsoft Power BI, Fabric, Analysis Services, and Excel for more efficient and insightful data analysis

Your guide to quickly turn data into results.

 

Transform your skills, data, and business—and create your own BI solutions using software you already know and love: Microsoft Excel. Two business intelligence (BI) experts take you inside PowerPivot functionality for Excel 2013, with a focus on real world scenarios, problem-solving, and data modeling. You'll learn how to quickly turn mass quantities of data into meaningful information and on-the-job results—no programming required!

Understand the differences between PowerPivot for Self Service BI and SQL Server Analysis Services for Corporate BI Extend your existing data-analysis skills to create your own BI solutions Quickly manipulate large data sets, often in millions of rows Perform simple-to-sophisticated calculations and what-if analysis Create complex reporting systems with data modeling and Data Analysis Expressions Share your results effortlessly across your organization using Microsoft SharePoint

Authors’ note on using Microsoft Excel 2016: This book’s content was written against Excel 2013, but it is useful and valid for users of Excel 2016 too. Excel 2016 introduces several new DAX functions and an improved editor for DAX without changing any existing behavior. In other words, all of the concepts and examples explained in this book continue to work with Excel 2016.

Renowned DAX experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo teach you how to design data models for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

 

How can you use Excel and Power BI to gain real insights into your information? As you examine your data, how do you write a formula that provides the numbers you need? The answers to both of these questions lie with the data model. This book introduces the basic techniques for shaping data models in Excel and Power BI. It’s meant for readers who are new to data modeling as well as for experienced data modelers looking for tips from the experts. If you want to use Power BI or Excel to analyze data, the many real-world examples in this book will help you look at your reports in a different way—like experienced data modelers do. As you’ll soon see, with the right data model, the correct answer is always a simple one!

 

By reading this book, you will:

• Gain an understanding of the basics of data modeling, including tables, relationships, and keys

• Familiarize yourself with star schemas, snowflakes, and common modeling techniques

• Learn the importance of granularity

• Discover how to use multiple fact tables, like sales and purchases, in a complex data model

• Manage calendar-related calculations by using date tables

• Track historical attributes, like previous addresses of customers or manager assignments

• Use snapshots to compute quantity on hand

• Work with multiple currencies in the most efficient way

• Analyze events that have durations, including overlapping durations

• Learn what data model you need to answer your specific business questions

About This Book

• For Excel and Power BI users who want to exploit the full power of their favorite tools

• For BI professionals seeking new ideas for modeling data

With SQL Server Analysis Services 2016, Microsoft has dramatically upgraded its Tabular approach to business intelligence data modeling, making Tabular the easiest and best solution for most new projects. In this book, two world-renowned experts in Microsoft data modeling and analysis cover all you need to know to create complete BI solutions with these powerful new tools.

 

Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari walk you step-by-step through creating powerful data models, and then illuminate advanced features such as optimization, deployment, and scalability.

 

Tabular Modeling in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services will be indispensable for everyone moving to Analysis Services Tabular, regardless of their previous experience with tabular-style models or with Microsoft's older Analysis Services offerings. It will also be an essential follow-up for every reader of the authors' highly-praised Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: The BISM Tabular Model.

This comprehensive and authoritative guide will teach you the DAX language for business intelligence, data modeling, and analytics. Leading Microsoft BI consultants Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari help you master everything from table functions through advanced code and model optimization. You’ll learn exactly what happens under the hood when you run a DAX expression, how DAX behaves differently from other languages, and how to use this knowledge to write fast, robust code. If you want to leverage all of DAX’s remarkable power and flexibility, this no-compromise “deep dive” is exactly what you need.   Perform powerful data analysis with DAX for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Excel, and Power BI Master core DAX concepts, including calculated columns, measures, and error handling Understand evaluation contexts and the CALCULATE and CALCULATETABLE functions Perform time-based calculations: YTD, MTD, previous year, working days, and more Work with expanded tables, complex functions, and elaborate DAX expressions Perform calculations over hierarchies, including parent/child hierarchies Use DAX to express diverse and unusual relationships Measure DAX query performance with SQL Server Profiler and DAX Studio