How to Generate a DAXX File for Performance Tuning

When troubleshooting a slow DAX query, the right diagnostic bundle is worth a hundred screenshots. That bundle is a DAXX file, generated from DAX Studio. It captures the query, the server timings, the query plan, and a VertiPaq Analyzer snapshot of your model, all in one package, and without any of your actual query results. Perfect Continue reading How to Generate a DAXX File for Performance Tuning

Visualize Power BI Refresh using Semantic-link

A few blogs back I shared a technique using Power BI Profiler (or VS Code) to run and capture a trace over a refresh of a Power BI semantic model (the object formally known as a dataset). I’ve since received a lot of positive feedback from people saying how useful it was to visualize each Continue reading Visualize Power BI Refresh using Semantic-link

Speed up Distinct Count calculations in Power BI using Aggregations

This article aims to show how you can speed up distinct count calculations in Power BI using the built-in user-defined aggregations feature. The user-defined aggregation feature in Power BI is designed to work with direct query models and usually gets used for calculations such as SUM, MIN, MAX etc. However, it can also work well Continue reading Speed up Distinct Count calculations in Power BI using Aggregations

Using PowerShell to create Calculation Groups in Power BI Desktop

Background I recently shared on Twitter a 7-module learning path on MS Learn that teaches all you need to know about calculation groups in Power BI. This learning path is an excellent course, and I highly recommend it. However, as part of this exchange, I received a reply from someone lamenting that calculation groups are Continue reading Using PowerShell to create Calculation Groups in Power BI Desktop