Co-founder and CEO at 10 Senses
If you are a Power BI developer or just work with Microsoft Power BI on a daily basis, you must have heard about the Power BI feature summaries released each month.
They usually include useful features that may enhance your business intelligence solutions, facilitate your work, and deliver more tailored solutions to your stakeholders.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to keep up with all these updates on a monthly basis. Therefore, to help you with this, we have prepared a condensed overview of the most important features that have been added at the end of 2023 and until the end of April 2024.
You can find the first part of the 2024 series with the brand-new reporting features here, and today we will cover recent additions in modeling and service.
Preview Power BI new features in Modeling
DAX query view to write and run DAX queries on your model
Last year, a new DAX query view in Power BI Desktop was added. It allows users to use the DAX query language and EVALUATE to explore, analyze, and see data in their semantic models.
As a result, you no longer have to build visuals or use additional tools to validate data, but you can quickly analyze it directly in Power BI Desktop.
Microsoft released this feature in November 2023 but has already enhanced it by:
-
- Making boolean values not show up in the results grid,
-
- Adding additional INFO DAX functions, such as:
-
- INFO.CHANGEDPROPERTIES(),
-
- INFO.EXCLUDEDARTIFACTS(),
-
- INFO.FUNCTIONS(),
-
- INFO.LINGUISTICMETADATA(),
-
- INFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNS(),
-
- INFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNSEGMENTS(),
-
- INFO.STORAGETABLE ().
-
- Adding additional INFO DAX functions, such as:
-
- Enabling Copilot in the DAX query view which allows you to generate DAX queries from natural language and get help about specific DAX queries or topics.
Measure descriptions with Copilot
Microsoft has also enabled in Preview the possibility to add descriptions using Fabric Copilot for Power BI. Consequently, from now on, when you build reports using your semantic models, you can streamline the process of creating measure descriptions.
This feature can not only assist you in creating report documentation but also help people building reports from your semantic models. Since they can see these descriptions right away, they can quickly understand the purpose of each measure.
Enhanced row-level security editor enabled by default
In the modeling experience, the enhanced row-level security editor has also been enabled in Power BI Desktop. With this new feature, you can quickly define RLS roles and filters without writing any DAX. All you need to do is choose Manage roles from the ribbon and use the default drop-down interface to create and edit security roles.
Selection expressions for calculation groups
Calculation groups are still in preview, but Microsoft has improved this feature recently as well. As a result, from now on, you can use selection expressions to influence what occurs when users make multiple selections for a single calculation group or make no selection at all.
This feature guarantees better error handling but also provides a few useful default behaviors, for example, automatic currency conversion. You can check out the details in the Microsoft March update.
Power BI new features in Modeling
Datasets renamed to semantic models
If you work in the Power BI Service, you must have noticed that the datasets were renamed to semantic models in Power BI and Fabric. The change has resulted from the necessity of disambiguation from other Fabric items and tries to make the product clearer and more usable.
Updates in editing data models
The possibility to edit data models in the Service was released in Q2 2023, but Microsoft has improved this feature recently in response to the feedback they received. Consequently, from now on, within the Service, you can:
-
- Mark the table as a date table,
-
- Rename and delete tables and columns.
Preview Power BI new features in Service
Explore
Another useful addition to Power BI Service is the new Explore feature, which equips users with the possibility to explore their data in a lightweight and focused manner. With it, users can quickly and effortlessly create a matrix or a visual pair to get the answers they need without figuring out the complexity of the report.
The feature has already been enhanced with the following:
-
- Undo/redo features and ‘Reset all changes’ options,
-
- Clear all to wipe out your canvas and set it back to blank,
-
- New filter card styling to improve card style and readability.
Power BI new features in Service
Updates in editing data models
As already mentioned, the possibility to edit your data model in the Power BI service is a powerful feature that has recently been enhanced with:
-
- Auto-detecting relationships,
-
- Sorting by property for a column,
-
- Improving row-level security by implementing IntelliSense to help you define DAX expressions, verifying their validity, and adding the possibility to revert changes using the X button.
Storytelling in PowerPoint
Suggested content in PowerPoint
In Power BI Service, there is a new Power BI add-in for PowerPoint that facilitates finding and inserting Power BI reports for your presentations.
As a result, now when you add the Power BI add-in to your slide, it automatically scans the title of the slide and suggests relevant Power BI content.
For example, if the title of your slide is “Campaign for Selling Tickets”, the add-in will show you a list of reports that have data about campaigns.
Source: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-april-2024-feature-summary/#post-26731-_Toc1393759183
What is more, the add-in also shows the reports you have recently visited, so you can easily access them. Once you find the relevant report, you can choose to insert a complete page or a specific visual. Moreover, you can update filters or slicers before insertion.
It is also worth mentioning that if you can grant others access to this report, you can select the “give people automatic access to this data” checkbox, which will enable others in your organization viewing these presentations to see the data you have added to the slide.
Replacing report URLs with shareable links
Moreover, from now on, when you add the Power BI add-in to your presentations, you can choose a suggested report or paste a link to a specific report.
When you go for the second option (and shareable links are enabled and allowed for this report and you have re-share permissions to this report), the Power BI add-in can replace the pasted link with a shareable link. To enable this, you need to mark the checkbox that appears below the report URL.
If you use the shareable link, you can be sure that other users viewing the presentation have the required permissions to see the report and don’t need to request access when viewing the presentation.
Other recent updates
When it comes to storytelling in Power BI, Microsoft has also enhanced it with the possibility to define whether a snapshot shall be public or restricted to better control who can view the images.
Also, from now on, when you have presentations that are running continuously and have slides with the Power BI add-in, the add-in gets the data from Power BI when slides are loaded or when users manually refresh the data.
Ability to search and sort in paginated reports
In Power BI Service, now there is also an option to search for content across all pages of paginated reports. They can be either published on the Service or authored. You can specify any required parameters to view the report before searching.
All in all, we have covered a lot in this update as we have gone through the updates that happened at the end of the previous year and up to April. As you can see, Microsoft doesn’t rest on its laurels and still develops Power BI features to improve the user experience and enable you to build better business intelligence solutions.
Nevertheless, if you feel there are still some features that are not taken care of properly or that you would need in your Power BI toolkit, don’t hesitate to provide your feedback to Microsoft. Reflect on it and hear from you in the next update.
If you are a Power BI developer or just work with Microsoft Power BI on a daily basis, you must have heard about the Power BI feature summaries released each month.
They usually include useful features that may enhance your business intelligence solutions, facilitate your work, and deliver more tailored solutions to your stakeholders.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to keep up with all these updates on a monthly basis. Therefore, to help you with this, we have prepared a condensed overview of the most important features that have been added at the end of 2023 and until the end of April 2024.
You can find the first part of the 2024 series with the brand-new reporting features here, and today we will cover recent additions in modeling and service.
Preview Power BI new features in Modeling
DAX query view to write and run DAX queries on your model
Last year, a new DAX query view in Power BI Desktop was added. It allows users to use the DAX query language and EVALUATE to explore, analyze, and see data in their semantic models.
As a result, you no longer have to build visuals or use additional tools to validate data, but you can quickly analyze it directly in Power BI Desktop.
Microsoft released this feature in November 2023 but has already enhanced it by:
- Making boolean values not show up in the results grid,
- Adding additional INFO DAX functions, such as:
- INFO.CHANGEDPROPERTIES(),
- INFO.EXCLUDEDARTIFACTS(),
- INFO.FUNCTIONS(),
- INFO.LINGUISTICMETADATA(),
- INFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNS(),
- INFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNSEGMENTS(),
- INFO.STORAGETABLE ().
- Enabling Copilot in the DAX query view which allows you to generate DAX queries from natural language and get help about specific DAX queries or topics.
Measure descriptions with Copilot
Microsoft has also enabled in Preview the possibility to add descriptions using Fabric Copilot for Power BI. Consequently, from now on, when you build reports using your semantic models, you can streamline the process of creating measure descriptions.
This feature can not only assist you in creating report documentation but also help people building reports from your semantic models. Since they can see these descriptions right away, they can quickly understand the purpose of each measure.
Enhanced row-level security editor enabled by default
In the modeling experience, the enhanced row-level security editor has also been enabled in Power BI Desktop. With this new feature, you can quickly define RLS roles and filters without writing any DAX. All you need to do is choose Manage roles from the ribbon and use the default drop-down interface to create and edit security roles.
Selection expressions for calculation groups
Calculation groups are still in preview, but Microsoft has improved this feature recently as well. As a result, from now on, you can use selection expressions to influence what occurs when users make multiple selections for a single calculation group or make no selection at all.
This feature guarantees better error handling but also provides a few useful default behaviors, for example, automatic currency conversion. You can check out the details in the Microsoft March update.
Power BI new features in Modeling
Datasets renamed to semantic models
If you work in the Power BI Service, you must have noticed that the datasets were renamed to semantic models in Power BI and Fabric. The change has resulted from the necessity of disambiguation from other Fabric items and tries to make the product clearer and more usable.
Updates in editing data models
The possibility to edit data models in the Service was released in Q2 2023, but Microsoft has improved this feature recently in response to the feedback they received. Consequently, from now on, within the Service, you can:
- Mark the table as a date table,
- Rename and delete tables and columns.
Preview Power BI new features in Service
Explore
Another useful addition to Power BI Service is the new Explore feature, which equips users with the possibility to explore their data in a lightweight and focused manner. With it, users can quickly and effortlessly create a matrix or a visual pair to get the answers they need without figuring out the complexity of the report.
The feature has already been enhanced with the following:
- Undo/redo features and ‘Reset all changes’ options,
- Clear all to wipe out your canvas and set it back to blank,
- New filter card styling to improve card style and readability.
Power BI new features in Service
Updates in editing data models
As already mentioned, the possibility to edit your data model in the Power BI service is a powerful feature that has recently been enhanced with:
- Auto-detecting relationships,
- Sorting by property for a column,
- Improving row-level security by implementing IntelliSense to help you define DAX expressions, verifying their validity, and adding the possibility to revert changes using the X button.
Storytelling in PowerPoint
Suggested content in PowerPoint
In Power BI Service, there is a new Power BI add-in for PowerPoint that facilitates finding and inserting Power BI reports for your presentations.
As a result, now when you add the Power BI add-in to your slide, it automatically scans the title of the slide and suggests relevant Power BI content.
For example, if the title of your slide is “Campaign for Selling Tickets”, the add-in will show you a list of reports that have data about campaigns.
Source: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-april-2024-feature-summary/#post-26731-_Toc1393759183
What is more, the add-in also shows the reports you have recently visited, so you can easily access them. Once you find the relevant report, you can choose to insert a complete page or a specific visual. Moreover, you can update filters or slicers before insertion.
It is also worth mentioning that if you can grant others access to this report, you can select the “give people automatic access to this data” checkbox, which will enable others in your organization viewing these presentations to see the data you have added to the slide.
Replacing report URLs with shareable links
Moreover, from now on, when you add the Power BI add-in to your presentations, you can choose a suggested report or paste a link to a specific report.
When you go for the second option (and shareable links are enabled and allowed for this report and you have re-share permissions to this report), the Power BI add-in can replace the pasted link with a shareable link. To enable this, you need to mark the checkbox that appears below the report URL.
If you use the shareable link, you can be sure that other users viewing the presentation have the required permissions to see the report and don’t need to request access when viewing the presentation.
Other recent updates
When it comes to storytelling in Power BI, Microsoft has also enhanced it with the possibility to define whether a snapshot shall be public or restricted to better control who can view the images.
Also, from now on, when you have presentations that are running continuously and have slides with the Power BI add-in, the add-in gets the data from Power BI when slides are loaded or when users manually refresh the data.
Ability to search and sort in paginated reports
In Power BI Service, now there is also an option to search for content across all pages of paginated reports. They can be either published on the Service or authored. You can specify any required parameters to view the report before searching.
All in all, we have covered a lot in this update as we have gone through the updates that happened at the end of the previous year and up to April. As you can see, Microsoft doesn’t rest on its laurels and still develops Power BI features to improve the user experience and enable you to build better business intelligence solutions.
Nevertheless, if you feel there are still some features that are not taken care of properly or that you would need in your Power BI toolkit, don’t hesitate to provide your feedback to Microsoft. Reflect on it and hear from you in the next update.
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