New features are coming to Power BI this November

In today’s data-driven world, businesses are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge and make informed decisions. This quest for actionable insights has given rise to powerful data visualization tools like Power BI.  

Power BI is a business intelligence and data visualization tool developed by Microsoft. It empowers organizations to transform their raw data into meaningful insights through intuitive and interactive reports, dashboards, and data exploration.  

The Microsoft Power Platform release plan for 2023 release wave 2 announces the latest updates to customers as features prepare for release. This article covers the new features and updates arriving in Power BI this November.

Balance user queries with query scale-out 

Support high user-concurrency workloads for large-scale deployments of semantic models (datasets) in Power BI Premium. Management of query scale-out in Power BI Premium is largely automated for customers. 

• Query scale-out in Power BI Premium enables user queries to be load-balanced across multiple dataset read replicas in a pool of Power BI Premium nodes. This speeds up query response times for high user-concurrency workloads. 

• Additionally, dataset refresh operations enjoy increased isolation from the read replicas to protect user queries and improve performance. 

• Management of query scale-out in Power BI Premium is highly automated compared to other platforms such as Azure Analysis Services. Adding and removing read replicas is performed dynamically based on usage.
  
  

Create and run DAX queries with Query view in Power BI Desktop 

Professional BI developers can natively write and run DAX queries within Power BI. In the past, they had to rely on third-party tools or APIs. Now, they can use Power BI’s built-in capabilities, making DAX queries development easier and more efficient. These features provide a seamless and productive DAX queries experience.

The DAX query view allows BI developers to create and run DAX queries in Power BI. Using the existing DAX query syntax to quickly query their data model. 

DAX expressions are used to define any measure, calculated column, calculated table, dynamic format string, calculation item, and row level security on a user’s model. But that is not all one can do with DAX. With the DAX EVALUATE keyword, users can also use DAX to create a DAX query. This is much like a SQL query where a user can specify columns and aggregations to return in a result table.

Use DAX queries to increase productivity.

This powerful way to interact with your data model will be available in the new DAX query view. Giving users several ways to be as productive as possible with these DAX queries: 

• Quick queries are accessible in the context menu of Data pane tables, columns, or measures. They provide a head start in creating DAX queries for data preview and summary statistics. With DirectQuery, users can now view sample data without returning to Power Query.

• Right-click in the Data pane to get the DAX expression of all measures or a specific measure in a DEFINE statement. Use an EVALUATE statement to run it as a DAX query and add any additional columns.

• When a user modifies the DEFINE measure in the model definition, an option for saving time allows the user to update the model, overwriting the current model definition with their changes. There’s no need for manual copy-pasting.

• When a user utilizes DEFINE to create a measure not already in the model, they have the option to save time by using “add to model” to incorporate this measure. This eliminates the need to create a new measure and manually copy and paste the DAX expression.

• If a user’s measure references another measure, they can define the measure and all the references. This means all the measures DAX expressions are visible on one screen. User can now see the full context of how this measure is calculated from the source columns.

• Performance Analyzer already lets users copy the visual DAX query. Users no longer need to take that DAX query and use another tool to view and run it. They can simply run the visual DAX query in Power BI.

Explore single visuals with quick create

Users can now explore their data in a dedicated exploration mode. 

• In this new dedicated exploration mode, users will explore a single visual and use AI in Power BI to find hidden insights in their data. The new mode will be available in report visual focus mode. 

As we explore Power BI’s latest enhancements, it’s clear that Microsoft actively strives to offer businesses cutting-edge tools for data visualization and analysis. These updates promise to make Power BI an indispensable tool for businesses seeking to extract valuable insights from their data. We are excited to take advantage of the new features coming to Power BI this November and unlock the full potential of data-driven decision-making. 

For further information on Power BI. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with allonline365 at +27 (21) 205 3650, email us at contact@allonline365.com or visit our website www.allonline365.com