Posts

How to use Relative Date Filtering to Filter Data Easily in Power BI

Relative Date Filtering is a nice feature in Power BI to filter date data. For example, in our dataset we have an Order Date and Amount: Let’s expand our Order Date filter. We can see Relative date filtering as an option: Expanding Show items when the value we can see the options is in the last, is in this, is in the next: If we select is in the last, … Continue reading How to use Relative Date Filtering to Filter Data Easily in Power BI

Understanding Total Month to Date (TOTALMTD), Quarter to Date (TOTALQTD), Year to Date (TOTALYTD), with DATESMTD, Date Tables and Blanks in Power BI

In this post, we will look at how Month to Date (TOTALMTD), Quarter to Date (TOTALQTD) and Year to Date (TOTALYTD) works and doesn’t work in Power BI. These functions can be tricky to use based on your data and what you are passing in. Let’s go through this. At a high level, these “to date” functions are commonly used in the business world. Month to date generally refers to some … Continue reading Understanding Total Month to Date (TOTALMTD), Quarter to Date (TOTALQTD), Year to Date (TOTALYTD), with DATESMTD, Date Tables and Blanks in Power BI

Creating a Power BI Chart Comparing Each Year vs Previous Year

In this post, we will go through how to create a Power BI chart that compares numbers each year vs each previous year. We will use sales data as an example. First, let’s connect to our data from Power BI Desktop. We will use the sample data from here and connect as in the example. This data holds 3 years of Orders data. Once connected, create a simple date table … Continue reading Creating a Power BI Chart Comparing Each Year vs Previous Year

Connecting Power BI to a Website to Import Data

In this post, we will connect Power BI Desktop to a website to pull down data from the website into Power BI so we can use it for analysis. Open Power BI Desktop and select Get Data->Web: Enter a website URL. For example, I have a page that contains a table of Orders sample data. This is located at https://carldesouza.com/sample-date-orders-table-2019/: Copy the URL and paste it into the Power BI URL … Continue reading Connecting Power BI to a Website to Import Data

Using, Loading and Creating Report Themes in Power BI

In Power BI, report authors can use themes in reports to keep the color palette consistent across visualizations. Let’s look at how to use themes. Below is a pretty simple report. Note in the navigation bar there is the Switch Themes button: Clicking it, we see there are several themes available, including: Default City park Classroom Colorblind safe Electric High contrast Sunset Twilight We are currently set to the default … Continue reading Using, Loading and Creating Report Themes in Power BI

Display Preview Contents using a Monospaced Font in Power BI

In Power BI Desktop, there is the option to display contents using a monospaced font, where each character has the same space. To do this, open your report and go to the Power Query Editor. Click the View tab, and you will see Monospaced: With this unchecked, we can see that our Id field is not aligned in our grid: On checking it, we can see that the field is … Continue reading Display Preview Contents using a Monospaced Font in Power BI

Accessing Advanced Customizations in PowerApps

In PowerApps, we can access Advanced Customization features. This will look familiar to Dynamics 365 developers and administrators who go into Settings in the Dynamics 365 app. To do this in PowerApps, log into https://powerapps.microsoft.com: and select Settings -> Advanced Customizations: This will open the Advanced Customizations pane: From here, we can manage Users, Security Roles, Themes, Publishers and Developer Resources. Users takes us to: Roles: Publishers: Developer Resources: Note … Continue reading Accessing Advanced Customizations in PowerApps

Convert FetchXML to QueryExpression in Dynamics 365 with Web API Example

In this post, we will go through an example of converting FetchXML to a QueryExpression. We will do this by debugging a Web API call in a plugin. To debug Web API calls using the Plugin Registration Tool, do the following. First, create a Web API query, e.g. select the name and revenue fields in the accounts entity filtered by name. E.g. https://yourorg.api.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v9.1/accounts?$select=name,revenue&$filter=name eq ‘3M’ In Visual Studio, create a new … Continue reading Convert FetchXML to QueryExpression in Dynamics 365 with Web API Example

Using Microsoft Flow to Create Recurring Tasks in Dynamics 365

Microsoft Flow can be used to create recurring tasks in Dynamics 365. Let’s go through an example. Let’s say we want to send create a task that reminds a salesperson to call their customers every morning. Sign in to https://flow.microsoft.com. Select My Flows, then New: Pick Scheduled – From Blank: Set a date, time and frequency. The flow can run every Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute and Second: Click Create. … Continue reading Using Microsoft Flow to Create Recurring Tasks in Dynamics 365

Finding Which Region Your Power BI Data is Stored In

To find which tenant region your Power BI data is stored in, log into the Power BI service at https://powerbi.com and click on the ? icon. Select About Power BI: You will see Your data is stored in, which shows the tenant region: