Top 5 Power BI Beginner Mistakes...⚠️You Don't Want to Make!⚠️

I will share the Top 5 Power BI Beginner Mistakes that I wish I hadn't made when I started out with Power BI.
❌ Not Focusing on the Relationship
❌ Using the Same Old Names
❌ Mind Your Table Manners
✅ Pro Move: Measure Folders
❌ Not Managing by Exception
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-Avi Singh
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[@OlivierTravers]

I'm with you on relationships, but this triggers me :) If only the relationship view in Power BI Desktop was not such a third-rate citizen! It's a pain to align tables properly, and I've had schemas that I painstakingly aligned reset on their own back to the hydra mess. Not going to do it all over again when there's no auto-align, no magnet to grid, no pinning....

[@sirjlogan]

Avi, thanks for assisting us. On this video I needed about 2 minutes more clarity on two of the rookie moves. Needed more what and why to understand and get it.

[@EricaDyson]

Oh yes. I can tell you know what you're talking about. So nicely done and spot on! Keep your insights coming. I'm just getting back into data management after several years break, and everything you said rings the most enormously bells for me!

[@naivang78]

Great point! I like the look-up table solution. I think I understand the concept. However, is it possible you can provide another session with example of how to do this. Thank you.

[@chandeepchhabra]

Loved the last one Avi.. Seen that a dozen times with my clients too!

[@lso4jw251]

Can you suggest any videos on troubleshooting or tip when working with inherited PBI's? 1) updating data that might be stored on another computer. 2) Loading errors and fixes. ect...

[@billcoleman2009]

About the star schema arrangement - another approach to multiple facts is to merge all facts into a single event/factless fact table, with the related entities all mapped. The centre of my data models tends to be a lean table with just a Date key, Fact type text ("sale closed", "order scheduled") and a collection of related dimension keys. Sometimes I'll completely hide this fact table from the users. The information about the sale, or the order etc will then go in a dimension table reflecting that sale or order. This enables another next level move, which is to track changes in the related dimensions for point in time reporting. E.g. a sale made on date 1 and updated to include a discount on date 2 will have two distinct entries in the sale dimension, relating back to the appropriate action dates in the fact table. So now, by sticking slavishly to Kimball star schema methodology, we have 100% primary relationships with 0 circular references, a single calendar table for all key events (facts), full related cross dimensional filtering across event action dates and the ability to add tracked dimension changes into the report model for any dimension... boom!

[@WordPressU]

if only I could converse with you via email or some other form of technology...oooooh if I could add you to my slack...please, tell me this is possible Bill.

[@deesterdee6650]

Hi! I am having an issue with PowerBI that I hope you can help me solve. I built a data model linked to a source folder. In the folder I have excel workbooks (one eachh week for each year 2012-202). Each workbook has one table of data. All the tables are named the same. The issue is, the older tables have one or two fewer columns, so when the data comes into the query editor, the data model gets messes up because the data isn't consistent in all of the workbooks. How can I resolve this mismatch of data vs the data model? Do I have to manually edit the excel tables to make them all exactly the same or is there a way I can have the data model fox the incoming data? Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

[@FedericoLov]

To your last point: I create lookup tables in excel (or sharepoint list) from the beginning so everybody can easily see them and (if they know what they are doing) edit them; working with exceptions like you said doesn't seem better than creating separate copies of the whole table, in both cases you end up with multiple versions that need to be taken care of

[@barttitulaerexcelbart9400]

Thank you Avi. I am still using your book in my course (the one with Rob Collie). Maybe one addition: Use one canvas to make some notes (for yourself or others).

[@PowerBIPro]

Hey Bart, good to hear from you again. Should I actually show the Notes Canvas on screen in video -or- just share it afterwards in the Video Description perhaps?

[@biswanathdas2688]

HI , i just want to know one of my power bi query !! 4 pages for different benefits calculation like A,B,C and D . in every page there is a % slicer on based the value will change for that i have created measure . The final page i want to create a matrix where i want to show the column A,B,C and D and the same value will appear. i.e When i change the % for A report same value will reflect under A column in Matrix.

[@muhammedashraf2753]

Hi, I am getting a error message when I try to Publish --> " an error occurred while attempting to publish PBIX File publishing failed for unknow reason". could you pls help on this.

[@demris15]

love this... i was surprised to see I'm already doing most of these! would love to see a video on how best to handle the exceptions

[@PowerBIPro]

Hey Ari, Do you have a specific question on exceptions? you can get them answered in our LIVE TalkPowerBI Q&A show. 👉 www.TalkPowerBI.com Or Join our LearnPowerBI Private Community 👉 web.learnpowerbi.com/waitlist-invite/ ^RM

[@stephanweaver1960]

The exception table is the best. Not many people talk about this but I've been doing it for 20 years. It comes up a lot with enterprise data. It has to be combined with an admin screen/report that allows the administrator to address exceptions that not compute in the manner you describe

[@olivierlacour1756]

Very interested by the exception table. Not managing by expectation, I would love to know more about it.

[@lifeinaustralia5922]

hii Avi singh will u please tell me how to fix the problem when it says we were not able to connect with power bi when we want to open the app.

[@tanababa]

Hi Avi, great video. Thank you. I did not under stand your Pro move for the Exceptions. Wouldn't you recommend to use Power Query for that? I did not understand the overlapping tables... Thanks, Tamir

[@PowerBIPro]

Hey Tamir, so good to hear from you. Yes, you would use the Query Editor for that.

[@gracedarko1105]

Please I need help, I can't find currency tab on my power bi desktop modeling tab

[@masoomali14]

I have very basic requirement Data Source=CSV File on organisational portal. This file gets refreshed by other team in organisation I have no control on this. Problem= Every refresh overwrites previous week counts. Requirement= Count rows every week and append existing count in PowerBI Report. My PowerQuery= After applying certain filters I need to count number rows on weekly basis and display in PowerBI report(I need to append rows on weekly basis).It is like taking snapshot of the source and appending data over the time. Option tried A)I have tried Incremental refresh because there is meaningful date column in source it is making hard. I have added today's date B)Append!!I have also tried Append query option but every week it overwrites previous week. C) Create history table in PowerBI and insert row every week. Using power Query Table.InsertRows(from live refresh to existing table in PowerBI) This is not possible either using PowerQuery you cant insert rows from another table. I have been working as BI for last 10 years. I know this is very basic requirement in SQL Server insert into statement will do this easily for me. But I dont know how to achieve this PowerBI.

[@H01m3s]

I’d really appreciate a little more detail on #5... how do you take the table of exceptions and use it to override the SQL table in Power BI?

[@PowerBIPro]

Hey David, I might have covered it in detail in one of my TalkPowerBI sessions. The summary is 1. Define the list of Exceptions (e.g. you can maintain that in an Excel Table) 2. Then Use Query Editor to Pull in Official Data and Compare that with the File in #1 3. Then if an entry is found in #1 then we use that (Overriding the System Entry) 4. Else we continue to use the System Entry. Join me for my next LIVE Session and may be can walk through a real example (link below) ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Beginner Tutorial: kzbin.info/aero/PL7GQQXV5Z8ef2SjkDpLnvsz7TAQjlzlpO ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@KarinSchmit]

Great video, I didn‘t get the last one, though.

[@alexkeesy4367]

@2:42 when building my very first dashboard for my company, this was the default method for me. I had no idea that Avi suggests this is a pro move

[@Victor-ol1lo]

It all about realtionships Avi.... Thanks for the video. Measure-Formatting is from my prospective an additional point what makes the difference....

[@PowerBIPro]

Hey Victor, yes I like that one (Measure Formatting). I also like building measures as Lego Blocks. Instead of trying to write big mega-measures, I write small ones and combine them together. Power On! / Avi

[@ericsthename]

@@PowerBIPro I would beg to differ - per Biggie, it's all about the Benjamins, however relationships are a close second.

[@suprava.enheroes7842]

The merge part in part 5 is not that understanding. Do u hv any video on that

[@IMateme]

You'r Great! but please I didn't get the last point ...❌ Not Managing by Exception any explanation?

[@yaofangzhu8798]

When you have a data source with a hierarchy, and there are a few exceptions that do not meet the standard hierarchy definition, what you need to do is to create a separate excel file to keep the exceptions only and merge it with the original data source. For example, you have a product table from SQL Server with category and subcategory columns. Most of the time the subcategory "socks" belong to the "clothes" category, but there are 2 records of "socks" belong to "accessory". You want to keep the 2 records in excel and merge it with the source from SQL Server. It is better than using a modified Excel copy of all the original data as a data source.

[@bwberg77]

I liked the idea of not managing by exception. Which of your videos goes into more detail on that concept?

[@stevekapsak6266]

love your energy and easy to understand techniques. Thank you!

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Steve Kapsak. Thanks mate! ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@adrianofrizon3514]

Hi Avi, thank you so much. About managing my exceptions (5), could you please give me some references? It is really a situation that would help a lot.

[@num2007]

me neihter, he didn't really explained the solution... I was thinking of just adding a calculated columned with IF function to manage the exception an hide the previous column, but I think he had a better solution

[@seanzibomb]

Avi - great video! Would love to see another one demonstrating how you would implement a system to manage by exception? I know this is important, but I don't know how to implement "overlay your overriding mappings" @8:55 onto your standard table. Please let me know. Thanks!

[@nicolasalonsoprieto9679]

I 'd love an example devinetively

[@PowerBIPro]

Marianne from Team Avi. Sorry Avi, was not able to get to your comment. If you're still stuck and need help we would recommend submitting the question to our LIVE TalkPowerBI Q&A Session www.learnpowerbi.com/talkpowerbi#qa

[@gxsoft]

Thanks Avi, you are so clear, in first four point, but, the last point "MANAGING by EXCEPTION" is not clear for me... . Could you recomend some subjet to read about it? Thanks a lot and congrats for you good YoTube Channel. gab

[@ah_moonie]

It's about manually fixing something outside of Power BI instead of "fixing" it inside Power BI. In his example, he showed that two rows do not have information on the category. So instead of solving this issue by editing the source file (here in Excel - which is outside of Power BI), he recommends to make these adjustments within Power BI by extracting these two rows into a new table, adding the missing information and putting it back (or connecting it) to the standard (the initial) table. The advantage is that first everyone (including you) can see what kind of adjustments you did and second, in case that the standard table is updated, the adjustments taken will also be included.

[@elmerparica5494]

Hi Avi, Hope this is the proper forum. My question is, what is the long term impact of grabbing the data from a Views as opposed to table? Is this a viable solution for a slow report? Thanks

[@PowerBIPro]

Hey Elmer, there is no impact as far as Power BI is concerned. Power BI as such does not care where the data comes from. You can connect to any data source using any approach (Views, Tables, Sproc etc.). Once it's loaded into Power BI, it's part of the model and it works the same (regardless of whether it came from SQL, CSV File or SharePoint Lists). The only thing you need to consider is perhaps the speed of refresh. Is refresh faster if you connect to a table vs. a view? Now, speed of refresh does not usually matter. I would most often have my Model set for Automatic Refresh during the night. So even if it took a few hours I didn't really care. Neither did the users, they came in the morning and had the latest data. That's my first take. Of course each case is different and there might be details in your case which would change th answer. If you'd like to talk more, join me in my Live TalkPowerBI show each Friday kzbin.infolive Power On! / Avi p.s. Also make sure to check out my Step-by-Step Power BI Tutorial kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc

[@bandaralqahtani4356]

Thanks avi I have a question if you please! I just started as a free Lancer in power BI and I have many works as portfolio but the issue here is that I am using my organization power Bi account which mean I can not share any link with anybody because I am putted into account the confidentiality. So I want to create my own portfolio using my own power Bi account What is your advice please

[@PowerBIPro]

interesting question Bandar, Join us on our Live Zoom call on March 10th . www.learnpowerbi.com/events/talkpowerbi-qampacareer-edition-sawel-8gpjt-rzcjx-2jphs-ya29g ^RM

[@Cybertuber07]

Very good video! Thanks!

[@gracecarpio3074]

Hope to meet you at the Seattle Summit!

[@elmerparica5494]

Hi Avi, Do you have any video or videos showing a upward or downward trend on specific KPI (Sales or Profit)? Thanks for the response.

[@PowerBIPro]

Hmmm...not sure exactly what you're looking for. But check out these playlists: Power BI for Finance: Financial Dashboard, Statements & Reports kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2PMnalmmqdkrZY Power BI KPI Indicator (Excel Icon Sets) Part 1 of 3 kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5DSZGdogJ59faM There are more videos of course inside my paid LearnPowerBI Course. You can join the waitlist here: web.learnpowerbi.com/waitlist-invite/ Or join me for the TalkPowerBI Live on any Friday kzbin.infolive Power On! / Avi

[@vivalancsweert9913]

Great videos, power on :)

[@dharmiknaik1772]

Great video but I didn't get the last point. Can anyone explain it to me ?

[@ngedwin6174]

I am a little lost from 7:15... Is there anyone who can slightly explain what is he trying to say?? Does he mean, do not edit the original table but create a cache/temp table where we consolidate all the changes??

[@AlbrechtJ]

Thanks Avi for a helpful video. Your presentation is funny, not boring. I love it.

[@Sal_A]

Rule #2 - doesn't having prefixes like dProduct or fSales help to organize your lookup table and data table, especially when writing measures or if someone else is reading your mesaures? I find it helpful.

[@chadgalicia6481]

I second to this. If you share your pbix it will not be hard for the user to read relationships.

[@hemanthachandrasekara9745]

Fantastic presentation. Thanks. Learnt many things easily.

[@PowerBIPro]

Thanks for the inspiring feedback. I really appreciate it. Power On! / Team Avi

[@roshnirajput2344]

Avi, thank you for the tips. Could you elaborate on point 5 and give examples?

[@PowerBIPro]

Marianne from Team Avi. Sorry Avi, was not able to get to your comment. If you're still stuck and need help we would recommend submitting the question to our LIVE TalkPowerBI Q&A Session www.learnpowerbi.com/talkpowerbi#qa

[@mangeshshinde7360]

Hi Avi, I get the following issues while importing excel into power BI: Failed to save modifications to the server. Error returned: 'The following system error occurred: Class not registered '. Kindle help resolve the issue.

[@roadrunner156]

Google the error, I've found at least 10 pages (besides Microsoft which offers usually only cryptic explanations), explaining the problem. Also your question has nothing to do with the video

[@excelerateconsulting7765]

Great video - love the passion.

[@PowerBIPro]

Thanks for the inspiring feedback. I really appreciate it. Power On! / Team Avi

[@janhoet5268]

What an ego-boost this movie was! I apply all 5 already. 😉 actually made me feel a little proud haha. I hate silly names so the names are my favourite one. I would have added 2 more being 1) hide columns you dont want to be used (or even your entire fact tables) and 2) create hierarchies in your lookup tables

[@PowerBIPro]

Nice one! Well, mistakes teaches us something. Never stop learning and improving your skills in Power BI, Juan. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Beginner Tutorial: kzbin.info/aero/PL7GQQXV5Z8ef2SjkDpLnvsz7TAQjlzlpO ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@alankarsrivastava5328]

Please provide video on Exception tables

[@raymond3096]

I like the video a lot. Very helpful.

[@PowerBIPro]

Thanks Raymond. I'm glad you liked it. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@mallikatiwari252]

Can you explain the last point?

[@DarkOri3nt]

Your point on the tables thing only makes sense if your sitting behind the person looking at their solution if they share their solution with you the layout of the tables wouldn't be organised the same as theirs is. The same is true when opening a tabular model.

[@operacionsql9764]

Just good stuff. 👍

[@bcippitelli]

Thanks Avi!!

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Bruno Cippitelli. Glad to help. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@reynaldomalave]

Hi Avi, Here is my rookie question. I created a model (using power bi desktop) from files on my computer then created a couple of measures and publish it so I could work on another computer. I crafted a report but realize I was short on measures to dig more into it so I went back to the desktop version and created the new measures. Here is the problem how can i update the service with my new measures? Thanks, Reynaldo

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Reynaldo Malave, You should be able to just publish the report again and overwrite it. If you get stuck go through my Tutorial that shows Power BI Step by Step including the steps to publish reports. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc And join me on my Live show on Fridays if you have any questions. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@sushicatsan]

See you at the summit!

[@hasanarslan2]

Thank you Avi

[@PowerBIPro]

You're most welcome Hasan. ⚡Power On!⚡Avi ** Join me for next #TalkPowerBI Live on Fridays www.KZbin.com/PowerBIPro/Live **

[@rajdevs1076]

Great tips Avi

[@seamushand8439]

“I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all i knew); Theirs names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who.” ― Rudyard Kipling

[@mariaalcala5159]

Amazing tricks!!! Thanks a lot.

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Maria Claudia Alcalá Quiroz, You're welcome. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Get Your Questions Answered LIVE on TalkPowerBI Fridays www.learnpowerbi.com/talk ★

[@eiestens]

Hay!!! Now I see that I am part roky and part pro! Thanks!

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Ernesto. Ha! nice one! My pleasure. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@ryanshannon6963]

For Not Managing by Exception: I'm assuming that this is geared towards the person maintaining the PowerBI reports/dashboard may not have the same privileges as maintaining the source data, (as this could obviously be changed at the table level). If the person maintaining the PowerBI models did have the privileges to create within the database itself an 'Exceptions Table', for which you could substitute in the 'current' category/sub-category without having to maintain a separate exceptions table manually within that specific data model, would that be more appropriate? As far as the 'DimProduct', etc...I understand why newer PowerBI developers would do that, especially as the theories of Data Warehouse creation/management is so similar with PowerBI. I suppose without that extra layer of obfuscation the user itself has more influence over what they're trying to suss-out when accessing information through PowerBI, hence the whole self-service Business Intelligence model. There's some interesting stuff in here and I'm glad I watched this video. Thank you, sir!

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Ryan Shannon. you are right. If you have access to the Source Systems it can be solved there. The Manage by Exception is mostly for the "Business User". Glad you enjoyed the video. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Get Your Questions Answered LIVE on TalkPowerBI Fridays www.learnpowerbi.com/talkpowerbi ★

[@metalrey2064]

can u suggest best practice when dealing with TB of data ???

[@GRENKEChess]

Hammer video!

[@stevennye5075]

well done!

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Steven Nye. Thanks! ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Subscribe and Join me LIVE for Talk Power BI Fridays kzbin.infolive ★

[@sandip_bettereveryday]

Creating lots of CALCULATED COLUMNS could be another 'rookie' mistake, that can often be found in many models.

[@PowerBIPro]

Yes! I'm not sure how I missed that one. Thanks. Will make sure to include it in my final presentation at the Microsoft Power BI Summit.

[@xanthopsized]

Dead @8:29 “Talk to Joe” 😂

[@pritampatil91]

Please make seperate video on last point. I didn't get that

[@GuyInBritain]

Completely disagree with playing with names - dim may be weird but it has an important meaning

[@trangphan9038]

I CAN NOT DOWNLOAD THE FILE

[@PowerBIPro]

Are you trying to download by going to web.learnpowerbi.com/download/ and it's not working? It's supposed to send the download link in email. Make sure to check your Other/Promotions/Junk/Spam folders.

[@TheLeaderr]

Funny enough, putting dim/fact in front of tables would actually help users to understand what they are looking at lol...

[@PowerBIPro]

Hi Dear Leader. I usually work with Business Users and in my opinion Dim/Fact are very Geeky terms. I have not heard many Business Users use those terms. Since Power BI is more of a Self-Serve tool for Business Users. I avoid Dim/Fact. I do agree though, that giving them a sense of how the tables are different could help. May be using Dim/Fact as a prefix could help there. ⚡Power On!⚡ / Avi ★ Power BI Complete Tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jVnWB-bZyjiLc ★ ★ Get Your Questions Answered LIVE on TalkPowerBI Fridays www.learnpowerbi.com/talk ★

[@chingizsalkhanov7533]

Yay, I'm a pro.

[@PowerBIPro]

Nice!

[@etherlords88]

Really? Rather than focusing on relationship and keys and visuals and interaction, focus on how beautifully arrange imported tables inside relationship window like a blonde highschooler so that you can be considered as pro? If your legacy users demand complicated table names, you set the complicated month name because that's how they understand better and you're building the report for them. I don't know, may be the definition of pro differs from person to person.

[@PowerBIPro]

+etherlords88 Yes, I couldn't agree more. Pro is relative. The techniques I teach did really help me out and I've seen them help my students. But that's relative too, right? :-) It depends from person to person. Power On! / Avi

[@jessiewarain2796]

guilty on all points... im a rookie

[@jankostolnik6373]

God help Joe :D

[@sonjathomas3971]

On the 2nd rookie mistake - the chart spells weird as "weird" and "wierd" . Great video but this is weird.

[@themosh54]

It would be less weird if it was spelled correctly 🤣

[@ChristopherBergsten]

Gotta say that spending time renaming DimProducts (Yes, I am guessing it should be plural as it probably holds more than one...) to Products is spending his/hers time very oddly. Calling that a rookie move in my book is the exact oposite. Speiding time doing vanity changes that does not maky any difference at all seems dumb. If something has a prefix of Dim, that means something. If it has a prefix of Fact, that means something. Don't go around removing it just because you think it looks better. Seriously. How can this be taught as a rookie mistake.

[@Marbind]

12 rookies dislike this video.