• Power BI Large Semantic Model Storage Format: Do You Need It?

    Power BI Large Semantic Model Storage Format: Do You Need It?June 15th, 2026 in Blog, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI

    If you’ve spent time in a Power BI semantic model’s settings, you’ve probably noticed the Large semantic model storage format toggle. Most people leave it off because they’re not entirely sure what it does or whether they actually need it. This blogpost breaks down what large semantic model storage format is, what it requires and the practical implications for your environment, so you can make an informed decision rather…

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  • Incremental Refresh in Power BI

    January 23rd, 2026 in Blog, Power BI

    The aim of an incremental refresh is to reduce refresh time by avoiding unnecessary reprocessing of historical data. Rather than reloading an entire table on every refresh, Power BI refreshes only the most recent period where new or corrected records are likely to appear, while retaining older data that is unchanged. Incremental refresh is based on two time windows: Retention (historical data): how far back data is kept in the model. Refresh…

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  • How Power BI Totals are Calculated

    Tom wearing a black and purple Purple Frog Systems polo shirt, standing in front of a graphic background featuring hexagonal patterns and an image of hands using a calculator and laptop. Text on the image reads: “How Power BI Totals are Calculated.”October 1st, 2025 in Blog, Power BI

    When using Power BI visuals such as a table or matrix, they use a built in total column for your rows or columns. When using it, you may have noticed that the totals column sometimes doesn’t add up to a Grand Total as might be expected. It sometimes looks like the below screenshot:     From first glance, you can see that the “Total” column isn’t the sum of its row, as you might expect. So why is this the case? The “Total”…

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  • Replacing Nested IFs with SWITCH() functions in DAX

    April 17th, 2025 in Blog, DAX, Power BI

    When solving problems and requirements for reports in Power BI, there eventually comes a need for nested IF() statements in your DAX. They work just fine, until they don’t. The more conditions you add, the harder they become to read, maintain and debug. There’s a cleaner way to handle this kind of logic and it’s one that often gets overlooked: SWITCH(). Let’s take a look at why it’s worth getting familiar with and how it can make your…

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  • Field Parameters in Power BI

    Field Parameters in Power BIDecember 11th, 2024 in Blog, Power BI

      Field parameters are another tool for Power BI developers to make their reports more dynamic and interactive. They are currently a preview feature as of writing this blogpost, meaning you will need to enable it in the preview settings and I will show you how to do this further on in the blog.   What Are Field Parameters? Field parameters enable report readers to switch between different fields or measures in a visual with just a…

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  • Integrate Power BI with Microsoft Teams

    Integrate Power BI with Microsoft TeamsJuly 12th, 2024 in Blog, Power BI

    Quick post about a feature you might not be aware of; Power BI can work within Teams! Why integrate Power BI with Microsoft Teams? Integrating Power BI with Microsoft Teams can: Enhance collaboration: Teams can share, reference and discuss insights from Power BI reports, directly within the context of their conversations. Improve accessibility: Reports and dashboards can be easily accessed within Teams, eliminating the need to switch between…

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  • Deployment Pipelines in Power BI and Fabric

    March 27th, 2024 in Blog, Fabric, Power BI

    Deployment Pipelines in Power BI and Fabric were released in public preview way back in May 2020 and then made Generally Available in September 2020. Even with how long they have been out, I rarely see them talked about when they are a very handy tool for Developers to ensure reports and Fabric content are safely moved between workspaces. Plus it provides some helpful tools for collaborating with other developers. Let’s look into how…

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  • Introduction to Power BI Project Files

    October 24th, 2023 in Blog, Power BI, PowerBI, Uncategorised

    Power Bi project files were showcased as an exciting upcoming feature by Microsoft for Power Bi. Developers can finally smile as it allows significantly easier collaboration with other developers and source control within Power Bi. We’ll go through a brief introduction to Power Bi Project files.     How to get a Power Bi Project File At the writing of this blogpost they are currently in preview and can be accessed via the ‘Preview…

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  • Power BI – Recalculate / Refresh a Calculation Group

    June 20th, 2023 in Blog, Power BI

    In Power BI, when working with calculation groups, they will often need to be recalculated when certain changes are made. You will end up with this error message if you use a calculation group that’s been changed in your Power Bi Report: The query referenced Calculation Group Table ‘Calculation Group’ which does not hold any data because it needs to be recalculated or refreshed.   Thankfully, the solution to this error is quite simple…

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  • Power BI – Visual to show filters that have been applied to a report

    March 13th, 2023 in Blog, Business Intelligence, DAX, Power BI

      Most PowerBi reports will use slicers to allow the user to filter and interact with the visuals they have. But in practice, users may forget what slicers have been applied. It’s inconvenient to have to look through each slicer, potentially across multiple pages, to see what filters are being used on the report. Therefore, it is not user friendly. We need to show every filter that has been applied in one convenient place. Thankfully,…

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