Power BI Archives - Purple Frog Systems

Power BI Large Semantic Model Storage Format: Do You Need It?
June 15^th, 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…
» Read more
Microsoft Fabric FabCon 2026 announcements that will transform your data stack
March 25^th, 2026 in Blog, Community, Microsoft Fabric, News, Power BI
What Microsoft just revealed about the future of enterprise analytics… Microsoft’s FabCon 2026 conference unveiled a transformative vision for enterprise data and AI integration. Rather than incremental improvements to existing tools, the announcements represent a fundamental architectural shift. Fabric is evolving from a passive data platform into an active intelligence layer that drives real-time, autonomous decision-making across…
» Read more
Incremental Refresh in Power BI
January 23^rd, 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…
» Read more
Is ETL now a Circular Process?
December 24^th, 2025 in Blog, Business Intelligence, Data analytics, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, PowerBI
Traditionally, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) has been a one-way journey. Data is extracted from operational systems, it’s transformed into a clean, structured format and then it’s loaded into a data store (typically a warehouse or lakehouse), rinse and repeat. But what’s after that? Business users build reports and dashboards and make a decisions from their insights, but the data itself never flows back into the systems where the work…
» Read more
Reflecting on 2025 & looking ahead to 2026: a data-driven perspective
December 19^th, 2025 in Artificial Intelligence, Blog, Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Real-time Data, Reporting Services
As 2025 draws to a close, it is clear this year marked a pivotal shift in how businesses leverage data and artificial intelligence (AI). What was once considered experimental has firmly become strategic, operational, and value-creating for organisations of every size from nimble local businesses to ambitious global brands. At Purple Frog, our work helping UK businesses transform data into business insight has shown a dramatic evolution in…
» Read more
Jon and Lewis take on Shropshire Connectin’ Business Expo
November 27^th, 2025 in AI, News, Power BI
What happens when data and AI meet real business challenges? According to our Senior AI Engineer, Lewis, and Consultant, Jon, it starts with genuine conversations and practical solutions. At the Shropshire Chamber Connectin’ Business Expo, held at Shrewsbury Town Football Club, Lewis and Jon represented Purple Frog Systems and spent the day speaking with business leaders from across the region. The event brought together organisations…
» Read more
FabFest 2025: Running the Microsoft Fabric Clinic!
October 16^th, 2025 in Blog, Community, Data Lakehouse, Fabric, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Sponsoring Event
FabFest is a great community conference held in Birmingham, UK, that Purple Frog Systems has sponsored for the past 2 years. This year, we had the opportunity to host 2 clinics for attendees, where they could learn more about Microsoft Fabric or AI solutions, or troubleshoot issues currently faced in these areas. Why did we choose to run these clinics? At last year’s conference, we had several attendees approach us with questions about…
» Read more
Underutilised Power BI Visuals (and When to Use Them)
October 3^rd, 2025 in Blog, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI
Introduction Power BI provides many built-in visuals, plus custom options from the marketplace. Yet many reports still rely heavily on bar, column, and line charts. While those are effective, a few underutilised visuals can help tell richer stories and surface deeper insights. This post highlights some of them, explains when they add value, and offers guidance on using them thoughtfully. Decomposition Tree What it does: Lets you dynamically…
» Read more
How Power BI Totals are Calculated
October 1^st, 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”…
» Read more
Fill Blank Rows With Previous Non-Blank Values – DAX
September 5^th, 2025 in Blog, Business Intelligence, Dashboarding and Reporting, DAX, Power BI, PowerBI
Fill Blank Rows With Previous Non-Blank Values – DAX I want to see a value for everyday, whether a new value exists or not – lets call it tracking the members of a golf club. If there are no changes to the member numbers, I would have no movement figure on that day. If someone joined or left, the figure would be updated. Just because there are no changes, it doesn’t mean that there are no members on that date and therefore this day is…
» Read more

Alex Whittles (MVP)
Annabel Hemingbrough
Callum Bryant
Hollie Whittles
James Snow
Jeet Kainth
Joe Billingham
Jon Fletcher
Laura Adamson
Lewis Prince (MVP)
Matt Mair-Durrant
Nick Edwards
Tom Owen