PowerPivot to list data values instead of summarising - excel

Just starting with MS PowerPivot. I am trying to create a pivot showing the list of responses to questions in a survey, but am falling over where the powerpivot wants a 'Summarize by' value for the pivoted responses.
In a sql query to return these data I would use max(AnswerComment) (as there will only be one answer per respondent per question). However, when I select Max as the Summarize by values, PowerPivot returns: ERROR - CALCULATION ABORTED: Calculation error in measure 'Answer'[Maximum of AnswerComment]' and then explains that only numbers or dates (and not Strings) can be 'MAX'ed.
Is there a way of listing pivoted data (rather than performing a summary calculation on it)? If not, is there a summary function that PowerPivot accepts for string types?
thx
mcalex

By definition, PowerPivot doesn't let you list text values out. The way to workaround this is to place the column onto a row and then make sure you have another measure that includes all values of that column (traditionally dimension).
Saying this, a common approach is to build a Power View report on top of your PowerPivot workbook. This will allow you to list the values.

Related

How to use the unique items from in a column from several tables as the row criteria of a pivot table in excel data model using Dax?

I have 3 different tables with the customer name and there are duplicates as well as unique customers in the 3 tables and I need to get the unique for all 3 to be used as the rows criteria in the pivot table.
I've been finding a way to do so but I cannot seem to figure it out.
The measure I tried is: Customers:=DISTINCT(UNION(VALUES('Test1 - Invoice'[CustomerID]),VALUES('Test2 - Invoice'[CustomerID]),VALUES('Test3 - Invoice'[CustomerID])))
But I get the error below:
Semantic Error: Too many arguments were passed to the VALUES function.
The maximum argument count for the function is 1.
I am quite new to DAX and have no idea how to do it. I believe it is because measures are only for values if i'm not mistaken
I read that to place on other fields of the pivot table, it has to be a calculated column although I do not see how it can be a calculated column as well.
One approach is to create a separate table to store the Customer Name dimension - then create relationships between that Customer dimension table and your 3 fact tables. This would be most effective at the Power Query stage, but can be done using DAX.
An alternative is to merge your 3 fact tables - again, this would be best done with Power Query, but is possible with DAX.

How to add multiple measures into a pivot table?

I'm quite new to using pivot tables and data models, so I don't even know if what I want to do is possible. I have a pivot table (PivotTable1) and its source (Table 25) and I would like to add a hundred or so measures which are listed in the TableCombinations.
For example, I entered the two first measure in orange, but they are not linked to TableCombination and entering them all one by one would be quite long. Each measure is for a distinct Sum wfn column that sums all other rows multiplied by a coefficient. The TableCombinations table simply states the coefficient to be used for each column. For the first three rows, these are my measure formulas :
sum wf1=1.4*Table25[Sum of wD]+0*Table25[Sum of wL]+0*Table25[Sum of wS]+0*Table25[Sum of wW]+0*Table25[Sum of wWSOUL]
sum wf2=1.25*Table25[Sum of wD]+1.5*Table25[Sum of wL]+1*Table25[Sum of wS]+0*Table25[Sum of wW]+0*Table25[Sum of wWSOUL]
sum wf3=1.25*Table25[Sum of wD]+1.5*Table25[Sum of wL]+0*Table25[Sum of wS]+0.4*Table25[Sum of wW]+0*Table25[Sum of wWSOUL]
...
Two questions :
Is there a way to link the tables so that any change made to TableCombination would then be updated in the pivot table measures?
Is there a way to generate all the of the measures without typing them in one by one.
You should be able to use just one DAX measure to do this, using the CROSSJOIN function.
Don't set up a relationship between the Tables, and drag # to the Columns area of the PivotTable. Then create this Measure:
=SUMx(CROSSJOIN(Table1,Table2),Table1[wD]*Table2[wD]+Table1[wL]*Table2[wL]+Table1[wS]*Table2[wS]+Table1[wW]*Table2[wW]+Table1[wWSOUL]*Table2[wWSOUL])
That should give you the exact answer you need.
Here's how it looks using some sample data:
...and here's the sample data I'm using:
You could certainly use VBA to add measures, and to update them when the Table changes. I might have a crack at writing up an answer along that approach shortly. But here's another way to achieve what you want.
I've previously written some code to slave a Table to a PivotTable, so that any change in the PivotTable's dimensions or placement will be reflected in the shadowing Table's dimensions and placement. This effectively gives us a way to add a calculated field to a PivotTable that can refer to something outside of that PivotTable. If the PivotTable grows, the Calculated Table will grow. If the PivotTable shrinks, the Calculated Table will shrink, and any redundant formulas in it will be deleted.
You can easily use this approach to perform your calculations in a 2nd table alongside your PivotTable, and each column x in that 2nd table could easily reference row x in your 'parameters' table.
See Select Newest Record and Create New Table of Unique Values in Excel

SSAS Calculated member that knows if the user is using the report filter

I am trying to write a calculated member which acts differently depending on whether the user is filtering by that member or has it dragged down as rows or columns on their pivot table (using Excel).
The rules are:
1. If the user is using the date dimensin as a Report Filter in Excel, then the calculated member should get the maximum date out of all dates that they are filtered by.
2. If they have the date dimension as rows on the pivot table, then I need to apply ClosingPeriod and some other logic.
Please try this. The idea came from here.
Basically the dynamic named set represents what's in the report filters. And the EXISTING keyword trims the list of days down to the filter context of the current cell letting you detect say if one month is on rows. Compare counts and you can detect what the user did.
CREATE HIDDEN DYNAMIC SET CURRENTCUBE.SelectedDays as
[Date].[Date].[Date].Members;
CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Measures].[My Calc] as
CASE
WHEN SelectedDays.Count > {existing [Date].[Date].[Date].Members}.Count
THEN Tail({existing [Date].[Date].[Date].Members},1).Item(0).Item(0).Name
WHEN SelectedDays.Count < [Date].[Date].[Date].Members.Count
THEN Tail(SelectedDays,1).Item(0).Item(0).Name
END
Performance is going to not be good. And I suspect users will be confused with the results of your calc. If you want to describe the business scenario more I can maybe recommend a better approach.

How to get value from nested relations in Power Pivot?

I'm using Power Pivot add-in to create a data warehouse for generate dynamic tables and graphs (strictly data source is Excel), but I have a problem whit a calculate in the relations. My data model is the following:
My Snowflake data warehouse model
So for the fact table "fSales" I need to multiply the dCostDetail[Value] per dWorkCost[Value] to generate the fSales[Expenses] amount.
I tried to use the formula but I get an error: related but it don't allow to nested between the relations, e.g. fSales[Expenses] = related(dCostDetail[Value])*related(dWorkCost[Value])
Also I tried to use the next formula:
fSales[Expenses] = related(dWorkCost[Value]) * Calculate(Calculate(Calculate(Value(dCostDetail[Value]), Userelationship(fSales[IdProduct],dProduct[Sku]),Userelationships(dProduct[IdCateg],dCategory[IdCategory]), Userelationships(dCategory[IdCategory],dCostDetail[IdCateg]))))
And I need this "type" of normalized model to have the details when I analyze the information, e.g. filter, but if you know another way to generate the calculation it would be ok.
RELATED doesn't work in measures, because it evaluates on a record-by-record level. So you're on the right track, but what you need to do is create a column in Powerpivot in the fSales table called "Cost Detail" or whatever, and use a RELATED formula there to pull in that value from the CostDetail table. Create another column and do the same thing to pull in the dWorkCost value into the fSales table.
Then you can do a measure for the expenses like this:
Expenses:=SUM([whatever you called CostDetailColumn])*SUM([whatever you called WorkCostColumn])
You should be able to drop that measure into a pivot and it should do what you're looking for.

Avoid DISTINCTCOUNT in PowerPivot

Due to performance issues I need to remove a few distinct counts on my DAX. However, I have a particular scenario and I can't figure out how to do it.
As example, let's say one or more restaurants can be hired at one or more feasts and prepare one or more menus (see data below).
I want a PowerPivot table that shows in how many feasts each restaurant was present (see table below). I achieved this by using distinctcount.
Why not precalculating this on Power Query? The real data I have is a bit more complex (more ID columns) and in order to be able to pivot the data I would have to calculate thousands of possible combinations.
I tried adding to my model a Feast dimensional table (on the example this would only be 1 column of 2 rows). I was hoping to use that relationship to be able to make a straight count, but I haven't been able to come up with the right DAX to do so.
You could use COUNTROWS() combined with VALUES().
Specifically, COUNTROWS() will give you the count of rows in a table. That means COUNTROWS is expecting a table is input. Here's the magic part: VALUES() will return a table as results, and the table it returns are the distinct values in the table/column that you provide as the argument for VALUES().
I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well, so for the sample data you provided, the measure would look like this (assuming the table is named Table1):
Unique Feasts:=COUNTROWS(VALUES('Table1'[Feast Id]))
You can then create a pivot table from Powerpivot, and drag Restaurant Id into Rows, and drag the measure above into Values. Same result as DISTINCTCOUNT, but with less performance overhead (I think).

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