Who This Course Is For
This workshop is designed for experienced Power BI users who are comfortable building reports and dashboards but want to deepen their understanding of Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to create more powerful, flexible, and insightful measures and calculations.
It’s ideal for:
• Analysts and report developers who regularly use Power BI and want to go beyond built-in aggregations and visuals.
• Professionals who have worked with calculated columns and basic measures but want to unlock the full potential of DAX.
• Users who want to improve their ability to analyse trends, perform time-based calculations, and create dynamic report elements.
• Those looking to gain confidence with DAX logic, functions, and best practices to solve real-world business problems.
Prerequisites
Participants should already be familiar with Power BI Desktop, including data loading, data modelling basics (relationships, star schema), and visual design. This course does not cover Power BI fundamentals or introductory modelling concepts.
DAX Overview – Syntax & Format
• What is DAX?
• Basic syntax and formatting rules
• Understanding context: Row context vs Filter context
• Writing and testing DAX expressions
Aggregators & Iterators
• Aggregator functions: SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, etc.
• Iterator functions: SUMX, AVERAGEX, MINX, MAXX, etc.
• When and why to use iterators
Logical Functions
• IF, SWITCH, AND, OR, NOT
• Nesting logical expressions
• Handling blanks and errors
Information Functions
• ISBLANK, ISFILTERED, HASONEVALUE, SELECTEDVALUE
• Using information functions for dynamic measures
Filter Functions
• CALCULATE and context transition.
• FILTER, ALL, ALLEXCEPT, KEEPFILTERS, REMOVEFILTERS
• Combining filter functions for custom calculations
Date Functions
• TODAY, NOW, DATE, YEAR, MONTH, DAY
• Building calculated columns with dates
Power BI and Date Dimension Tables
• Importance of a proper Date table
• Marking a table as Date Table
• Creating relationships and using the Date table in reports
Time Intelligence Functions
• TOTALYTD, SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR, DATESYTD, DATEADD, PARALLELPERIOD
• Custom time intelligence with CALCULATE and FILTER
• Handling non-standard fiscal calendars
Other Useful Functions
• RANKX for ranking measures
• TOPN for dynamic top N filters
• SELECTCOLUMNS, ADDCOLUMNS, VALUES, DISTINCT
Using Variables in DAX
• Declaring and using variables with VAR and RETURN
• Benefits of variables: readability, reusability, performance
• Example scenarios with variables