Business Intelligence.BI is a platform dedicated to helping businesses leverage data to make informed decisions. Founded by experienced BI professionals, it focuses on providing tools, insights, and resources to optimize data analysis, reporting, and visualization. Business Intelligence.BI offers services that support companies in integrating data-driven strategies, improving operational efficiencies, and gaining competitive advantages. The platform…
Year: 2024
How I Handled Monthly and Weekly Sales Forecasting in Power BI
Recently, I worked on a project where the client provided daily sales data in Excel. Alongside the actual sales figures, they had a forecasted sales amount for each week and month. The task was to create a dashboard in Power BI that would display monthly sales, the monthly forecast, and the difference between actuals and…
“Why Crystal Reports is Slower Than Power BI: Key Differences and Performance Factors”
Crystal Reports and Power BI serve different purposes and are built with distinct architectures, which impacts their performance. Crystal Reports can be slower than Power BI in many scenarios, and here’s why: 1. Underlying Data Processing vs. In-Memory Analysis 2. Data Model Complexity 3. Real-Time vs. Cached Data 4. User Interface and Visual Interactivity 5….
“Combining Data with SQL: Using CTEs vs. Temporary Tables for UNION Queries”
you can use both CTEs (Common Table Expressions) and Temporary Tables to perform a UNION operation in SQL. Here’s how each option can be used: 1. Using CTE for a UNION Query You can define multiple CTEs and then use a UNION or UNION ALL to combine the results. This approach is clean and keeps…
“CTEs vs. Temporary Tables in SQL: Key Differences, Use Cases, and Best Practices”
Common Table Expressions (CTEs) and Temporary Tables are both ways to handle intermediate data in SQL, but they have different use cases, performance considerations, and lifetimes. Here’s a breakdown of their differences: 1. Definition and Syntax 2. Scope and Lifetime 3. Performance and Resource Usage 4. Use Cases 5. Example of CTE and Temporary Table…
Common Issues When Updating a Data Source or Replacing an Excel File in Power BI
Updating a data source—especially when swapping in a new Excel file to replace a previous one—can introduce unexpected challenges. Many Power BI users face issues like missing columns, mismatched sheet names, and key errors that disrupt data loading and reporting. Here’s a look at some common pitfalls and a few strategies to streamline the process….
Displaying Empty Months in Power BI Visuals: Ensuring Consistent Date Visibility
Frequently, end-users want to see all months of year regardless of the data during these months. You can show months with no values in a visual in Power BI. By default, Power BI only shows data points for which there are values. However, you can make adjustments to display months even when they have no…
“How to Refresh Google Sheets Data in Power BI Service: Options and Workarounds for Free Users”
Using Google Sheets as a data source in the Power BI Service, particularly with a free Power BI account, has some limitations, especially around scheduled refreshes. The free Power BI Service does not support scheduled refreshes for online data sources like Google Sheets; scheduled refresh is only available for Pro or Premium users. Here’s a…
Troubleshooting Power BI Table Refresh Issues
In Power BI, I encountered persistent refresh issues with a critical table that contained essential data—such as quantities sold, cost figures, and other key metrics—that were heavily referenced in numerous measures. Whenever I tried to refresh, I received a range of errors: After spending considerable time troubleshooting with no resolution, I decided to try a…
How to Sort Months According to the Financial Year in Power BI: A Step-by-Step Guide
Sorting months according to a fiscal year rather than a calendar year can be a bit tricky, especially when your fiscal year doesn’t start in January. In many businesses, the fiscal year starts in a different month, such as August or July, which means you need to reorder the months to align with your financial…