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Category: Power BI

DAX UDF Measures vs Calculation Groups for Time Intelligence

Published 2026-05-27 by Kevin Feasel

Bernat Agullo Rosello compares two capabilities:

Ever since DAX UDFs came out as public preview in September 2025, many DAX developers started wondering how they will compare with calculation groups since both have the centralization of code as one of their main selling points. As pointed out in a recent article by SQLBI they are indeed very different beasts, even though they can be used to achieve very similar outputs.

In short, a calculation group is a model-level object whose items swap one DAX expression for another at evaluation time. Once an item is in the filter context, it applies to every measure being evaluated. A DAX UDF is a smaller object: a named, reusable expression with parameters, callable from any measure but invisible to report users.

Read on to see when calculation groups still make sense and when DAX UDFs are the better choice.

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An Overview of Power BI File Formats

Published 2026-05-26 by Kevin Feasel

Reza Rad covers a multitude of formats:

Power BI files come in multiple formats. If you have been working with Power BI Desktop for a while, you probably know the PBIX format well. But there are other formats too: PBIT, PBIP, and PBIR. The last two are more recent additions, and there is also a language called TMDL (Tabular Model Definition Language) that comes with its own file type.

In this blog post, I am going to explain the differences between all of these formats, why each one exists, and which one you should use for your scenarios. I will also show you, through a practical demo, what PBIP looks like and how you can use it to make your development process significantly better.

Click through for the video and article.

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User-Aware Calculated Columns in Power BI

Published 2026-05-20 by Kevin Feasel

Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari show off something new:

A calculated column is computed when the table is refreshed and stored in the model (in Import mode), just like any other column, so its value does not depend on the user who is connected. The introduction of user-aware calculated columns in Power BI changes this picture because we can define a calculated column that is evaluated at query time and depends on the user running the query. This behavior can be obtained by setting the Expression Context property of a calculated column to User Context.

Click through to see the benefit of this new functionality.

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Naming Conventions for Power BI Semantic Models

Published 2026-05-20 by Kevin Feasel

Ruben Van de Voorde gets organized:

Naming conventions for your semantic model should be a high priority for any developer. It’s incredibly important not just to ensure your model is organized and professional for developers and users, but also when using AI agents to query or manage it. Without clear naming conventions, people and agents waste time and are more likely to make mistakes.

Click through for a sensible scheme. In the meantime, I’ll provide the joke I normally use around naming. I love naming conventions. In fact, I love them so much, I have five of them and switch interchangeable between them as I develop.

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Exceeding the Capacity Limit for Power BI Dataset Refreshes

Published 2026-05-18 by Kevin Feasel

Chris Webb explains an error:

If you have a lot of Power BI semantic models that are scheduled to refresh at the same time in the Service then you may find that some of them fail with the following error:

You’ve exceeded the capacity limit for dataset refreshes. Try again when fewer datasets are being processed.

[Note: “dataset” is the old name for a Power BI semantic model. Someone should update the error message.]

Read on to see what can cause this error and what you can do about it.

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Creating Better Scatterplots

Published 2026-05-14 by Kevin Feasel

Ruben Van de Voorde embraces the second dimension:

Scatterplots are in a weird place in Power BI reports. They’re incredibly good at their core business: showing how two metrics relate across many things, like products, customers, or suppliers.

But they can miss the landing in a few ways. Sometimes the relationship itself matters but the chart asks the reader to do too much inference: “Why should I care about a product’s Gross Margin % vs. Shipping Weight?” Other times, the reader can’t tell what the dots actually are. A reader asking “What does one dot represent?” is the clearest tell, sometimes followed by “Can’t this be a table instead of these dots?”

Click through for musings about scatterplots, their bubble plot cousins, and what’s available in DAX and Power BI to make them work for you.

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Semantic Sonar: Canary Testing Power BI Semantic Models

Published 2026-05-14 by Kevin Feasel

Jens Vestergaard has a new tool:

Quarterly sales season always brings the same ritual: a business user opens Power BI, clicks into the sales dashboard, and waits for the numbers to load. It has been a while since anyone looked at this particular report. The numbers look off. Someone hits refresh. The spinner turns, but the data does not budge. The last refresh was weeks ago.

That is when the emails start. “Can you check why the sales model hasn’t updated?” The support thread grows. IT investigates. The answer is usually not in the data. The refresh failed at 3 AM. Or the data source changed its connection string last Tuesday. Or someone revoked the service principal without telling anyone.

By the time the root cause is found, the report has been open in meetings for hours, and the numbers have been wrong for days.

Read on for a free tool that can prevent this sort of issue.

I think the biggest IT super-power is the ability consistently to troubleshoot a problem from limited information. The second-biggest super-power is the ability to discover issues before the people who rely on your services do. Then you get them fixed and they have no idea there was even a potential problem.

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Power BI Maximum Allowable Memory Allocation Error

Published 2026-05-11 by Kevin Feasel

Chris Webb continues a series from a few years ago:

This is a very late addition to the series of posts I wrote back in 2024 and which started here on Power BI memory errors. It’s about a very rare error that is hard to deal with and often temporary but since people do run into it from time to time I decided to write about it so there is some useful information available about it online.

The error, which can occur when you refresh a semantic model or render a report, has two associated error messages:

Click through to see those two error messages, as well as a simplified version of the root cause and what you can do.

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Using the XMLA Endpoint for Power BI

Published 2026-05-06 by Kevin Feasel

Ruben Van de Voorde hits an endpoint:

Most Power BI developers have come across “XMLA endpoint” somewhere: a tenant setting, a Microsoft Learn page, or a tool’s connection dialog. The term sounds technical, and it is, but the idea behind it is straightforward.

Your semantic model is a database. Like any database, it lives somewhere: on your laptop while you’re authoring it in Power BI Desktop, or in a workspace once you’ve published it to the Power BI Service or Fabric. To use a database with anything other than the application that hosts it, you need a connection. The XMLA endpoint is that connection.

This article walks through what the XMLA endpoint is, where it comes from, how to turn it on, what you can do with it once you have it, and where the alternatives (the Power BI REST API, Semantic Link, and the Fabric REST API) fit in.

Click through for Ruben’s article, which does a good job of demystifying the endpoint.

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