Power BI | November 2018 Updates

There's been exciting updates to Power BI recently — have a look at the headline news.

Power BI reporting

There’s been significant changes to Power BI reporting a key element of which is the ability to copy and paste visual images between .pbix files which improves user workflow and allows for faster file manipulation between reports. Users can also now expand and collapse their matrix row headers through the right-click menu.

Many Power BI users will also love the updated filtering experience which allows them to see exactly how any filters applied to a report are affecting it on the screen. You need to enable this function first through the 'Preview' section of the 'Option' dialog box. Microsoft has also updated general accessibility which mainly involves making it easier for users to access the Selection pane while also being able to use Ctrl + F6 to move around the Power BI desktop faster.

Power BI analytics

A vibrant update is colour saturation on visuals being amended to use conditional formatting. There have also been changes to the queries asked in the Q&A explorer. Power BI now allows users to ask related questions, based on their previous ones which is great for delving deeper into subjects or being prompted to ask questions that a user may not have thought about before.

Updated to modelling in Power BI

Welcome news all round is the improved modelling view that is being previewed. Offering faster performance on larger models, the choice of multiple layouts and the ability to save custom diagram view layouts,. The new composite model feature, based on user feedback, has also been rolled out. Microsoft has also improved the modelling accessibility which has seen updated keyboard navigation for managing relationship dialogs.

Users of Power BI can also make use of 3 new DAX functions. These are an optional 'Drill down filter', the 'Roll Up Add is Subtotal' function, a brand new Non-Visual feature and an 'Is In Scope' function to more effectively detect measure expression hierarchy.

Custom visual updates in Power BI

The fab five new custom visual updates are:

• Calendar by MAQ Software to track events in a report

• Ratings by MAQ Software to add ratings to a report

• Hourglass Chart by MAQ Software to compare category values in two scenarios

• Forecast using multiple models by MAQ Software to forecast future values based on historical data

• Pie charts tree to show tree visual with pie charts as nodes

What's new for data connectivity?

Microsoft users can now import and transform data from Azure DevOps Server via a new connector. There’s also PDF connector support for Start Page and End Page parameters. This allows users to restrict Power Query to a set range when exploring pages to find tables. There have also been improvements to the Azure Consumption Insights connector which now allows users to add reserved instances and budget data to reports.