PowerBI is counting the same value as 2 different values

[afaherty]

Hello,

This is a very complicated question, therefore I am trying to simplify it and I hope I don't confuse anyone further.

I have a database of student evaluations.  Their professor has rated them on different items (i.e., rated them as being "proficient" or "developing" on different aspects).

Does anyone know why on earth is PowerBI counting the same rating ("Proficient") as two different values?

Basically, there should be only 1 row for Proficient and it should equal 35.  I have been sitting here for hours trying to figure this out.  I see no reason for this.  I just thought I'd ask if anyone has seen this before.  The DAX for the value field in the matrix is just  a DISTINCTCOUNT of student ID.

In Data view, there does not seem to be an obvious reason for this (i.e., extraneous spaces, etc):

Thanks!

[Whitewater100]

Hi:

To follow a few replies here. To see if DAX has gone wild, you can go to TRANSFORM Data and highlight your column and first select clean and after repeat with "trim". Both options are under the TRANSFORM Tab. Choose FORMAT and the there is a drop down. These two functions(Clean & trim) take away spacing issues and also take away any non printable characters. I've rad it's best practice to do this before loading data.

If you do this and you still have an issue, then maybe DAX has an issue? I hope this helps!

[daXtreme]

The fact that 2 strings look the same to your eyes does not mean they are the same. There might be some non-printable characters embedded in either of them. You should cleanse your data well in Power Query (or in the source). For instance, there are spaces that are zero-length...

[afaherty · Accepted solution]

I found another post from someone who had the same problem a few years ago.  When they re-did the dashboard from scratch, the problem went away.  I just tried the same thing, and my problem has resolved as well.  

[aaronxinger]

Is this the only way? I have many visuals already on the page and are quiet fidely. How better could I do this ?

[tamerj1]

Hi @afaherty 

try replace the value in power query. Like:

each [column], each "Proficient"