Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
jl20
Helper IV
Helper IV

Avoiding Chained Lookup Tables

Hi,

 

I know it's best practice to avoid multiple levels of lookup tables. However, how is this generally done in practice? I have abbreviated city names coming from the fact table, some of which get consolidate (Baltimore into Washington, D.C., for example). I also want to sort these in situations where I don't want the fields in alpha order. Please see below:

 

Unique values from fact table on left, desired rollup on rightUnique values from fact table on left, desired rollup on right               I want to use this table as a slicer and have the ability to modify the sort orderI want to use this table as a slicer and have the ability to modify the sort order

Any way of doing this without creating two tables?

 

Thanks!

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Phil_Seamark
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Hi @jl20

 

You can create a Sort calculated column in your FACT table if you want to avoid the extra table and then use this as your sort col for your main table

 

Sort = SWITCH(
        TRUE() ,
        -- IF/THEN ---
        'Table'[Office] = "Atlanta" , 1 ,
        'Table'[Office]= "Chicago" , 2 ,
        'Table'[Office] = "Cleveland" , 3 ,
-- ELSE -- 999 )

To learn more about DAX visit : aka.ms/practicalDAX

Proud to be a Datanaut!

View solution in original post

1 REPLY 1
Phil_Seamark
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Hi @jl20

 

You can create a Sort calculated column in your FACT table if you want to avoid the extra table and then use this as your sort col for your main table

 

Sort = SWITCH(
        TRUE() ,
        -- IF/THEN ---
        'Table'[Office] = "Atlanta" , 1 ,
        'Table'[Office]= "Chicago" , 2 ,
        'Table'[Office] = "Cleveland" , 3 ,
-- ELSE -- 999 )

To learn more about DAX visit : aka.ms/practicalDAX

Proud to be a Datanaut!

Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.