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

Win a FREE 3 Day Ticket to FabCon Vienna. Apply now

Reply
Anonymous
Not applicable

Can't replicate Microsoft Tutorial for the Time Intelligence Function

So, I am trying to learn the basics of Power BI. I am trying to figure out how do the time intelligence functions work.

I am looking at this page: https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/554619-dax-basics-in-power-bi-desktop

 

The page teaches to use CALCULATE and PREVIOUSQARTER functions. The result of their manipulations looks like this:

 

However, when I am using their file and their data (can be downloaded from the tutorial page), and copy all the steps, I still don't get same results. Previous Quarter bar doesn't show up. Only the Sales Amount.

 

Can somebody please look into this? I assume the formula that they have must be wrong:

 

Previous Quarter Sales = CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[SalesAmount]), PREVIOUSQUARTER(Calendar[DateKey]))

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous
Not applicable

I think I found my mistake. My date field was actually a new column created within Power BI. Once I made a column in the original Excel file instead - the problem disappeared

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5
PowerBIGuy
Responsive Resident
Responsive Resident

Try adding a report filter and filtering by a single year example(2013).

Business Intelligence Architect / Consultant
Anonymous
Not applicable

Thank you! It worked. However, I still can't get my dashboard to do the same. I fully replicated the logic, but my measure doesn't return any results.

 

I have several locations, and I have a monthly score for each location (I record them into the 1st of every month). As a part of dashboard, I want to have a measure of score increase (difference between any given month and a prior month). That's why I am trying to figure out the prior month using time intelligence function PREVIOUSMONTH.

 

Is there any more resources to read about this function, besides basic description in Microsoft's knowledge base?

When using the time inteligence functions ensure that your date field is label as a data type of date within power bi desktop. Edit Query -> Home -> Select your date field and ensure that data type is listed as date.

Business Intelligence Architect / Consultant
Anonymous
Not applicable

I checked it, and it is in the correct format.

Anonymous
Not applicable

I think I found my mistake. My date field was actually a new column created within Power BI. Once I made a column in the original Excel file instead - the problem disappeared

Helpful resources

Announcements
August Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - August 2025

Check out the August 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

August 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - August 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.