Can you build a Power BI report with just one data table?

[Anonymous]

I am being asked to create a report from a giant data table of 2023 FDIC bank information. There are 50+ columns of data, and I was not given any KPIs in particular, so I am able to create basically whatever I want. The data I am working with can be found here: https://www7.fdic.gov/sod/dynaDownload.asp?barItem=6

I have two questions:

1. All of the videos and courses I have seen have several data tables. Would you suggest that I take this giant data table and break it down into the different "look ups" that I need (like State, Asset Size, Bank Name, etc.) rather than trying to just use one data table to slice and dice many ways within Power BI? 
2. A lot of the "slicing" or filtering I want to do is based on Asset Size of the bank. Should I create a conditional column based on Asset Size, and then use that for future filtering?

[sayaliredij · Accepted solution]

Hi   @Anonymous 

Technically you CAN build power bi report with only one large table. its not a problem. 

Ideally Power bi works best with star schema model , when you split 50 + columns info facts and dimentions its easier for you to understand the data and relate them rather than analysing whole big flat table. 

But it depends , if you have small amount of data and splitting them into smaller table would take lot of efforts and lead to complex formules, i would still keep only one table and work with it

you can check folloowing article to undestand pros and cons of both method

Power BI – Star schema or single table

for your second question, yes calculated column would be best approach to handle slicing and filtering more effective way

Thanks and Regards,

Sayali

Please mark the question solved when done and consider giving a thumbs up if posts are helpful!! 

@Anonymous