Custom Comparison Period calculations not working correctly in visuals with dates

[Nawalasim8]

Hello, i have a dashbaord that is using a comparison date table, the configuration is such that Im able to select any custom dates to compare my current date range with. Im then calculating % increase/decrease based on the 2 date ranges selected. This seems to be working fine for visuals where the measure isnt broken down by a date dimension, however when i have visuals such as the following:

 (selection for reference) 
For the comparison period it shows me the same value across different months. I understand this is because im using the months from the primary date dimension table but ideally, I require for this to compare as follows for the above example:

compares oct 2024 to january 2024, nov 2024 to feb 2024, and dec 2024 to nothing since in the comparison period only 2 months are selected. However, currently its comparing each month against the total of jany-feb 2024 which is not what i want.

Ive tried different work arounds but cant seem to arrive at a solution here. Any help would be appreciated please

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @Nawalasim8 ,

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.

Thank you.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @Nawalasim8 ,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If my response has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it.

Thank you.

[amitchandak]

@Nawalasim8 , refer if this approach can help

How to use two Date/Period slicers

https://youtu.be/WSeZr_-MiTg

[Nawalasim8]

Hello, thanks for the response. 

This approach doesnt fulfill the month over month comparison the way i've mentioned in the post. When i use Month as a dimesntion it is from the primary date dim table and since im using the following calculations to show the comparison period for the metric alongside on the same graph: 

pageviews_previous = CALCULATE(SUM(total_pageviews_by_date[screen_page_views]),ALL(dimdate),USERELATIONSHIP(total_pageviews_by_date[date], dimdate2[date]))


Any idea on how i can achieve this?

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @Nawalasim8 ,

Thank you for the detailed clarification. You're correct in observing that the current approach compares each month in the current period against the entire comparison period total, due to the way the pageviews_previous measure is structured with ALL(dimdate) and USERELATIONSHIP.

To achieve a month-by-month alignment (e.g., Oct 2024 → Jan 2024, Nov → Feb, etc.), you will need to match each selected month in the current period with its counterpart in the comparison period based on position/order, not on calendar date.

Please follow the below recommended approach:

• Add an index column (DateIndex) in both your primary (dimdate) and comparison (dimdate2) date tables to reflect date sequence.
• Create a revised measure that uses the current row’s DateIndex to find the corresponding date in the comparison period and retrieve the value from there.
• This way, each month in the visual will be correctly compared to the aligned month from the comparison period (if available).

This approach avoids the issue of aggregating over the full comparison period and instead performs a one-to-one alignment by position, fulfilling your intended behavior.

I hope this will help you understand better, if you need any further assistance, feel free to reach out.

If this post helps, then please give us Kudos and consider Accept it as a solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Thankyou.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @Nawalasim8 ,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If my response has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it.

Thank you.