Forum Discussion
Data modeling: flip relationship direction
Hi TheoAu,
I understand your situation. Since the client requires slicers to drive the dashboard, enabling bi-directional filtering on the bridge relationship is the most practical way to achieve this, even though it isn’t ideal for performance or model simplicity. A good compromise is to apply it selectively only on the specific relationships needed for the slicers rather than across the entire model. This way you get the required functionality while minimizing potential risks with ambiguity or slowdowns.
Thank you.
Hey TheoAu ,
You are correct that switching to bi-directional filtering would be the easiest to solve this but it will not be a right choice in the long run due to performance concerns as well as unpredictable measure results.
Second choice will be too labor-intesive and third one is simply not allowed.
I had a similar requirement in the past and I actually pushed back on the requirement highlighting the technical challenges and how it would violate data modeling best practices and if possible, please try to do the same. It creates more problems than it solves.
Hope it helps!
Hi, thank you for your answer.
It's complicated to deny the client's suggestions because these filters are the whole purpose of this dashboard: showing specific information corresponding to the user's slicer selection. Also, the product table is not the only table that has the same issue (I have some other tables with the same architecture: a bridge table connected to the project fact table). However, it was easier to select only one table for this post sample.
Hi TheoAu,
I understand your situation. Since the client requires slicers to drive the dashboard, enabling bi-directional filtering on the bridge relationship is the most practical way to achieve this, even though it isn’t ideal for performance or model simplicity. A good compromise is to apply it selectively only on the specific relationships needed for the slicers rather than across the entire model. This way you get the required functionality while minimizing potential risks with ambiguity or slowdowns.
Thank you.
Hi TheoAu,
I understand your situation. Since the client requires slicers to drive the dashboard, enabling bi-directional filtering on the bridge relationship is the most practical way to achieve this, even though it isn’t ideal for performance or model simplicity. A good compromise is to apply it selectively only on the specific relationships needed for the slicers rather than across the entire model. This way you get the required functionality while minimizing potential risks with ambiguity or slowdowns.
Thank you.
Hi v-saisrao-msft thank you for your answer, I also think this is the most valuable solution.
Have a nice day