Forecasting with irregular dates

[easyleesie]

Hi Experts

I have a data set going back 10 years with a sales value for each date of a sale. Unfortunately there is not a sale every day, so the dates are irregular which means I get the "Forecast cannot be created because the timeline is irregular" error.

When I try to do it a level up, at monthly, it doesn't give me the option.

I thought maybe I could make a monthly average column ad use that. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[v-easonf-msft]

Hi， @easyleesie 

As mentioned by @amitchandak  and @mwegener ,you need to create a date table that contains  regular dates, then create relationship between the date table and your original table.

Then please merge the date table and your original table based on the date field into a new query. Using date key of merged table as X-Axis of Line chart to create line chart , you will be able to add forecast line.

You can also check these related thread and post.

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Data-is-irregular-to-forecast-in-Power-BI-Desktop/m-p/78177... 
http://www.erikhudzik.com/2017/01/16/power-bi-forecasting-feature-and-when-your-data-is-too-irregula...

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Eason

[mwegener]

Hi @easyleesie ,

In order for Power BI to predict the further course of the X-axis, it must be a date value or a number.

Have a look at the attached PBIX file.

[amitchandak]

@easyleesie , create a date table and join the date of your table with and then plot it using the date of date table.

If needed use this option