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coyote_ptm's avatar
coyote_ptm
Frequent Visitor
4 years ago
Solved

Keep Old Values

I have a requirement that I don't seem to understand how to do.

 

I have a table exported from an external software package ( it's exported to csv and picked up for refresh ) that contains:

employee_id INT,    -- unique employee ID

chg_pct INT                 -- number between 0 and 100

 

The current system does not track changes when the ratio changes.  To retain history, I'd like to save this data in PBI as:

employee_id,

chg_pct ,

changed_date

 

Look at exported employee_id, chg_pct, check to see if the chg_pct is different than the latest row and insert a new one if it is.

 

Is this possible?

 

 

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    4 years ago

    Hi coyote_ptm ,

     

    Firstly, the same question as Ashish_Mathur mentioned, what does your table looks like?

    Empl PCT
    1 50
    2 55
    3 60

    Or

    Empl PCT Last Changed
    1 50 2/1/2021
    2 55 3/1/2021
    3 60 4/1/2021

    I think you need [Last Changed] column to determind the last changed date of data for each employee. 

    You want to add a new row if some employee's PCT is changed instead of replacing. However refresh will replace the old value by new value. So I think refresh is not suitable. Here I suggest you to load the new data , use Append function and remove the duplicates.

    For reference: Append queries

    Select columns, right click and remove duplicates. Result is as below.

     

    Best Regards,
    Rico Zhou

     

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

4 Replies

    • coyote_ptm's avatar
      coyote_ptm
      Frequent Visitor

      I'd like to retain old values for a key value.

       

      The original dataset example is a CSV that contains employee ID and percentage.  The data is exported to the CSV nightly.

      EmplPCT
      150
      255
      360

       

      The table I'd like in PBI is Employee ID, percentage, Last changed date.  Example

      EmplPCTLast Changed
      1502/1/2021
      2553/1/2021
      3604/1/2021

       

      I would like PowerBI to import changed values as new rows.  For example, employee 1 percentage was changed to 75 on 01/10/2022.  The refreshed data would still have the original data, but a new row for when the row was changed.  If employee 1 percentage changed to 75 on 01/10/2022.  The CSV that is export would only have 1 row still for empl with a new PCT:

      EmplPCT
      175
      255
      360

       

      But the new table should be:

      EmplPCTLast Changed
      1752/1/2021
      2553/1/2021
      3604/1/2021
      1751/10/2022

       

      • Ashish_Mathur's avatar
        Ashish_Mathur
        Super User

        Hi,

        From where will the dates appearing under the Last changed column appear.  In the first and the third table, there is no Date field at all?