Power KPI Matrix Formatting

[hskog]

I have a few Power KPI Matrices where I would like the formatting of the numbers to be different in different rows. In particular, there are 4 rows and 2 should be whole numbers, two should be rounded to one decimal (I want all of the actual value, comparison value, and KPI Indicator value formatted the same way).

In theory, one could change this in the formatting tab for the KPI matrix- so go to Current Value, select the row you want to change the formatting of, and tell it to show or not show 1 decimal place (similarly for the other columns). However, when I change these values they are usually just ignored in the display, and if I go and check again, they have been switched back to whatever they were before. I have tried setting all metrics to 0 or 1 decimal place, then adjusting the other accordingly but it just gets ignored. Sometimes I can get one row to include a decimal place, but not two rows.

If I try to adjust the "Format" for each row (like #,0.0) then whatever is in the All Metrics is forced on all other metrics in that column- so again they are just changed back.

I have also tried adjusting the formats for the data in the "General" tab of the Power KPI matrix where there is a setting for data format. Changing this for a particular variable also does nothing.

It also does not help to adjust the formatting for the column or measure in the data set.

So far the best solution is to round the numbers I want to display, and then show them as #.0 (so it shows a 0 past the decimal point) but this is misleading. 

This visualization seems to be meant to accept different formatting options on the different rows- but it just seems to ignore them when you try to adjust them.

Am I missing something?

BTW- I am doing all of this in PBI Desktop

[hskog]

Thanks @GrowthNatives for the response. I tried your suggestion of wrapping my measure in a format statement, and putting the values in a regular matrix works fine and they display as needed (but this could also be controlled in other ways). However the Power KPI Matrix shows blanks when I use the text version. Do I need to adjust some other setting? 

[v-kathullac]

Hi @hskog,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

There are few limitations while using the power kpi matrix can you follow the below steps to solve the issue.

1)When you wrap a measure using FORMAT() (e.g., FORMAT([Sales], "₹#,##0")), it becomes text, and Power KPI Matrix does not support text values in those fields — hence it shows blank.

2) Power KPI Matrix expects numeric values in these fields: Actual Value,Target Value,KPI Indicatornin these Using text here causes the visual to go blank.

3)Use raw DAX that keeps the result as a number SalesAmountRaw = SUM(Sales[Amount])

4)Select the raw numeric measure Go to Modeling tab > Formatting section Set: Currency symbol, Decimal places, Percentage format (if needed)

5) Create a second measure with FORMAT() If you need to show values with special formatting (₹, %, commas), create a separate measure.
SalesAmountFormatted = FORMAT(SUM(Sales[Amount]), "₹#,##0") Use this second measure only in: Tooltips, Regular Matrix visuals, Card visuals

6) For colors/icons in Power KPI Matrix, use conditional formatting on numeric values.
Click on the visual Go to Format Pane --Data Colors.
Enable conditional formatting -- Set rules based on raw numeric values.

Regards,

Chaithanya.

[hskog · Accepted solution]

Thanks @v-kathullac for the response. I suspected that your points 1, 2 were causing the blanks but was unsure if there was some way to coerce ther KPI matrix to show them anyway.

On 4), perhaps I have a different version of PBI Desktop, but there is no formatting option in my modeling tab. I can get to formatting options for a particular measure using the Measure Tools tab. The measures that I want are set to be whole numbers, with commas and no decimal places. However the KPI matrix still shows the first decimal place (which is what the All Metrics are set to). So if the true value is 1,234.6, I would like it to show 1,235, not 1,235.0. I think given the limitations of the Power KPI Matrix it is just not possible to have different formatting in different rows in the same matrix. I think the only solution is to just stack 2 KPI matrices and use different but consistent formatting, in each of them.

I am not sure if I can mark my own post as the solution, but if I can I may do so to close the topic. The short answer seems to be that it is unsolveable- the KPI Power Matrix requires consistent formatting within columns, even though it appears to offer other options. The best option is to use mutliple KPI matrices broken down by required formatting.

I do appreciate the responses and the attempts to help- thank you both very much.

Hopefully a developer will redo the Power KPI matrix or something similar to fix these issues. Even better would be a more flexible matrix format for visualizations.

Thanks again

[GrowthNatives]

Hi @hskog 👋

You're absolutely right to expect that Power KPI Matrix should support row-level formatting, especially when dealing with a mix of whole numbers and decimals. However, this is a known limitation in the way the Power KPI Matrix custom visual handles formatting, particularly when you try to define different formats for each row across metrics (Actual, Target, KPI Indicator).

✅ Workaround:
The most consistent workaround I've found is to explicitly control the formatting at the DAX level by formatting the measure as a string. Here's what you can do:
Format measures as text in DAX:

FormattedMeasure_Whole = FORMAT([YourMeasure], "#,0")
FormattedMeasure_Decimal = FORMAT([YourOtherMeasure], "#,0.0")

Then, use these formatted text measures in your KPI Matrix.
Yes, this means sacrificing numeric properties like sorting or conditional formatting, but it ensures consistent formatting.

⭐Hope this solution helps you make the most of Power BI! If it did, click 'Mark as Solution' to help others find the right answers.
💡Found it helpful? Show some love with kudos 👍 as your support keeps our community thriving!
🚀Let’s keep building smarter, data-driven solutions together! 🚀