Forum Discussion
Post PatronRe-Arranging & De-cluttering Model View
Good Afternoon,
I have a dashboard where the Tables are arranged like this in the Model View:
I would appreciate any tips on a methodology to re-arrange and de-clutter the above Plan's structure ( but also to identify & remove potential redundant links on display). Some links automatically emerge between the tables (without me having created them myself !). Hopefully this will make it much easier to read and understand the relevant relationships between them.
The purpose for this task is to aid anyone picking up this Dashboard for future Development - so they won't be overwhelmed when they observe the above existing Plan !
Like collinq said, organize into small.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-modeling-view
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/model-explorer
My suggestions:- Organize as focused tabs (i.e., Layouts).
- Add silo tables as one tab/layout
- Add one core fact / transaction table and right click , add related tables.
- Orchestration is more per business context or transaction table context.
- Note: The model you create in these tabs, all relationships show up in the "All tables" and layouts can be different between tabs.
- In one of the project, did as below and join them:
Tables at the top (10 plus tables)
Tables at left Tables at right (around 5 or 6)
Tables at the bottom (10 plus tables)
Hope this helps!
4 Replies
- collinq
Super User
Hi F_Reh ,
What I would do first is to create some "mini-maps". You can create your own diagram in a new tab. This would help "chunk" the tables for you to at least get some of the groupings.
This looks like a lot of tables and so you may never get the "one beautiful view that is easy to read" but if you break it down into multiple views then users may get a better understanding.The automatic creation of links is a setting within the Desktop. If you do not want that to automatically happen for you, then you need to go to options- current file - data load and then Relationships and turn off the "import relationships from data sources on first laod" And, probably turn off Autodetect and Update options as well.
sevenhillsLike collinq said, organize into small.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/desktop-modeling-view
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/model-explorer
My suggestions:- Organize as focused tabs (i.e., Layouts).
- Add silo tables as one tab/layout
- Add one core fact / transaction table and right click , add related tables.
- Orchestration is more per business context or transaction table context.
- Note: The model you create in these tabs, all relationships show up in the "All tables" and layouts can be different between tabs.
- In one of the project, did as below and join them:
Tables at the top (10 plus tables)
Tables at left Tables at right (around 5 or 6)
Tables at the bottom (10 plus tables)
Hope this helps!- cengizhanarslan
1) Create Model View “Diagrams”
Power BI allows multiple diagram views.
Example:
-
Diagram 1 – Core Model
-
Diagram 2 – Sales
-
Diagram 3 – HR
-
Diagram 4 – Finance
Right-click → "Add new layout"
Then move only the relevant tables into each diagram.
2) Investigate “automatic relationships”
Those links appear because Auto Detect Relationships is enabled.
You can turn this off:
- File → Options → Data Load → Relationships
Uncheck: "Autodetect new relationships after data is loaded"
3) Use naming conventions
Good naming dramatically improves readability.
Example:
- Fact_Sales
- Dim_Customer
- Dim_Product
- Dim_Date
- Bridge_ProductCustomer
Avoid unclear names like:- Table1
- Data_2023_Final_v2
- LookupX
4) External documentation tools
For large models, tools help visualize dependencies:
- DAX Studio
- Tabular Editor
- Bravo for Power BI
- Vertipaq Analyzer
These help identify: unused columns, unused relationships, large tables, model complexity.
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