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signalpirate
Frequent Visitor

trend data capture question

Hi everyone, 

 

somewhat of a newbie to powerbi. I have a few reports that get their data from dataflows that are refreshed daily. I'm trying to see if there is a way to show trends. But the problem is that the data gets refreshed daily.  

 

Hope it doesn't sound like a dumb question 🙂 Any suggestions as to how i could accomplish this?  

Not necessarily talking line graphs here. But the data i'm showing, i could have a drop down menu to pick data from say the previous month or quarter. 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi @signalpirate ,

I saw you mention "get their data from dataflows", so I want to ask that whether you are using Dataflow Gen 1 or Dataflow Gen 2?
If you are using Dataflow Gen 2, when you set the destination of your dataflow, you can set the dataflow's update methods to Append instead of Replace:

vjunyantmsft_0-1736239499556.png

In this way, your previous data will be saved in your Destination, and your subsequent updated data will be appended and saved below the existing data (as long as the data structure and data type of the two are the same). This way you can get complete data, not just data updated today.

vjunyantmsft_1-1736239591655.png

Dataflow Gen2 data destinations and managed settings - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

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

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
bhanu_gautam
Super User
Super User

@signalpirate , You can use Time Intelligence DAX function to create measures for historical trend

 

Ensure that your dataflows or data sources are storing historical data rather than just the latest snapshot. This way, you can analyze trends over time. If your data source only provides the latest data, consider creating a process to append new data to a historical dataset.

 

Here is an example of how you can create a date slicer and use DAX to calculate a measure for the selected period:

Create a Date Table:

DAX
DateTable =
ADDCOLUMNS (
CALENDAR (DATE(2020, 1, 1), DATE(2023, 12, 31)),
"Year", YEAR([Date]),
"Month", FORMAT([Date], "MMMM"),
"Quarter", "Q" & QUARTER([Date])
)

 

In Power BI, add a slicer visual to your report.
Set the slicer to use the Date column from your DateTable.

 

DAX
TotalSales = SUM(Sales[Amount])

SalesSelectedPeriod =
CALCULATE (
[TotalSales],
DATESINPERIOD (
DateTable[Date],
MAX(DateTable[Date]),
-1,
MONTH
)
)

 

Check some videos on youtube for Time Intelligence DAX

 

 




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would something like creating a power automate work to export the data? 

i can't figure out whats the best query to use to run against the dataset to "save all" basically.  

 

 

the dataflow i have has multiple tables so i think i'd need to do this per table.  

 

Again, not too great at this so any help would be appreciated.  

Hi @signalpirate ,

I saw you mention "get their data from dataflows", so I want to ask that whether you are using Dataflow Gen 1 or Dataflow Gen 2?
If you are using Dataflow Gen 2, when you set the destination of your dataflow, you can set the dataflow's update methods to Append instead of Replace:

vjunyantmsft_0-1736239499556.png

In this way, your previous data will be saved in your Destination, and your subsequent updated data will be appended and saved below the existing data (as long as the data structure and data type of the two are the same). This way you can get complete data, not just data updated today.

vjunyantmsft_1-1736239591655.png

Dataflow Gen2 data destinations and managed settings - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

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

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