Dynamic Parameters for What if analysis

[rpsinha1987]

[Will Thompson] I've just merged a couple of very close scenarios, which all have similar great ideas! Something we're considering for the future, so I'm keen to hear your feedback on this. I like this core scenario of a numeric value that is bound to a slider control, and can then be used as part of some expression. - In a sales report, I can adjust a '% increase' slider to see what impact a small change in revenue might have had on my sales. - In a mortgage calculator, I can change the % rate, borrowed amount and term to see projected repayments - In a quota report I might change a 'Opportunity confidence' control to see the likely bonus I could earn at the end of the year. Please, keep voting and help us prioritize this! Original suggestions follow: So this scenario brings what-if-analysis to the visualization without changing the underlying data source. Let's say I have a table that has numeric values (integers, floating values, etc.). I created a chart (column, line, etc.) visual of that table data. Then instead of using SUM, AVG, COUNT, DISTINCT COUNT, I now can use a math expression applied to the numeric value (say I want to see what my chart looks like if I increase sales by 10%). Then I would see the new column in my table (calculated column with new values). I can now add that new column to the chart and graph that, labeling that as 'if sales increased by 10%' to show how that would compared to the actual numbers I see.

[mathias_thierba]

In tabular modelling it is a very common (and useful) patterns to define "Parameter Tables" (see the pattern described here: http://www.daxpatterns.com/parameter-table/). In a way, those "tables" are a neat work-around as they don't technically contain a dimension of the database, but instead are created primarily for the purpose of creating slicers for users to interactively change the behavior of certain measures. Both, Excel and Power BI, as clients of tabular models already distinguish between two "types" of tables when representing the schema to users, even though both use slightly different semantics. Excel groups all measures from a given table into a distinct node and keeps them separate from the table's columns. Power BI displays a "measure group" node only when the containing table has no visible columns, otherwise it merges all measures and columns together into the same table node (which makes for a very poor user experience). Despite the differences, though, both effectively have a notion of "measure (only)" tables vs "dimensional" tables in terms of how the model is displayed to users. I would like to propose a change where data modelers can mark any table as a parameter table, to be used by the Power BI UI so that it would use a third type of icon (something like a slicer?) to represent those tables and keep them separate from tables that represent a genuine dimension of the data model. Especially when dealing with more complex models, this would enhance usability enormously, at a very low cost. The use case I'm targeting here is where there is an organisational split between data modelers and analysts/report builders - which should be fairly common in enterprise environments. Where the semantics of available models need to be communicated to consumers.

[jstanley]

Absolutely need this functionality in Power BI. Ability to do what-if analyses is crucial to making visualization operationally useful.

[g34854]

I agree this would be a cool feature

[tdthoi]

I like the "% increase" slider idea, please do that. For many more "conservative" users, a "data entry" box where they can type in 1.123456% would be even better, but that will possibly require the notion of a global variable, a separate thread.

[subholina_deb1]

WHAT IF ANALYSIS IS VERY MUCH WANTED FEATURE IN POWER BI??

[ty_omidi]

OMG how is it possibly this is not supported?

[marcel11]

That feature would change a lot - please go for it!

[rob_henwood1]

What if analysis would close the gap on Tableau and increase adoption

[duncan_pryde2]

Just as an aside, I've been trying to use the numeric range slicer for exactly this purpose, but run into an issue as described here: https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/18810706-enable-discrete-values-in-numeric-slicer and in more detail here: http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Numeric-Range-Slicer/m-p/151282 I can get around it by removing the slider and keeping the entry boxes, which may work for may of the cases here. In my scenario, we wanted to create an upper and lower bound for what-if analysis, so the range slicer is perfect for that purpose, but being able to enter a single value would be very useful.

[ngadiez1]

Why is this not supported? It is so important