Analyze in Excel oddity

I realize this is standard behavior from a data perspective. In this case, I disagree from a user experience perspective. Implicit measures should work as well as explicit measures in Excel for a consistent user experience.

I'm creating a Power BI model over an underlying product that allows the user to define new extended data fields via the product interface. The product then automatically adds these to the data source and I might not know a new one has been added to define an explicit measure.

It's a bad user experience as currently implemented as it creates an inconsistent UX across data sources and seemingly the same types of data. This in turn drives up support costs.

Also, in my case, the underlying table has one row per per. Technically, there's nothing to sum as there's only one value. However, I can't get the numerics treated correctly unless defined as a measure. Once you are defined as an explicit measure, the type of aggregation is controlled within Excel anyway so again, I'm not seeing value here of requiring the explicit measure.

Treb Gatte, Power BI Red Carpet Partner | Microsoft MVP | Twitter | Blog | Blog 2