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Mastering BLANK in Power BI [Part 3-3]: The Real Reason Your Reports are Slow – Optimizing Hidden BLANK Calculations

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   When a Power BI report starts lagging, most people immediately suspect the data volume or the number of visuals. However, in practice, performance degradation often stems from very small DAX design choices. A prime example is measures that perform unnecessary calculations until the very end. Performance Issues are Discovered Later Than "Wrong Results" As seen in [Mastering BLANK Part 3-2], issues with incorrect totals are noticed relatively quickly. Performance issues are different: At first, it just feels "a little slow." As data grows and pages get complex, the lag becomes tangible. Eventually, the screen freezes every time a slicer moves, and users lose trust in the report. By this point, the report often has a structure that was destined to be slow from the design stage. Related Anti-Patterns BLANK Anti-Pattern 4: Performance Killer BLANK Anti-Pattern 6: Redundant Calculation The commonality between these two patterns is clear: "Calculating to the end ev...
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Mastering BLANK in Power BI [Part 3-2]: Solving "Ghost KPI Cards" & "Calculated Columns vs. Measures"

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This guide focuses not just on numerical accuracy, but on the critical moment when "Interpretable UX" collapses.   Ghost KPI & Static Status: Why "Silent Numbers" Ruin Your Reports After deploying a Power BI dashboard, have you ever received feedback like this? "I selected a slicer, but the KPI card is completely empty." "Sales are $0, so why does the status still show as 'Achieved'?" Technically, the numbers within the data engine are correct. However, if a user looks at the screen and tilts their head in confusion, it’s not a data error—it’s a failure in "Interpretable UX" design. Mastering BLANK in Power BI [Part 3-2], we will focus on two major culprits that erode report credibility: the Ghost KPI (Blank Card) phenomenon and the Static Status (Dead Column) problem. We will go beyond simple formulas to cover how to "respond kindly" to users with the COALESCE function and the practical reasons why you must use ...
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Mastering BLANK in Power BI [Part 3-1] "The Real Reason Your Totals Are Wrong: The Moment a Single BLANK Destroys Your Report"

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When building Power BI reports, there are times when we need to hide performance data that falls below a certain threshold. However, have you ever experienced a situation where the Grand Total at the bottom doesn't match the sum of the numbers visible on the screen, breaking the data integrity? This is an incredibly common issue in the field and is the primary culprit behind the sudden collapse of report credibility. Today, we will dive deep into one of the most fatal BLANK anti-patterns: the "Total Row Destroyer." I will explain why this is problematic and show you how to fundamentally solve this by redefining the Filter Context (the target of aggregation) rather than using temporary post-processing like DAX's ISINSCOPE. Core Questions Addressed in This Article: Why does the sum of visible numbers and the Total constantly deviate? Why does BLANK become a "trap" instead of just a "hiding" mechanism?   1. Basic Data for Analysis (Sales Table) To ...
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Mastering BLANK in Power BI - Part 3: 7 Anti-Patterns Ruining Your Reports and Their DAX Solutions

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In Power BI, a BLANK is far more than just a void. It is a calculated result, a signal of filter context, and a sophisticated analytical language that controls both visualization and performance. However, the moment BLANK is used without clear intent, your reports begin a silent decline. The numbers might look plausible at a glance. No error warnings are triggered. Users continue to trust the results, unaware of the underlying issues. This page serves as the central hub for Part 3, where we identify the 7 most common BLANK Anti-Patterns encountered in the field and connect you to four professional master guides to resolve them.   1. Why BLANK is the Most Dangerous Error The greatest risk of BLANK is its ability to remain invisible. It is far more deceptive than a standard error because: It doesn't stand out like a zero. It doesn't trigger system alerts. It quietly vanishes depending on the filter context. As a result, BLANK can mask serious issues—such as performance degrad...
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DAX Deep Dive 01 : Why Individual Rows Appear While the Total Vanishes When Using IF and RANKX

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Power BI’s Hidden Trap: Rows are OK, but Total is BLANK? Anyone who has spent a fair amount of time analyzing data with Power BI will eventually encounter this baffling scene: "The amounts for individual rows are displayed perfectly, but the crucial Total has vanished into a blank space." When first facing this phenomenon, most people fall into the same misconceptions: "Is it a visualization option issue? Did the 'Show Total' setting get turned off?" "Is this a bug within Power BI itself?" "Is there a problem with the data connection?" However, let me start with the conclusion: this is not a bug. It is the result of DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) performing exactly as intended. It is a natural (?) phenomenon that occurs when we haven't quite grasped the core DAX concept of 'Filter Context.' In this post, I will dive deep into why this happens when using conditional calculations like IF and RANKX, why this problem is particul...
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