Below we give you some tips about setting up your data model and creating reports and dashboards in Power BI Desktop.
- Only import the tables and fields you use in your dashboard. Try to keep the data model as compact as possible, which gives a better performance and keeps the model clear. Read Data reduction techniques for Import modeling – Power BI | Microsoft Docs.
- Reuse the data from other dashboards. This ensures that different dashboards show the same data and prevents double data consumption. Read Data uit ander dashboard hergebruiken – Power BI Connector.
- Create an archive file for historical data. This prevents unnecessary data consumption for unchanged data. Read Historische data archiveren – Power BI Connector.
- Set up the data model as a ‘star model’, with facts and dimensions. Read Understand star schema and the importance for Power BI – Power BI | Microsoft Docs.
- Use one-to-many relationships between your tables as much as possible, with the filter direction going from the dimension table to the fact table. Only use the ‘many-to-many relationships’ and the crossfilter direction ‘both’ if you know their impact. Read Model relationships in Power BI Desktop – Power BI | Microsoft Docs.
- Edit your tables (adding and modifying columns) as much as possible in Power Query. Read Query overview in Power BI Desktop – Power BI | Microsoft Docs.