DAX Patterns

What it’s about

DAX Patterns (Second Edition) is the definitive cookbook of battle-tested DAX solutions distilled from years of consulting and teaching by SQLBI's Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo. Rather than teaching DAX from scratch, it gives already-competent DAX developers a library of ready-to-use, performance-optimized formulas and data models for recurring business scenarios: time intelligence (standard, month-based, week-based, and fully custom calendars), semi-additive balances, cumulative totals, segmentation, ABC classification, new-and-returning customer analytics, basket analysis, currency conversion, budgeting, ranking, hierarchies, and more. Each self-contained chapter describes a business scenario, presents multiple solution variants with their performance and flexibility trade-offs, and shows both Power BI and Excel implementations. It is the practitioner's shortcut from a known problem to an accurate, fast, adaptable answer.

The through-line

Who it’s for

A competent DAX developer or BI professional who needs to deliver accurate, fast analytical reports in Power BI, Analysis Services, or Power Pivot.

The problem

They repeatedly face complex analytical scenarios—time intelligence, segmentation, customer analytics, currency conversion—that are hard to solve correctly and efficiently in DAX. They feel uncertain about whether their formulas are correct, performant, and appropriate for their specific calendar or data model.

The plan

1. Identify your business scenario and choose the matching pattern chapter.
2. Read the entire chapter before implementing, since multiple solution variants are offered.
3. Build or verify your Date table and data model to meet the pattern's requirements.
4. Adapt the provided, optimized DAX code to your model.
5. Choose between dynamic and snapshot implementations based on your flexibility and performance needs.

The payoff

You solve common analytical problems quickly with accurate, performant DAX. · You confidently choose the right pattern for your calendar and requirements. · You improve as a DAX developer by studying professionally authored formulas.

See our guide

• Practice Business Intelligence & Data Science →

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