Data type changes in Power BI - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Data type changes

Business Question

How can changing data types improve data accuracy and reporting in sales analysis?

Sample Data

Order ID	Order Date	Customer	Sales Amount	Is Returned
1001	2024-01-15	Alice	250.00	FALSE
1002	2024-01-20	Bob	150.00	TRUE
1003	2024-02-05	Charlie	300.00	FALSE
1004	2024-02-10	Diana	200.00	FALSE
1005	2024-02-15	Eva	100.00	TRUE

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: Total Sales = SUM('Sales'[Sales Amount])
  Result: 1000.00
• KPI Card: Total Returned Orders
  Formula: Total Returned = COUNTROWS(FILTER('Sales', 'Sales'[Is Returned] = TRUE()))
  Result: 2
• Bar Chart: Sales by Month
  Data type change: 'Order Date' column changed to Date type to enable grouping by month.
  Formula: Use 'Order Date' month for axis, sum of 'Sales Amount' for values.
  Result: January = 400.00, February = 600.00
• Table: Orders with Correct Data Types
  Columns:
  • Order ID (Whole Number)
  • Order Date (Date)
  • Customer (Text)
  • Sales Amount (Decimal Number)
  • Is Returned (True/False)

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|    Total Sales KPI    | Total Returned Orders |
|        (1000)        |          (2)          |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                      Bar Chart: Sales by Month                      |
|                    (Jan:400, Feb:600)                             |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                         Table: Orders Data                         |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

A slicer on Order Date allows filtering by month or date range. When a user selects a month, the bar chart updates to show sales for that month only. The KPI cards update to reflect total sales and returned orders within the selected date range. The table also filters to show only orders in the selected period.

Self Check

If you add a filter to show only orders where Is Returned = TRUE, which components update and how?

• Total Sales KPI: Updates to sum sales only for returned orders (250.00).
• Total Returned Orders KPI: Updates to count only returned orders (2).
• Bar Chart: Updates to show sales by month for returned orders only (January: 150.00, February: 100.00).
• Table: Shows only rows where orders were returned.

Key Result

Dashboard showing total sales, returned orders, monthly sales bar chart, and detailed orders table with correct data types.