DirectQuery vs Import mode in Power BI - Dashboard Approaches Compared

Dashboard Mode - DirectQuery vs Import mode

Business Question

Should we use DirectQuery or Import mode to connect our sales data for the best performance and freshness?

Sample Data: Sales Records

OrderID	Product	Region	SalesAmount	OrderDate
1001	Chair	East	150	2024-01-10
1002	Table	West	300	2024-01-15
1003	Lamp	East	120	2024-01-20
1004	Sofa	North	450	2024-01-25
1005	Desk	South	200	2024-01-30
1006	Chair	West	180	2024-02-05
1007	Table	East	320	2024-02-10

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: Total Sales
  Formula: Total Sales = SUM(Sales[SalesAmount])
  Shows total sales amount from the data.
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Visualizes sales amount grouped by Region.
• Table: Recent Orders
  Shows OrderID, Product, Region, SalesAmount, OrderDate sorted by OrderDate descending.
• Text Box: Mode Explanation
  Explains difference between DirectQuery and Import mode.

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|      Total Sales      |  Mode Explanation    |
|      (KPI Card)       |    (Text Box)        |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                                              |
|             Sales by Region (Bar Chart)      |
|                                              |
+----------------------------------------------+
|                                              |
|               Recent Orders (Table)          |
|                                              |
+----------------------------------------------+
  

Interactivity

Adding a slicer for Region filters the Bar Chart, KPI Card, and Recent Orders Table to show data only for the selected region(s).

Switching between DirectQuery and Import mode affects data freshness and performance but does not change the visuals directly.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Region = East, which components update and what changes do you expect?

• Total Sales KPI: Updates to sum sales only for East region (150 + 120 + 320 = 590).
• Sales by Region Bar Chart: Shows only the East region bar with total sales 590.
• Recent Orders Table: Shows only orders from East region (OrderID 1001, 1003, 1007).
• Mode Explanation Text Box: Remains unchanged as it explains connection modes.

Key Result

Dashboard compares sales data views and explains DirectQuery vs Import mode with interactive region filtering.