Naming conventions in Power BI - Dashboard Guide

Dashboard Mode - Naming conventions

Dashboard Goal

Help users understand and apply clear naming rules for measures, columns, and tables in Power BI to keep reports easy to read and maintain.

Sample Data

OrderID	CustomerName	OrderDate	SalesAmount	Region
1001	Anna Smith	2024-01-10	250	North
1002	John Doe	2024-01-15	450	South
1003	Mary Johnson	2024-02-05	300	East
1004	James Brown	2024-02-20	150	West
1005	Linda Davis	2024-03-01	500	North

Dashboard Components

• KPI Card: TotalSales
  Formula: TotalSales = SUM('Sales'[SalesAmount])
  Shows total sales amount from all orders.
• KPI Card: AvgSalesPerOrder
  Formula: AvgSalesPerOrder = AVERAGE('Sales'[SalesAmount])
  Shows average sales amount per order.
• Table: Sales by Region
  Columns: Region, TotalSales
  Formula for TotalSales: TotalSales = SUM('Sales'[SalesAmount])
  Grouped by Region.
• Bar Chart: Sales by Region
  Visualizes total sales for each region.
• Text Box: Naming Convention Rules
  Explains naming rules:
  • Use PascalCase for measure names (e.g., TotalSales)
  • Use descriptive names for columns and tables
  • Prefix measures with their calculation type (e.g., Total, Avg)
  • Avoid spaces and special characters

Dashboard Layout

+----------------------+----------------------+
|      TotalSales      |   AvgSalesPerOrder   |
|       (KPI Card)     |       (KPI Card)     |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|                                              |
|          Sales by Region (Bar Chart)          |
|                                              |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|           Sales by Region (Table)             |
+----------------------+----------------------+
|           Naming Convention Rules (Text)     |
+----------------------------------------------+

Interactivity

Adding a slicer for Region filters the bar chart and the sales by region table. The KPI cards update to show totals and averages only for the selected region(s). The naming convention text box remains static as it explains rules.

Self Check

If you add a filter for Region = North, which components update?

• The TotalSales and AvgSalesPerOrder KPI cards update to show sales only for the North region.
• The Sales by Region bar chart and table update to show data only for the North region.
• The Naming Convention Rules text box does not change.

Key Result

A Power BI dashboard demonstrating clear naming conventions with KPIs, charts, and tables using sample sales data.