Skip to main content

Rolling Totals vs Running Totals

Image
By
When working with totals in Power BI running totals and rolling totals are the most common ones used to see trends. It can be confusing at times. This article will cover the purpose of both the totals and how you can create DAX for them?

Let's start with the running totals. It is quite similar to Year to Date(YTD). What is YTD? YTD covers all the data points from 1st Jan of the respective year till the recent date. We have a separate DAX that is DatesYTD. But what if you want to do the same but from a year in the past. 


We want the total sales where the current date is less than or equal to the maximum date. It will cover all data points in the past. In the below-mentioned image you can see values in the last column for 2012 is actually the sum of sales in 2011 and 2012.


Isn't it amazing!! Running totals can help you analyze the trends over a long period of time. In the example, we saw the trend from 2011 to 2014. Let's take a deep dive and analyze the trends for the last 3 months.

Rolling total can help to achieve this. It can go back for 3 months in this case and calculate the total. If you are in April and you need the sum of sales for the last 3 months (Jan, Feb, and March) you can achieve it using the below-mentioned DAX.


I am using DATESINPERIOD and taking the current date to 3 months back. There are different ways by which you can achieve the same for eg you can also use DATESBETWEEN instead of DATESINPERIOD. 

With the DAX we are getting the results that include the current month as well. So, the sum at last is actually the sum of months 10,11, and 12. But we need to exclude the current month.

You need to exclude the current month using EOMONTH. Rest DAX remains the same.



Next and the most crucial aspect is to visualize the rolling total. It is actually the trend over a certain period so the user wants to see this along with the total sales. You can use Line and stack column charts. You can also do the same for 12 months.


Protip- You can also use quick measures to get the running total. To know more about quick measures follow the link.


Thanks for Reading Let's connect on LinkedIn. For more such blogs and pro tips do follow us



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Copying Bookmarks from one Power BI report to another

By
Let's think of a scenario, where you want to copy the bookmarks from one report to another. Most obvious approach is to just do a copy paste of the bookmarks. What's wrong with this approach? This approach only works for all visuals but not for bookmarks and field parameters.  If you are not familiar with basics of bookmarks and field parameters do refer to the beginners guide for bookmarks  and introduction to field parameters . Then how do you copy the bookmarks? Power BI enhanced report format (PBIR) for Power BI Project files (PBIP) will help you in achieving this. Let's check it out, I have 2 reports one contains the bookmark called Bookmarks PBIR Test (origin) and other one is Rolling Average PBIR Test (destination) .  Before we get started, you have to enable Power BI Project save option under preview features. Once enabled, restart Power BI desktop. There is a TMDL icon appearing on the left pane. What is TMDL and what's in it for me? There's a lot of possi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Playing with Totals in Power BI

By
Are you a fan of matrix visual in Power BI? If you are as I am, I always struggle to get the correct totals and get something else instead of the totals it can be average. After a lot of research and going over different community posts, finally we have found 3 common scenarios that can elevate your matrix to the next level. To start with, I am using Sample Superstore data. Let's first explain the 3 different scenarios that we will tackle - We  would like  to show both Total Sales and Average Monthly Sales across different categories and different periods. We  would like  to show the Average Sales in the row subtotals and Total Sales in the column subtotals. Last and the  most interesting scenario is to show the Total sales excluding the furniture sales in the row subtotals and total sales in the column subtotals. Let's start by getting the correct totals in a matrix. Generally, if  use  basic Sum, Average... functions in your measures then most likely...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Power Ops

By
Power BI, combined with all external tools, at least the basic ones, can be a perfect BI tool to meet all your needs. Today's blog will focus on another external tool. What?? Not another one!! In my regular practice, I always rely on basic external tools such as DAX Studio, Tabular Editor, and Measure Killer. But what if I say this new tool is a transformer, combining all the basic tools in one place? If you are looking for an introductory guide for the basic external tools, we got you covered.  Beginner's Guide to DAX Studio Advanced Guide to DAX Studio Guide to Measure Killer Yes, you read it right and we will give you an introductory guide to all the functionalities that can be achieved with  Power Ops . Okay, first things first to download Power Ops you can visit their  website  and I would recommend exploring it with one of your reports. You can download the free version. It will be available under the external tools section in Power BI Desktop. Before we move f...
Post a Comment
Read more