This document provides a detailed guide on using PowerPivot and DAX measurements to analyze sales data in Excel. It covers creating pivot tables, using DAX functions for sales comparisons, and implementing time intelligence functions for month-to-date calculations. Additionally, it outlines steps to present data visually with charts and formatting best practices.

1. 1
Mashing Up Data with PowerPivot*
When “Filter, Then Calculate” Does Not Work in DAX
Measures
This time you need to open the file with the worksheet Sls and
have it linked to the
PowerPivot window, using Add to Data Model as in the last
hands-on assignment.
1. Please create a pivot table first showing the sum of sales by
each representative
on each date. Now the task is made so easy. However, if you
want to compare
the sales to the total sales for a month, you need to do some
calculation. In DAX,
instead of using SUMIFS, you need to use Calculate. Calculate
asks for an
expression and then one or more filters. For those filters, you
are going to use a

2. special function called ALL. ALL says that you want it to look
not just at one
representative’s sales for a particular date, but all the sales in
the table.
2. Suppose you want to see % of Grand Total Sales. You need to
create a new
measure (Hint: right click on Table1 to select Add Measure) by
using
=SUM(Sls[Sales])/Calculate(SUM(Sls[Sales]), ALL(Sls)). The
pivot table shows
that % of Grand Total for Bill’s sales of $851 on June 2, 2011
represents 0.9
percent of the grand total sales.
3. Now you want to calculate how Bill’s $851 sale on June 2
compared to all sales
on June 2. The numerator of the DAX measure is
=SUM(Sls[Sales]). The
denominator is going to be hard. Instead of ALL(Sls), you need
to ask for
AllExcept(Sls, Sls[Date]). It means go ahead and throw out all
the filters except
for the Date filter. Keep filtering by date. Please create a new
measure, % of

3. Daily Sales, by using the formula
2
=SUM(Sls[Sales])/Calculate(SUM(Sls[Sales]),AllExcept(Sls,Sls
[Date])). Bill’s
$851 sales is now 25% of the daily sales on June 2, 2011.
4. You can also override the filters by specifying other filters in
the Calculate
Function. The actual syntax of the Calculate function is
Calculate (Expression,
[filter 1], [filter 2], [filter 3], ….). Please create a new measure,
Amber Sales, to
calculate all Amber’s sales. The Calculated Field formula
should be
=CALCULATE(SUM(Sls[Sales]),Sls[Rep]="Amber").
5. If Amber is the sales star in the store, perhaps you would
want to show
everyone’s sales as a percentage of Amber’s Sales.
=SUM(Sls[Sales])/Calculate(SUM(Sls[Sales]),
Sls[Rep]="Amber") shows sales as

4. a percentage of Amber’s total sales for that day. Please create
such a new
measure
3
4
Mix in Time Intelligence Functions
You can apply many filters in the Calculate function. You can
replace the first argument
in Calculate with MAX, MIN, AVERAGE, or any function.
There are 34 Time Intelligence
functions. If you want to calculate a running month to date
(MTD) total, you can use the
Calculate function and specify a filter of DatesMTD(Sls[Date]).
But only for reps that
match, use AllExcept(Sls, Sls[Rep]).
1. To show MTD sales for each rep, create a new measure,

5. MTDThisRep, using the
formula =Calculate(SUM(Sls[sales]), DatesMTD(Sls[Date]),
AllExcept(Sls,
Sls[Rep]))
2. You can also use previously defined calculated fields to
simplify the calculation
for another measure. To get to This Rep’s Percentage of MTD
Sales versus all
MTD Sales, first, you need to build MTDThisRep (Already
exists). Next, you need
to build MTDAllRep using
Calculate(Sum(Sls[Sales]),DatesMTD(Sls[Date]),All(Sls)). Now
you can simply
build the formula =Sls[MTDThisRep]/Sls[MTDAllRep] as
shown in the Calculated
Field Settings image below. Please check a book for a complete
list of Time
Intelligence Functions
5

6. 3. Save and close your Excel file. Half of your completed data
table should look like
this:
6
Please make sure that all the data columns are properly
formatted, all your created
measures are activated (with a check mark in front of each). The
Excel 2016 program on
my computer is a little wired – Sls is only shown as the data
model name, not as the
table name in the field list. So far as the linked table name in
Power Pivot is Sls, the
results should not be affected.
Combination Layouts
The PivotTable drop-down in the PowerPivot Window offers

7. eight choices: If you plan to
convert the pivot table to values to reuse it, choose a flattened
pivot table which is only
a few clicks along the way. A combination report offers one or
more pivot tables or
charts. Note that for each chart on your layout, Microsoft
inserted a new worksheet to
hold the actual pivot table for the chart
The following steps show how to replicate the layouts shown in
the blogs and press:
7
1. Open the Excel file BlogsAndPress. Link it to PowerPivot
Window. (Hint: Please
review the section on adding calculated columns using DAX.
You have to add
two new columns – Month and Year to Table1.)
2. Once you added two columns Month and Year to your linked
data table, you
need to select Four Chart option from Pivot Table menu in

8. PowerPivot window.
3. Select New Worksheet instead of Existing Worksheet in the
dialog box.
4. If it does not work well the first time, choose a location
rather than letting them
default. Choose a spot on Row 5 of the new worksheet (Sheet1
probably). You
can always drag a chart structure to wherever you want on the
worksheet later as
well.
5. Go back to Power Pivot window and select Four Chart option
for Existing
Worksheet, but Sheet1 location data should show in the text
box.
6. Add as many slicers as possible to the top and left of the
chart.
7. Look into the charts image on the next page. Simple bar chart
on top of the pie
chart shows the values of Year and Month. Since these two
variables are on the
same level, you need to move them into the same Axis field as
shown in the field
list. The bars should represent the Count of Source. Feel free to
use the cross
button to change the chart element and the brush button to
change the bar color

9. as you like.
8. The pie chart shows Count of Type values by Source.
9. For Media Type, you need to choose Stacked Area from chart
models to use. It is
created by selecting Type, Month and Year from the Field list.
The formula is
Type * Year and Month. Legend of the chart should use Type as
well.
10. The last chart uses the Stacked Bar Chart model. Webinar
belongs to Type. The
3Rd Party is a Source. Thus, it should be created using Type (on
Vertical Axis) by
Source (as Values), using Source as legend. You may still need
to fine tune
each chart to make it look identical to the one in the image.
8
11. Now you are ready to make the data display look better.
Make Row 1 very tall,
perhaps 270 to 300 points tall. Use Insert, Screenshot to add an
interesting
graphic to Row 1.
12. Add an interesting graphic below the charts to balance the
graphic on top of the

10. charts.
13. Go to file, Options, advanced, Display Options for This
Worksheet. Clear the
Gridlines check box. If you want to go all out, scroll up and
clear the scroll bars,
sheet tabs, and formula bars.
14. Minimize the ribbon.
15. Add a fill color behind the whole worksheet.
16. Although the pivot table is active, click on the bounding box
around each slicer.
Right-click on the border. Select properties. Select Move and
/Size with cells.
17. Click away from the pivot table.
You’ve reached the end of this long assignment. If you ever
changed any data in a
table, the changes may not be reflected in the pivot table
immediately. However, in the
top part of the PowerPivot Field List, you may see a warning
message to refresh the
relevant pivot table and please do it accordingly. If you see the
values shown in a pivot

11. table different from those in a given image, examine the
measure(s) used and the
relationship between the tables in PowerPivot window. They
might be the sources of
errors.
9
When you complete this assignment, please save both data files,
each using the original
file name and your name initials as the new file name (the
pattern should be
<FileName_YourName Initials>). Submit both files to the
relevant assignment
submission dropbox in Learn 9.
_______________________
*: This assignment is adapted from Chapter 10 in Pivot Table
Data Crunching: Microsoft Excel 2010
written by Bill Jelen, Michael Alexander, 2013, Que Publishing,
Indianapolis, IN, USA.