December 2020 Monthly Digest

 

This is the last Power BI update for 2020 and it has quite a lot of nice features. If you like to read about the updates to the Power BI program, then below I give a summary of the features I enjoyed the most from this month. If you are someone who wants to consume the updates in a nice video format then I've got you covered here December 2020 Digest Video

This month has quite a few updates and here are the two I enjoy the most from the desktop program.

 Small Multiples (Preview)

Now for the area, line, and bar/column chart you can split them into small multiples.  This means that your one visual will be split into multiple visuals based on a field of your choosing.  If your field has 8 unique values, then you will see your original visual split into 8 different visuals that highlight that one unique value.  I like to think of this as using a slicer, but you actually slice on all the selections to see all the visuals at once.

 

Composite Models For Analysis Services (Preview)

We now have the ability to have a composite model for analysis services.  For example, in the past, if you pulled in a Power BI dataset it was only allowed to be a live connection.  Thus, if you wanted to connect to any imported data or direct query data it was off-limits.  Now this month you can make a direct query connection to analysis services or your Power BI datasets and from there you can make more direct query connections as well as import data.  This is a game-changer for the different data models you can now utilize.

 There were other improvements made to the service, Power BI embed, as well as an automatic page refresh.  The above two were my most favorite and if you want to see all the updates check out the December 2020 Digest Video