In this article, we will see about the difference between the Measure and Calculated columns and the steps to create a quick Measure and Calculated Column.
Generally, people get confused between Measures and Calculated Columns in Power Bi. Measures and Calculated columns both are used for calculations of data for our reports. We create a formula using DAX Expression for both of these columns.
Measures are used to calculate data like Total Sale; using Measures we can get an aggregate of data or we can filter data.
For example, you have revenue of your organization for every quarter, and you want total annual revenue. You can create Measure which will count revenue for the whole quarter and it will give you the total revenue of your company.
We can also create Quick Measures. Power Bi provides basic formulas like average calculations, rating calculations, filter calculations, time intelligence etc. Here we will see a star rating calculation.
Below are the steps to create a star rating calculation.
Step 1
Click on New Quick Measure from the top bar of Power Bi Desktop and select Star Rating under Text calculations.
Step 2
Select the column on which you want to calculate ratings and Click on OK.
This will create Measure, now you can show it on reports.
Calculated columns use each row of the table as the input and give calculated results. In this, we will get a calculation result in each row.
For example, if you have Address and State columns in your table and you want the location of each employee in your organization you can use Calculated column. Here, the Calculated column will get the city from the address column and state and will merge it in location for each person. It will include each row of data and will give results for each row separately.
Below are the steps to create Calculated Column.
Step 1
Click on New Column from toolbar Power Bi Desktop.
Step 2
Type your formula in the editor below the toolbar.
Syntax will be like this.
Column_Name = Function_Name(Table_Name[Column_Name])
For example,we want first 4 characters from User Name column. Formula will be
Chars = LEFT(Sample_Data[User_Name],4)
Step 3
Click on OK button.
This will give you the first four characters of a name for all the users.
Now we know what is the difference between Measures and Power Bi and how to create both types of columns.
Enjoy creating reports in Power Bi.
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