Bi beginner or still feel like a beginner then this channel is for you is dedicated to help you succeed.
So make sure to subscribe and also follow me on linkedin that's where i am most active this question was asked by lance one for learn power bm members and this was.
Asked in our one of our live events and you can also participate in our live events by going to talk powerbi.com so lance was having trouble.
With relationship which just wasn't working so before i show you the five steps that you can follow to debug a relationship.
Full dashboard and they threw a visual on there sometimes it's a complicated visual and they're trying to debug they're like oh this is not filtering when i.
Uh select month or something like that and uh writes a slicer some complex interaction i would say if you're debugging a relationship always really really simplify it by.
Using a simple table so in this case we're trying to debug the relationship between the sales table and the calendar table oops that's not the right line.
But uh but yeah you get what i'm talking about so uh yeah there it is so sales table and the calendar table that's the relationship we're interested in debugging.
So again just create a simple simple table and use that for debugging do not use any sort of visual the next tip i'm going to share is that use a simple measure so.
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Sometimes
People have defined now in this case sales isn't a that complicated measure it's just a sum but sometimes they have.Some time intelligence or something really complicated going on and they're saying obvi my relationship is not working well debugging relationships or really any.
Issue in power bi is like solving a murder mystery and what you need to do is to eliminate the suspects so if you have a complicated measure and you also.
Feel like your relationship is not working well you got to focus on one at a time so my general advice is that you simplify the measure just.
Focus on one suspect at a time and make that the relationship and the simplest measure that you can define is um.
Is uh count rows so that's what we're gonna do hold on one second all right so i define a simple measure counter sales and here it is and again this is.
The simplest measure possible in power bi i don't think there's anything simpler and and you should use this to just focus on the relationship and again.
If you establish that the this measure is working relationship is working for this measure then you know that the problem isn't the relationship.
Then if you're whatever complex measure that you had or time intelligence then it's something else that is not working it's the measure uh that may be the problem.
Not the relationship itself so you can
Eliminate that suspect great so again keep these tips in mind when you're focused on relationship when you.Feel like the relationship might not be working start by debugging with a simple table and using a really simple measure now if if you do this and you find that oh it.
Works here well then your relationship is not a problem and you can stop watching this video and you don't have to watch my five steps.
Debug relationship because it's working and you can focus on your next suspect but let's go to our five steps that i use.
To debug when i feel a relationship is not working all right now again if you have a simple measure then then most likely when the.
Relationship is not working then it should have what i call the repeating number pattern and it often appears in power bi and most of the time it is a problem.
In some rare cases it is not it is intentional but that's how a broken relationship should show up so this is what i'm trying to debug and one thing that i did was.
And i would recommend you do that too if you have a complicated model and in this case frankly it's not that complicated but still just to simplify things.
I i created a new layout which you can do just by clicking on the plus icon here and i just drag and drop the tables that i'm looking.
So what's the first step what's the first thing that i look at when i see that oh this relationship isn't working well first thing that i look at is that.
Is there even a relationship there and i know it sounds sounds so simple it's like dark that can't be it but trust me i.
Have done that and it's quite possible you're gonna end up in the same scenario sometimes so yeah in this case if i go to the model there is.
No relationship oh so of course this one is easy to fix all set ah i just need to drag and drop and create that relationship and now my measure is working and i can see.
It i don't have the repeating number pattern and things are looking good what's the next thing that i look for if even if i look at the relationship and there is a relationship.
But it's still giving me this repeating number pattern then what do i do well the next thing that i pay attention to is that is the relationship active and frankly when you're checking the.
Relationship you will see it right away instead of a solid line you will see this dotted line and that's the indication that the relationship.
Isn't active and no wonder it's not working so then i would just click to edit the relationship and make sure that this box is checked so i'm just going to.
Check this box hit ok and that will get a relationship working again the third thing that i look for is the direction.
Of the relationship now i can't quite demonstrate it but trust me it happens with some kinds of tables now you notice here that um and of course i covered this in my.
Power bi tutorial uh that you know you should lay out your lookup tables at the top and your data tables down at the bottom and.
That way i always remember that relationships flow downhill so that that's that's the way i laid out and the key thing that i'm looking for.
Is is this one side and many side and and the direction of this arrow so notice the direction it's it's showing you that this relationship is.
Flowing in this direction now again sometimes depending on what table you have sometimes you drag and drop it probably i might get confused and it might not get the direction right it.
Might reverse the direction and and you know arrow would be going other way well the relationship do not flow uphill.
So if the arrow is pointed down that's the direction that the relationship flows through it's not going to go the opposite way so if your arrow is pointing pointing the wrong way.
If it's pointing up to the lookup table right from the data table up to the lookup table is not going to work and in that case you just need to come in there and change the direction.
Of the relationship many to many to one one to many just make sure that the arrow change that and make sure the arrow is going from the lookup table.
Down to the data table all right the next one i'm going to cover this one shows up differently so earlier you've seen how it was showing up at that as that.
You know the repeating number pattern but in this case it's you know you're going to see nothing so you drag drop month and it's like nope nothing nothing.