SQLBI Newsletter #314

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NEW ARTICLE

Understanding DATEADD parameters with calendar-based time intelligence

The new calendar-based time intelligence functions offer greater flexibility than the classic time intelligence functions. This article describes the DATEADD parameters for controlling different granularity shifts.
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COMICS

AI BI Blunders

This comic has been generated by ChatGPT using so many prompts...

COURSES IN 2026

2026 DAX classrooms

Book your seat to the new Mastering DAX classroom course: the first dates are approaching fast in March!
The schedule is final until June; don't miss the upcoming, confirmed classes in Houston and New York City, register early to secure your seat.

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#314 · Feb 2026

LEARNING

Course calendar

DATA MODELING - 3 DAYS

	Jul 21-23 - Amsterdam

Mastering DAX - 3 DAYS

	Mar 3-5 - Amsterdam
	Mar 30-Apr 1 - Houston
	Apr 8-10 - New York City
	May 5-7 - Copenhagen
	May 27-29 - Baltimore
	Jun 10-12 - Zürich
	Jun 15-17 - Berlin
	Jun 30-Jul 2 - Amsterdam

video courses

	Introducing DAX
	Mastering DAX
	Optimizing DAX
	Intro to Data Modeling
	Data Modeling for Power BI
	Mastering Tabular
	DAX Tools Video Course
	DAX Patterns
	Power BI Dashboard Design

BI-WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST

Latest news

	• Direct Lake or Import: which one has the best performance? Spoiler: Import mode, and our reader already knew that. But confirmations are always welcome. By the way, Direct Lake is not bad, and it keeps getting better. So if you have a good reason to use Direct Lake, the performance gap is improving, which is good news. Hey, we also use Direct Lake at SQLBI in a few internal reports! Jan 30, 2026 · Gilbert Quevauvilliers
	• New performance optimization for Excel PivotTables connected to Power BI semantic models Many users in the preview channel of Microsoft 365 have already seen the performance optimization of Excel PivotTables connected to Power BI: subtotals are now hidden by default! It makes sense to activate an expensive operation only on-demand. Now, if Copilot worked well, we could ask it to activate the subtotals automatically in certain models/scenarios. Well, that's for another day... Feb 1, 2026 · Chris Webb
	• How much of your Fabric capacity is really being eaten by background jobs? Here is a business opportunity - optimizing Fabric capacities with a fast and understandable dashboard. While we wait for someone to build that, we make do with a variety of hacks. Computing a simple percentage should not be so complex, but at least it's feasible! Feb 6, 2026 · Gilbert Quevauvilliers
	• Fabric-CICD updates for semantic models, parameters, and config Do you still need a good reason to look into CICD for semantic models? If you think that your AI agent will create or modify semantic models for you, this is your lifeline for when (not if) something goes south. Feb 2, 2026 · Jake Duddy
	• Calculate(), DAX fusion, and filters on 0 in Power BI There is a tax you have to pay, for blanks and zeros to be considered the same in DAX. If you don't like to pay this tax, "strictly equal to" (==) is your friend. If you need to shave the last milliseconds off of your storage engine queries, this is another good tip. Jan 25, 2026 · Chris Webb

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