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Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

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Avi Singh on 24 Oct 2016 07:27:27

The newly introduced Query Dependency view is phenomenal but what we really need is a Measure Dependency view. Here is what it might look like: http://ppvt.pro/2eXKndh
And a video detailing this idea: https://youtu.be/sYjBB_Ef66M

In one of my production models I have 60 Queries, but I have 200+ measures! I believe that is typical; usually I build Queries and Measures as lego blocks, combining simpler ones into more complex ones needed in the end. In fact I needed it so badle that I attempted to build a Measure Dependency view using NodeXL. While that works, it's a lot of heavy lifting. How cool would it be, to just click a button on Power BI Desktop and see all your measures in a Dependency tree!

Comments (42)
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Steve Monk on 11 Jan 2023 16:35:49

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

Absolutely critical!

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Adewale Olalekan on 22 Sep 2021 21:20:41

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

This would be useful for my current project, as we have over 100 measures. Some are having performance issue, I would need to trace to the issue. Thanks.

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Niels Hyllested on 16 Aug 2021 05:53:38

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

Great idea. Wolud be nice to see calculated columns in the same view.

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Mario Pascual on 21 Oct 2020 11:23:00

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

This would be really useful! Mainly in large reports, in which you can easily have hundreds of measures, it is impossible to remember which measures will be affected by a single change in one measure.

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Javier Cortés on 30 Sep 2020 19:01:56

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

Please, this will help us a lot

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Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:56

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

Also being able to ctrl-click [Measure name] in the editor to navigate to this measure would be great!

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Ignacio Cabrero on 06 Jul 2020 00:11:10

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

A dependency tree until you reach fields.
And also for calculed columns against other mesures or fields

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Christian Wade on 05 Jul 2020 23:56:33

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

With XMLA endpoint on Power BI datasets (Premium), you should be able to get the dependencies using a query like this:

SELECT * FROM SYSTEMRESTRICTSCHEMA ($SYSTEM.DISCOVER_CALC_DEPENDENCY, [KIND] = 'NAMED_DEPENDENCY')

More info here: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2017/07/17/whats-new-in-sql-server-2017-rc1-for-analysis-services/

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Paul Turley on 05 Jul 2020 23:55:58

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

Avi, great idea. I posted the following before I saw that it was a very similar suggestion...

Measures that reference and depend on other measures can be difficult to trace and debug. To make this easier, provide the option in the field list to show the measures that are referenced by other measures. This should be optional and performed individually for each measure to avoid unnecessary performance overhead. Here's a conceptual mockup:measure dependency (on my blog here: sqlserverbi.blog/2019/08/06/power-bi-product-suggestion-show-measure-dependencies/ )

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Phil Curtis on 05 Jul 2020 23:27:46

RE: Measure Dependency View (similar to the Query Dependency View)

Definitely need this on Measures.