Definitive Guide to DAX, The: Business intelligence with Microsoft Excel, SQL Server Analysis Services, and Power BI

Wow! I make a good part of my living off of Power Pivot and DAX and it's people like Alberto and Marco that have helped me all along the way - with their blog posts, conference sessions, and books. This book really stands out though. It's a very complete treatment of DAX which is the core language of all the "new" analytical tools that Microsoft has released over the past three years.DAX is a language that, at first glance, looks a lot like Excel and is pretty easy to learn for an advanced Excel user but the language quickly becomes more difficult if you haven't taken the time to understand its foundations - and that's what this book addresses ... in great detail. I've worked full-time with DAX for over three years now and I had lightbulbs going off constantly as I was reading this book. Incredible feeling, thank you.Said another way, there is knowledge in this book that will be hard to appreciate, that you'll miss entirely, unless you've had lots of experience with DAX. Beginners will get something from the book undoubtedly but it's really a book aimed at taking people from intermediate to expert. I agree with other reviewers who have suggested that DAX beginners start with Albert & Marco's other book "Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot"

The Definitive Guide to DAX is the BEST, most in-depth treatment of the DAX language and DAX engine (VertiPaq). It is best suited for someone who already is familiar with the DAX language. Every aspect of the DAX language is introduced in a logical progression, including Evaluation Contexts, Time Intelligence, and Relationships. The insight and low-level details that Marco and Alberto provide are unique to this book.Later chapters describe the Vertipaq engine, and how to optimize both the data model and DAX queries. There's also plenty of examples on using DAX Studio (this is something I couldn't find in any other books). If you are looking to REALLY learn DAX, then this book is for you. It takes time and effort to get through all of this material, but it is well worth it. Marco and Alberto are the DAX Masters! Their DAX Workshop video is based upon the content in this book, and is excellent. Highly recommended.

This book is soon going to challenge the Lord of the Rings trilogy for number of total reads. Every time I read it, I learn something new. It not only taught me DAX, it also taught me pivot tables, which I managed not to learn for twenty years as an Excel power user, as well as basic database concepts I also only "kind of" understood. It could probably benefit from some kind of function index, as I often find myself going back to look up information on a function that, for pedagogical reasons, is not all aggregated in one spot. This book has made me a much more efficient and effective Excel user, and the techniques, once absorbed, rapidly pay off the initial time investment in time savings during analysis.

This is a hard book, make no mistake but thats because DAX is hard. Some other books will skimp on the more difficult detail but this one doesnt flinch. I would recommend reading Matt Arlington's "Learn to Write DAX" before trying to tackle this beast, especially if you are completely new to DAX. Once you have read it -this book wont seem so scary.

I have been looking forward for this book to be available for shipment. Alberto and Marco's previous books were my 101's into self service BI, but after finishing them, the only resource to go deeper were only available in different online sources. I think this book is definitely a must have for all BI professionals. They are great in explaining even the most difficult concepts, and the material in this book is very much up-to-date with the new Power BI Service and Power BI Desktop. If you are beginner in DAX and BI, it might be too detailed as a starter, the authors even warn you about this, but if you want to become an expert, and want to go down into the details, this is your best resource. If you are a beginner, and especially if you are coming from the business analyst side, start with the other book - Microsoft Excel 2013 Building Data Models with PowerPivot , but buy this one as well, as definitely you will need it.

This is certainly the definitive guide to the DAX language, which is growing in popularity since it can be used in Excel, Power BI, SQL Server Analysis Services, and other Microsoft tools. DAX is quite easy to use in common cases such as creating a calculated column, but in more advanced cases it offers incredible power, provided you know what you're doing. For users who want to go beyond "recipes" and really understand how DAX works, this book provides clear and thorough explanations of the concepts underlying DAX. Further, it offers great insights into the operation and performance of the Vertipaq / xVelocity engine that processes DAX expressions, enabling you to write queries that run as fast as possible. You have to invest time to get the most out of this book, but if you're using DAX in serious BI applications, the payoff is well worthwhile.

For those who serve in a business intelligence development/analysis context, I cannot recommend this book enough. The title truly fits its content. I work a lot in Microsoft Power BI as a Data Analyst for an energy company and for freelance. This book has provided so much help to me in properly writing DAX formulae...and fixing incorrect formulae. The chapter on evaluation context, though challenging, is certainly the most important aspect of properly understanding and utilizing DAX. Every page of this book is packed with thorough instruction, explanation, and examples. Don't just use this as a reference. Read it left to right so as to gain a good understanding of the breadth and depth of DAX, then continually use it as a reference as you find yourself struggling with various formulaic circumstances.