In April 2016 a bunch of unbelievable options added to Energy BI Desktop. A few of these options like Question Parameters, Energy BI Templates and new drill motion to see information rapidly grasped my consideration. I wrote about Question Parameters earlier than. You may discover ways to use Question Parameters in Energy BI Desktop right here or some extra difficult use instances like Question Parameters and SQL Server 2016 Dynamic Knowledge Masking (DDM) right here.
One other cool characteristic is including Synonyms to the mannequin. Energy BI Synonyms can considerably enhance the Q&A and question expertise. With synonyms we are able to now add another types of names for our tables, columns and measures in Energy BI Desktop mannequin which makes utilizing Q&A even simpler for our prospects to seek out what they’re in search of. The purchasers don’t know all desk, column or measure names. Defining frequent separate checklist of names for tables, columns or measures makes Q&A way more helpful.
As an example, we are able to add the next synonyms:
Observe: The next tables and columns are from AdventureWorksDW.
| Unique Identify | Object Kind | Synonym |
| FactInternetSales | Desk | Web Gross sales, InternetSales |
| OrderQuantity | Column | Order Amount, Order Qty, ord qty |
| SalesAmount | Column | Gross sales Quantity, Gross sales Amt, Web Gross sales Quantity, Web Gross sales Amt |
| TaxAmt | Column | Tax Quantity, Tax Amt |
| Freight | Column | freight |
| OrderDate | Column | order date |
It’s straightforward to setup synonyms in Energy BI Desktop. Change to relationship view then click on “Synonyms” from “Modeling” tab from the ribbon. Then merely enter the synonyms.
After we publish a Energy BI Desktop mannequin to Energy BI Service, the synonyms will play a fantastic position in Q&A in order that when the client varieties “ord qty” the Q&A engine will recognise it as “OrderQuantity” and shows the outcomes. It’s actually cool isn’t it?
However, let’s assume slightly bit out of the field. What if we add some translations as synonyms? Hmm. I feel it could be actually nice {that a} Spanish buyer can kind Spanish column names in Q&A slightly than English. I added some translations to FactInternetSales columns and DimDate columns.
Due to Google translate for French and Spanish translations. Sorry French and Spanish guys if the interpretation appears humorous. 
Now I publish the mannequin to Energy BI Service. To take action, simply click on on “Publish” from “House” tab from the ribbon.
We are able to use Q&A in Energy BI dashboards, so we have to log into Energy BI service
- Click on “Create dashboard” (
) - Enter dashboard’s title
To hyperlink a dataset to a dashboard we have to pin a visible from a report that’s created on of of a dataset. We are able to additionally pin the entire report back to the dashboard. So a dashboard may be linked to many various datasets.
- Click on the report we revealed from Energy BI Desktop
- Click on “Pin Dwell Web page” (
) - Choose the dashboard we created earlier from the prevailing dashboards dropdown checklist then “Pin reside”
- Click on the ellipsis button proper to the dashboard we created earlier
- Click on “Settings”
- Be certain that “Present the Q&A search field on this dashboard” is ticked. If it isn’t already ticked, tick the field
- then “Apply”.
- Open the dashboard we created earlier
- There must be a Q&A field on prime of the dashboard
- Begin typing within the Q&A field (I typed Gross sales Quantity for Calendar Yr in French)
- Pin the visible to the dashboard
As you see it labored completely. I typed one other question in Persian and right here is the end result:
Right here is one other question combining completely different languages:
It’s trivial that we nonetheless must kind some key phrases in English if wish to, for example, change the chart varieties. Take a look at the under question:
We are able to use synonyms to make Q&A extra helpful for the top customers. So including translated columns based mostly on the top person’s language can be a fantastic thought. Nevertheless, we have to make it clear to the top customers that they nonetheless want to make use of the key phrases in English to get essentially the most out of Q&A. Some languages are proper to left so it’s essential to change the keyboard format a number of instances to write down a Q&A question. This could be fairly complicated for the customers. So relying in your case it’s possible you’ll or could not add column translations as synonyms.
