Date dimension has been mentioned rather a lot on the Web and you’ll find numerous useful articles round it right here and there. However what if it is advisable to analyse your knowledge in time stage? A buyer has a requirement to analyse their knowledge in Minutes stage. Because of this the granularity of the very fact desk can be at minute stage. So, in the event that they retailer the information of their transactional database in seconds stage, then we have to combination that knowledge to minutes stage. I don’t wish to go there, simply keep in mind that the granularity of your reality desk is one thing that you could take into consideration on the very first steps. Generally, if not all instances, you’d be higher to have a separate Time dimension. Then it is advisable to have a TimeID or Time column in your reality desk to have the ability to create a relationship between the Time dimension and the very fact desk. On this publish I present you two methods to create Time dimension in Energy BI:
- Creating Time dimension with DAX
- Creating Time dimension with Energy Question (M)
Alternatively, you may deal with the Time dimension within the supply system like SQL Server. Proceed studying and also you’ll discover a T-SQL codes as complementary.
The strategies that I clarify right here will be accomplished in SSAS Tabular mannequin and Azure Evaluation Companies as nicely.
To observe the steps of constructing the check mannequin it is advisable to have:
- Energy BI Desktop: Obtain the newest model from right here
- A pattern reality desk containing time or datetime. I modified FactInternetSales from AdventureWorksDW and made it obtainable so that you can obtain in Excel format (discover the obtain hyperlink on the backside of the publish)
To start with, you want to take a look on the desk construction of the “FactInternetSales_withTime.xlsx” file.
As you may see the desk comprises “OrderDateTime” column in DateTime format. What we have to do is to separate that column to 2 columns, one holding “OrderDate” knowledge and the opposite holds “OrderTime” knowledge. Then you may create the “Time” dimension with DAX or Energy Question (M), or each in case you like ?. You’ll then create a relationship between the “Time” dimension and the very fact desk.
Let’s begin.
- Open Energy BI Desktop
- Get knowledge from Excel and cargo knowledge from “FactInternetSales_WithTime” Excel file
- Click on “Edit Queries”
- Within the Question Editor web page click on “FactInternetSales_WithTime”
- Scroll to very finish of the desk and discover “OrderDateTime” column. As you see the information kind is DateTime
- Click on “Add Columns” tab then click on “Customized Column” so as to add a brand new column. We’re going to add “OrderDate” column
- Sort “OrderDate” as “New column title”
- Sort the next Energy Question operate to get the date a part of the OrderDateTime then click on OK
=Date.From([OrderDateTime])
- Now add one other column utilizing the identical technique and title it “OrderTime” with the next Energy Question operate
=Time.From([OrderDateTime])
- Now we have to convert the information kinds of the brand new columns to Date and Time respectively. To take action choose each columns and click on “Detect Information Sort” from “Remodel” tab
Within the subsequent steps we create a Time dimension utilizing DAX and Energy Question (M). Then we create a relationship between the “FactInternetSales_WithTime” and the Time dimension.
If you happen to’re keen to create the Time dimension with DAX then:
- In Energy BI Desktop click on “New Desk” from “Modeling” tab from the ribbon
- Copy and paste the under DAX code then press Enter
Time in DAX = SELECTCOLUMNS ( ADDCOLUMNS ( GENERATESERIES ( 1, 1440, 1 ) , "TimeValue", TIME ( 0, [Value], 0 ) ) , "ID", [Value] , "Time", [TimeValue] , "Hour", HOUR ( [TimeValue] ) , "Minute", MINUTE ( [TimeValue] ) , "5 Min Decrease Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, FLOOR ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 5 ), 1 ) * 5, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "15 Min Decrease Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, FLOOR ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 15 ), 1 ) * 15, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "30 Min Decrease Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, FLOOR ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 30 ), 1 ) * 30, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "45 Min Decrease Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, FLOOR ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 45 ), 1 ) * 45, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "60 Min Decrease Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, FLOOR ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 60 ), 1 ) * 60, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "5 Min Higher Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, CEILING ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 5 ), 1 ) * 5, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "15 Min Higher Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, CEILING ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 15 ), 1 ) * 15, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "30 Min Higher Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, CEILING ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 30 ), 1 ) * 30, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "45 Min Higher Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, CEILING ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 45 ), 1 ) * 45, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") , "60 Min Higher Band", FORMAT (TIME ( 0, CEILING ( DIVIDE ( [Value], 60 ), 1 ) * 60, 0 ), "hh:mm:ss") )
The code above creates a desk primarily based on an inventory of numbers from 1 to 1440 with interval of 1. This integer quantity reveals the variety of minutes per day. So in case you need a Time dimension in Second stage then it is advisable to create an inventory of seconds from 1 to 86,400.
Click on on the “Information” tab to see the information. If you happen to have a look at the “Decrease Band” and “Higher Band” columns you’ll discover that the values of the “Decrease Band” columns begin from 0 whereas the values of the “Higher Band” columns begin with the band quantity. I created each columns to cowl completely different eventualities when the shopper prefers to start out from 0 you then simply merely take away the “Higher Band” columns or the opposite approach round.
Chances are you’ll already seen that the information kind of the “Time” column is DateTime which isn’t proper. To repair this, simply click on the “Time” column and alter the information kind to “Time” from “Modeling” tab
To ensure the Time reveals within the right order when added to the visuals I alter the format to “HH:mm:ss”.
It’s good to do the identical for all different time columns. The end result ought to appear to be the screenshot under:
Now you might be good to create the connection between the “Time” dimension and the “FactInternetSales_WithTime” by connecting “OrderTime” from the very fact desk to “Time” column type the Time dimension.
You simply must create a clean question in “Question Editor” and duplicate/paste the next Energy Question codes.
let
Supply = Desk.FromList({1..1440}, Splitter.SplitByNothing()),
#"Renamed Columns" = Desk.RenameColumns(Supply,{{"Column1", "ID"}}),
#"Time Column Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"Renamed Columns", "Time", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0,0,[ID],0))),
#"5 Min Decrease Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"Time Column Added", "5 Min Decrease Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundDown([ID]/5) * 5, 0))),
#"15 Min Decrease Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"5 Min Decrease Band Added", "15 Min Decrease Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundDown([ID]/15) * 15, 0))),
#"30 Min Decrease Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"15 Min Decrease Band Added", "30 Min Decrease Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundDown([ID]/30) * 30, 0))),
#"45 Min Decrease Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"30 Min Decrease Band Added", "45 Min Decrease Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundDown([ID]/45) * 45, 0))),
#"60 Min Decrease Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"45 Min Decrease Band Added", "60 Min Decrease Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundDown([ID]/60) * 60, 0))),
#"5 Min Higher Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"60 Min Decrease Band Added", "5 Min Higher Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundUp([ID]/5) * 5, 0))),
#"15 Min Higher Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"5 Min Higher Band Added", "15 Min Higher Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundUp([ID]/15) * 15, 0))),
#"30 Min Higher Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"15 Min Higher Band Added", "30 Min Higher Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundUp([ID]/30) * 30, 0))),
#"45 Min Higher Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"30 Min Higher Band Added", "45 Min Higher Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundUp([ID]/45) * 45, 0))),
#"60 Min Higher Band Added" = Desk.AddColumn(#"45 Min Higher Band Added", "60 Min Higher Band", every Time.From(#datetime(1970,1,1,0,0,0)+#period(0, 0, Quantity.RoundUp([ID]/60) * 60, 0))),
#"Modified Sort" = Desk.TransformColumnTypes(#"60 Min Higher Band Added",{{"Time", kind time}, {"5 Min Decrease Band", kind time}, {"15 Min Decrease Band", kind time}, {"30 Min Decrease Band", kind time}, {"45 Min Decrease Band", kind time}, {"60 Min Decrease Band", kind time}, {"5 Min Higher Band", kind time}, {"15 Min Higher Band", kind time}, {"30 Min Higher Band", kind time}, {"45 Min Higher Band", kind time}, {"60 Min Higher Band", kind time}})
in
#"Modified Sort"
Copy/paste the under T-SQL in SSMS to get the Time dimension in SQL Server. You possibly can create a DimTime desk f you uncomment the commented line and run the code.
WITH cte AS (SELECT 0 ID UNION ALL SELECT ID + 1 FROM cte WHERE ID < 1439) SELECT ID , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, ID, '1900-01-01'), 108) [Time] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, ( ID / 5 ) * 5, '1900-01-01'), 108) [5 Minutes Upper Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, ( ID / 15 ) * 15, '1900-01-01'), 108) [15 Minutes Upper Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, ( ID / 30 ) * 30, '1900-01-01'), 108) [30 Minutes Upper Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, ( ID / 45 ) * 45, '1900-01-01'), 108) [45 Minutes Upper Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, ( ID / 60 ) * 60, '1900-01-01'), 108) [60 Minutes Upper Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, Ceiling (Solid(ID AS FLOAT) / 5) * 5, '1900-01-01'), 108) [5 Minutes Lower Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, Ceiling (Solid(ID AS FLOAT) / 15) * 15, '1900-01-01'), 108) [15 Minutes Lower Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, Ceiling (Solid(ID AS FLOAT) / 30) * 30, '1900-01-01'), 108) [30 Minutes Lower Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, Ceiling (Solid(ID AS FLOAT) / 45) * 45, '1900-01-01'), 108) [45 Minutes Lower Band] , CONVERT(CHAR(5), Dateadd(minute, Ceiling (Solid(ID AS FLOAT) / 60) * 60, '1900-01-01'), 108) [60 Minutes Lower Band] --INTO DimTime FROM cte OPTION (maxrecursion 0)
Then you may load the DimTime to Energy BI Desktop and create the required relationships.
Now you may simply analyse and visualise your knowledge in Energy BI. As you may see in all completely different implementations of the Time dimension whatever the platform, you at all times have completely different columns to help completely different time bands. If you wish to have dynamic timeband, then you must unpivot the time dimension. I’d like to provide credit score to “Patrick Leblanc” from “Man in a Dice” who explains how one can create dynamic axis in Energy BI right here. That is useful significantly in these eventualities that you just like to change between completely different timebands and see the outcomes instantly. I might not clarify the approach once more as Patric explains it fairly clear on a step-by-step foundation, so I encourage you to look at his video in case you’d prefer to study extra. I simply put the DAX code collectively for these of you who’re questioning easy methods to unpivot the desk in DAX. It might grow to be helpful in case you are engaged on a SSAS Tabular 2016 (or earlier) or in case you’re engaged on a pure PowerPivot mannequin and also you don’t have entry to Energy Question to leverage the UNPIVOT performance in M. Right here is an instance of visualising knowledge on minute stage primarily based on varied timebands.
Unpivot in DAX
On the time of penning this publish, there isn’t a built-in UNPIVOT operate in DAX. So we’ve got to someway faux it. The under DAX code creates a calculated desk primarily based on the Time dimension we created earlier. Once more, the entire thing will get extra clear once you obtain the Energy BI pattern and take a look on the mannequin construction.
Time in DAX Unpivot = UNION(
SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "Time", "Time", 'Time in DAX'[Time])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "Time", "Time", 'Time in DAX'[Time])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "5 Min Decrease Band", "5 Min Decrease Band", 'Time in DAX'[5 Min Lower Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "15 Min Decrease Band", "15 Min Decrease Band", 'Time in DAX'[15 Min Lower Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "30 Min Decrease Band", "30 Min Decrease Band", 'Time in DAX'[30 Min Lower Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "45 Min Decrease Band", "45 Min Decrease Band", 'Time in DAX'[45 Min Lower Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "60 Min Decrease Band", "60 Min Decrease Band", 'Time in DAX'[60 Min Lower Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "5 Min Higher Band", "5 Min Higher Band", 'Time in DAX'[5 Min Upper Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "15 Min Higher Band", "15 Min Higher Band", 'Time in DAX'[15 Min Upper Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "30 Min Higher Band", "30 Min Higher Band", 'Time in DAX'[30 Min Upper Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "45 Min Higher Band", "45 Min Higher Band", 'Time in DAX'[45 Min Upper Band])
, SELECTCOLUMNS('Time in DAX', "ID", 'Time in DAX'[ID], "Time Band", "60 Min Higher Band", "60 Min Higher Band", 'Time in DAX'[60 Min Upper Band])
)
