Pivot Charts and Cube Functions

The previous activities in this week focused exclusively on manipulating the data in your Excel data model. Now that you have everything the way you want it, it’s time to create data visualisations.

In this video, Dany introduces you to pivot charts. These charts are quick and effective tools to visualise your data and give you the option to display the variables you want at any time.

Dany also discusses the importance of hierarchies (whether they are natural or not) to drill into the data in a more detailed and specific way.

Another way to visualise functions is through cube functions. Cube functions can be quite complicated, especially if you haven’t had any experience with them before, so only use them when necessary.

When to use cube functions:

• When dashboard-style layouts are required (flexibility to move around cells).
• To reproduce reports that must look and behave similarly to legacy reports.
• To overcome the limitations of pivot tables and pivot charts.
• To integrate data from multiple data models into a single report.

When not to use cube functions:

• When pivot tables and pivot charts could deliver the same result.

When you’re ready, test your knowledge in the quiz and labs that follow.

Lecture Files

The file used in the lecture is provided here: “Multitable model.xlsx“. If you are using Excel 2010, use this file instead: “Multitable model-2010.xlsx“.

The data has been loaded to the Excel data model. You don’t need to refresh or edit the Query.

Further Reading

To learn more about hierarchies in Excel data model, check out the following resource:

• Hierarchies in Power Pivot