Prep 1: Format your measures from Day 1

Formatting measures in Power BI is essential for several reasons. Firstly it will one day save you or someone else an immense amount of troubleshooting time, and secondly, it will save you a costly error. Applying a format to your DAX measures is also important but formatting your code will give you the following benefits :

Code Presentation: Formatting your code allows you to present the formulas in a visually appealing and easily understandable manner. Using spacing, you can make the code more readable and user-friendly.

Consistency: By formatting your code consistently across your reports, you maintain a cohesive and professional look throughout your Power BI reports. You or others who need to maintain the DAX code will find it easier to interpret and compare code when it is consistently formatted across different reports.

Data Accuracy: Formatting code helps avoid misinterpretation or confusion caused by say misinterpreting the position of a parenthesis. Clear code formatting, ensures that functions are applied with the expected parameters without misleading the engine.

Contextual Understanding: Applying comments to your measures can provide additional context about the business rule being applied to the data. For example, by displaying comments next to specific sections, you can quickly assess and understand the portion of DAX code as a part of the overall formula. Using comments as entire lines or headings as meaningful labels or annotations to your measures can further enhance future developers’ understanding of the code that you created.

User-Friendly Interaction: Formatting code can enhance the user experience of understanding someone else’s code. For instance, you can get early confidence in what is going on in a report when code is well annotated and presented.

Reporting Standards and Compliance: Many organisations have reporting standards or compliance requirements that dictate how code should be formatted. By adhering to these standards within Power BI, you ensure consistency in the use of Power BI and maintain compliance with your organisation’s guidelines.