Documenting Measures in Power BI

Introduction

Microsoft Fabric aka Power BI is a powerful tool for data visualization and analytics, but as datasets grow in complexity, proper documentation becomes essential. One often-overlooked feature is the ability to extract metadata from Power BI reports, including details about measures, columns, and tables.

This metadata can be used to automatically document Fabric measures, ensuring consistency and transparency across your organization. In this blog post, we'll explore how to use Power BI's metadata query capabilities to extract and document measures from your datasets.

Why Document Power BI Measures?

Power BI measures (or DAX measures) are critical for calculations in Power BI. Proper documentation helps:

• Improve maintainability – New team members can understand logic quickly.

• Ensure consistency – Avoid duplicate or conflicting measures.

• Enhance governance – Track measure usage across reports.

• Automate reporting – Generate measure documentation dynamically.

Using Power BI's metadata queries, we can extract measure definitions, descriptions, and dependencies without manual effort.

User Metadata Queries in Power BI

Power BI allows querying metadata using DMVs (Dynamic Management Views) via DAX Studio or Power BI's XMLA endpoint. However, we can also extract metadata directly from a Power BI report using Power Query.

Method: Using Power Query to Extract Metadata

• Open Power BI Desktop and go to Transform Data (Power Query Editor).

• Create a Blank Query:

• Click New Source > Blank Query.

• Use AnalysisServices.Database() to Query Metadata:

let
    Source = AnalysisServices.Database("localhost:port", "YourDatasetName"),
    Measures = Source{[Schema="YourDatasetName",Item="Measures"]}[Data]
in
    Measures

• Replace "localhost:port" with your Power BI Dataset connection.

• Replace "YourDatasetName" with your dataset name.

  
  

• Expand the Measures Table to see:

  • Measure Name

  • Expression (DAX Formula)

  • Description (if available)

  • Table Name

Example:

M Query for Obtaining Model Metadata

Provide Dynamic Power BI Report

Use Power BI to report on the measures.

Best Practices for Measure Documentation

• Add Descriptions – Use Description property for each measure. Then use the measure metadata query to obtain the description for reporting purposes.

• Add daily refresh to metadata model so that it will refresh with Fabric model changes.

• You can leverage the same approach to document the columns in each tables and its purposes.

Conclusion

Using Power BI’s metadata query capabilities, we can automate the documentation of Fabric / Power BI measures, reducing manual effort and improving governance. By extracting measure definitions into a structured format, teams can maintain better visibility and consistency across reports.

Try implementing this in your next Power BI project and share your experience! Contact us if you need additional information.

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