On top of this, visual calculations operate on the aggregated data already found inside the visual, which usually results in better performance than a standard DAX measure that has to operate on the detail level of the source data.
Building visual calculations
Many existing DAX functions can be used in visual calculations and will work similarly to calculated columns. Templates are also available to make it easier to write common visual calculations such as running sum, moving average, and percent of grand total. Additional details can be found in the example below.
As of today, visual calculations are still in preview mode, so you’ll need to first enable them by going to File > Options & Settings > Preview features and checking the box next to Visual Calculations. After you’ve done this, creating a new visual calculation is as easy as selecting a visual and pressing the New Calculation button on the “Home” tab.
In this example, we’re going to quickly build a running sum calculation that resets at the beginning of each year. We’ll be performing this calculation on the Sum of Units Sold data in Microsoft’s financials test dataset, found by going to File > New > Report > Use sample data > Load sample data. Below are the steps and the simple DAX needed to accomplish this:
1. Select your visual. The visual in this example is a Matrix showing the Sum of Units Sold with a Year/Quarter/Month date hierarchy on the row axis.
