Role-playing tables with DAX

In Chapter 4, Building the Data Model, you learned how to develop your data model to deal with role-playing tables, by importing a table multiple times. We mentioned then that there was an alternative method using DAX. In this section, we will explore this alternative method and the pros and cons of using DAX versus the method you have previously learned.

Since leveraging DAX does not require importing a table multiple times, you will immediately gain savings on storage and, unlike the other method, with DAX, you will not need to manage multiple tables in Power BI Desktop.

The DAX method requires that inactive relationships be created in order to work correctly. Inactive relationships are not often used in DAX because they are not used automatically like active relationships. Unlike active relationships, you can have more than one inactive relationship between two tables.

Let’s create a new relationship between the Internet Sales table...