Supporting Virtual Table Relationships

Virtual table relationships are DAX expressions implemented to filter one table from another when a relationship does not exist between the two. Report visualizations can then be constructed using both tables (and those related to it), and the DAX measures will update as though a normal relationship is defined. Virtual relationships are often used to address disparate grains of tables and to leverage performance segmentation tables.

Although physical relationships are the preferred long-term solution for both performance and manageability, virtual relationships provide an attractive alternative when physical relationships are not feasible. In this recipe, we provide virtual relationship examples that use both a custom performance segmentation table and an aggregated table.

Getting ready

To prepare for this recipe, follow these steps:

1. Open Power BI Desktop.
2. Create an Import mode data source query called AdventureWorksDW2022...