Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel, First Edition

Chapter 5. Tracking historical attributes

Data changes over time. For some models and reports, it is useful to track both the current and the historical value of some attributes. For example, you might need to track the different addresses of a customer over time. Or, you might have a product that changes some specifications, and you want to perform an analysis of the sales and performance with the different characteristics. Or, you may want to track the total sales at different price points if there is a change in the price of a product or service. All these are very common scenarios, and there are some standard ways of handling them.

Whenever it is necessary to manage the changing nature of a value, it becomes a matter of dealing with historical ...