Here is a fun way to use Q&A functionality to build a data dictionary in Power BI. The first question might be – what is a data dictionary? There might be a different understanding, but my definition is similar to this one. A collection of definitions about data that you have and specific terminology.
Descriptive column names is a good thing, but it has some limitations. When you think that a broad explanation would be a good thing, try this approach. It is a useful addition to Power BI App as a separate report or a separate report page.
Power BI GIF background and Q&A button
First is the fun part. It is possible to use GIF animations in the background of the Power BI report, but usually, it is not a good idea. The animated background might be a serious distraction. In this case, there is only a Q&A button that initiates questioning. I downloaded my GIF file from this site.
To add animation to the report page background, use the wallpaper settings like this. Be careful with the GIF size because it will directly affect the file size of the Power BI report.
Then add the Power BI Q&A button.
Building blocks of data dictionary in Power BI
Enable or disable the Power BI data model table for the Q&A
Here is an instruction to enable or disable Q&A for the Power BI dataset in the dataset settings, but the same thing for the individual data model table is different.
If you have a data model and would like to configure which of the tables is possible to use in Q&A, then here is how to do that. Go to the modeling tab and click on Q&A Setup.
There are a lot of good things that you can do, but in the field synonyms section, you can exclude Q&A for some of the data model tables.
Q&A dedicated Power BI report page
Sometimes the best answer in the Power BI Q&A is an appropriate visualization. For use in the data dictionary, you can create a dedicated report page that you can hide. The essential is to change the Q&A setting in the page information.
Take a look at other Power BI posts in this blog.
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