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Zebra BI for Power BI – 4.6 Update

The latest update 4.6 version of Zebra BI visuals for Power BI is bringing tons of new features and improvements. From the enhanced formula editor to an even better UX of the signature small multiples, design flexibility and much more. All that to make your reports even more understandable and actionable.

Get the PBIX file

Download the demo PBIX file that contains all the latest features illustrated with many practical examples.
Download PBIX

Watch the Video

Watch the video below for a quick and practical overview of all major NEW features & updates:
(00:46​) - Formula editor supports nested calculations and colors
(03:08​) - The option to invert the whole branch of elements in P&L your statement
(04:35​) - Dynamically switch scenario comparisons
(07:42​) - Storytelling with “zoomed” small multiples
(10:13​) - New design & Interactivity features
(17:05​) - Adjusting scenario labels (AC, PY, PL, FC) in JSON theme
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Interact with Zebra BI for Power BI 4.6 👇

Play with our interactive example to get inspired and see all the new features in action. 
Tip: Make sure you put the interactive report in the full-screen mode (⤢) and check out all the pages by pressing the navigation arrows.

So, what’s new? 🎉

Formula Editor — Nested Calculations and Custom Colors 🔥

Sometimes you want to add completely new elements to your tables but they're not in your data set. Until now you could simply calculate new items with a formula within a visual.

What about calculations based on existing formulas? With Zebra BI Tables 4.6 you can do that too!

The new version contains the improved formula editor that you can use to create nested calculations and format your formulas within the table.

Example: Adding Gross profit as a percentage of Revenue
 

💡 The auto-complete feature will search for all elements that you already have in your data set, as well as custom calculations that you already used.

 

Goodbye complex data set changes, hello custom calculations within Zebra BI!

 

Storytelling with “zoomed” small multiples

Small multiples have become extremely popular due to their ability to present a very high-level overview of your business.

With a click on the title, you could explore the details by zooming a single chart. In Zebra BI Charts 4.6 this "zoomed" chart supports page tooltips as well.

From now on, your users can:

  • explore the details on the zoomed chart simply by moving the mouse!
  • flip through the charts (which by the way works really fast)
  • do the drill-through to look at the detailed report — for example, what’s happening with a particular business category per country.

 

Learn more about Small Multiples →

small multiples power bi zoomed

Dynamic PL = SWITCH('Comparison scenario'[Selected comparison], 1, BLANK(), 2, [PL])

Dynamically switch scenario comparisons

If you want to dynamically switch the display of actual performance compared to the Plan vs. compared to the Previous Year without dealing with the complex setup in Power BI, then this is for you.

With the 4.6 version of Zebra BI Tables you don't need to mess with bookmarks and doubled and hidden visuals anymore! Simply add the 3 scenarios to your table and get an option to switch between two comparisons out-of-the-box.

  1. Add all of the measures to your table (AC, PY, PL).
  2. Under the "Chart settings" find a new option "Suppress empty columns".
  3. Apply DAX code as shown below the example

 

This was one of the most requested features — we hope you love it. 💛

 

Standardize your own labels

Consistency in business reporting is especially important in large rollouts across organizations with hundreds or thousands of users.

With this release, you can now define your own labels all variances, absolute and relative, between all possible scenarios and standardize them across the whole organization.

Your new custom labels will appear on charts and tables by default, but the end-users can still rename them afterward directly on a visual if needed.

How to:

  1. Specify labels in your JSON theme

  2. Import the theme with your internal labels
  3. Zebra BI will automatically replace all existing labels with new ones from the theme

Download JSON file

Supercharge Your Power BI Dashboards With Small Multiples

Watch our step-by-step webinar tutorial and learn how to use small multiples in your Power BI reports and dashboards. A practical PBIX example is included!

Learn more

Invert the whole branch of elements in P&L

In a situation where you have a lot of cost elements in your P&L, it makes sense to invert the meaning of these items so that they get subtracted from the Revenue.

For example, if you’re showing Revenue and Costs within the same table, it has a completely different meaning whether the Revenue is growing versus if Costs are growing. Growing costs have a negative contribution to the end result.

 

How To Invert Items

Click on the top line item (e.g. "Operating expenses") and select "Invert all children".

That command will invert all items in that particular group. Zebra BI will automatically change the colors to properly signal a positive versus negative contribution.

Hide selected chart types for viewers

We all know that not all charts are appropriate for all data sets. In some cases, it can be even wrong to use a certain chart type (e.g. using a waterfall chart to show non-additive measures such as profitability %).

Many of you have been advocating for the ability to select the type of charts that you want your end-users to choose from and hide the rest.

This is now finally possible!

New design options for difference highlight

Variances are extremely important when it comes to the interpretation of data. If you want to emphasize a certain variance, you can now use a highlight ellipse or change the font to make it larger or in a different color.

 

💡 Difference highlights are completely dynamic. You can change the chart type and they will still stay visible.

Show comparisons as markers

Since comparisons are one of the key elements in any business report, Zebra BI now offers you new options for displaying them.

You can choose whether you want to display just your base or also your Previous Year or Plan in the overlapped column.

You can also decide to display them as a column with a marker on top of that.

New design options for combo charts

Enjoy many settings to customize the design of combo charts: marker density, marker size, droplines, line styles, colors, etc.

Check the new options under the Combo chart group of settings.

We have also redesigned the behavior of the secondary axis in combo charts so that both data series are always rendered on the same 0 X-axis, even if one of them has negative numbers.

Display data labels on all data series

This is very useful if you want to show data labels also on your comparison scenarios.

Other Improvements

Zebra BI Tables 4.6

Improvements

  • Upgraded both visuals to MS Power BI Custom Visuals API 3.5 (fixes cross-visual filtering issue in PBI Desktop)
  • Better handling of null values in formulas
  • Added a scrollbar to the 'Add columns' form
  • Improved positioning of text columns for better display when column borders and fills are applied
  • Major improvement in applying individual column formats to measures in the table

Bug fixes

  • Fixed an issue where additional column pin chart squeezed if measure type is the percent
  • Fixed an issue where additional measure had an incorrect format for percent formulas
  • Fixed an issue where Expand/collapse button is shown for elements with no underlying rows
  • .. and many others!

Zebra BI Charts 4.6

Improvements

  • Upgraded both visuals to MS Power BI Custom Visuals API 3.5 (fixes cross-visual filtering issue in PBI Desktop)
  • Improved left and right offsets so that labels don't get cut
  • Improved display of left-right buttons for 'Others' in multiples
  • Improved display of relative labels if one of the values is empty or zero
  • Improved display of comparison columns in segmented integrated variance charts

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a bug where tooltip not shown over negative variance in the integrated chart with vertical axis
  • Fixed a bug where data labels were overlapping with the legend
  • Fixed a bug with axis break in waterfall charts with all negative values
  • Fixed a bug where Others chart misplaced in multiples
See full changelog

Time to give it a spin!

If you're already using the AppSource version of Zebra BI (version 4.0.0 or higher), then your Zebra BI has already been updated via the Microsoft's AppSource marketplace automatically. You're good to go!

If you're using an older version of Zebra BI (e.g. 3.x.x or older), then this might be a perfect opportunity to update your Zebra BI! When ready, just shoot us an email at support@zebra.bi and we'll help you migrate to the latest version.

Haven't tried Zebra BI before? Opt in for our 30-day free trial here:

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