Power BI Drill Through

What is Drill Through in Power BI?

Drill through in Power BI is a feature that allows users to navigate from one report page to another detailed page while carrying over relevant context and filters. It enables users to move from a high-level view to detailed information about a specific data point, making data exploration more intuitive and efficient.

Key Benefits of Drill Through

• Provides detailed insights on demand
• Maintains context when navigating between pages
• Reduces clutter on main report pages
• Enables hierarchical data exploration
• Improves report organization

How to Set Up Drill Through in Power BI

1. Create a Drill-Through Page

1. Add a new page to your report
2. Right-click the page tab and select “Hide Page”
3. Set up visuals with the fields you want to analyze
4. In the Fields pane, drag fields to the “Drill-through” area

2. Configure Drill-Through Fields

1. Select which fields will trigger the drill-through
2. Choose whether to keep all filters
3. Add a “Back” button for navigation
4. Test the drill-through functionality

3. Using Drill Through

1. Right-click a data point in any visual
2. Select “Drill through”
3. Choose the target page
4. View detailed information with applied context

Best Practices for Drill Through

1. Clear Navigation

   • Add a “Back” button
   • Include page titles
   • Use consistent layouts

2. Relevant Context

   • Show which filters are applied
   • Display key metrics
   • Maintain data hierarchy

3. Performance Optimization

   • Limit the number of visuals
   • Use appropriate level of detail
   • Consider data model impact

Common Issues and Solutions

1. Drill Through Not Available

   • Ensure fields are in the drill-through area
   • Check data model relationships
   • Verify compatible visual types

2. Incorrect Context

   • Review filter context
   • Check field mappings
   • Validate relationships

3. Performance Issues

   • Optimize data model
   • Reduce visual complexity
   • Use incremental refresh

Comparison with Evidence Templated Pages

While Power BI’s drill-through provides interactive data exploration, Evidence’s templated pages offer a different approach to detailed data views.

Power BI Drill Through

• GUI-based setup
• Limited to Power BI ecosystem
• Requires Premium for sharing
• Interactive but can be slow
• Complex setup for multiple levels

Evidence Templated Pages

• Code-first approach using SQL and Markdown
• Platform-independent
• Open-source with self-hosting option
• Pre-built for instant loading
• Natural URL-based navigation

Example: Creating Customer Reports

In Evidence, you can create dynamic customer reports using templated pages:

1. Create an index page at pages/customers/index.md:

```sql customers
select 
    customer_name,
    'customers/' + customer_name as link
from orders
```

<DataTable data={customers} link=link />

2. Create a templated page at pages/customers/[customer].md:

```sql customer_details
select 
    customer_name,
    total_sales,
    region
from orders 
where customer_name = '${params.customer}'
```

<BarChart 
    data={customer_details} 
    x=region 
    y=total_sales 
/>

This generates a report for each customer automatically, with fast page loads and natural URL-based navigation for end-users - they dont have to learn how to use the tool.

Benefits of Evidence Templated Pages

• Version-controlled reports
• Faster page loads
• Code-first development
• Scalable to many pages
• URL-based navigation
• Avoid premium licensing costs

Conclusion

Power BI drill-through is a powerful feature for interactive data exploration within reports. However, for teams looking for a more modern, code-first approach with better performance and scalability, Evidence’s templated pages offer a compelling alternative.

For more information about building dynamic reports with Evidence, check out the templated pages documentation.