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In this video, Ken shows how he did a real-life analysis of median income by country, compared to the median income of the United States. In it, he uses Excel, Power Query, Power Pivot and DAX… Median World Income vs US World Income

Here, @excelguru.ca shows a real-life #DataAnalysis of median income by country, compared to the median income of the US. In it, he uses #Excel, #PowerQuery, #PowerPivot and #DAX and even show how his Monkey Tools add-in helps speed up development of certain tasks:

See what our students are saying! "It was very thorough. Great course, learned a ton!" TJ (5 stars) "I loved the practical examples and timing of lessons (5-15 minutes each). I can only recommend this course!" Lukas (5 stars) Power Query Academy skillwave.training (Skillwave Training logo)

See why students love our #PowerQuery course!✨
We'll help you unlock the true power of your data in #Excel and #PowerBI! Say goodbye to hours of manual #DataManipulation and hello to quick #DataInsights and informed decisions. Join our course now to make data work for you: skw-t.com/pqa

Excel Fundamentals Academy In the Excel Fundamentals Academy, you’ll learn all the core skills for the Excel analyst, beginning with a refresher on Excel formulas and functions (including the daunting VLOOKUP), and then moving…

Stuck trying to apply what you’ve learned to your own data? With our #Excel Fundamentals (skw-t.com/excelfun) and #SelfServiceBI (skw-t.com/ssbi) Academies, you don’t have to go it alone. Bring your questions to our instructor-led AKA sessions and get unstuck, fast.

It was one of those classic “Aha!” 💡 moments - turning a messy logic question into a clean model design with a simple DAX formula:
=CALCUALTE( [Sales $], Product[Commissionable] = "Yes" )

🧭 Takeaway: When in doubt, model it out. Adding a simple column can save hours of DAX headaches later!

A More Dynamic Commission Report A student asked what do if you have sales items that shouldn’t count towards a team member’s commission earnings? Instead of filtering out rows in the report, Ken Puls suggested creating a column in the underlying data model to flag the item Yes/No and then add a simple DAX formula to the report so that only commissionable items are included: =CALCUALTE( [Sales $], Product[Commissionable] = "Yes" ) (Skillwave Training logo)

In our latest AKA session, @excelguru.ca was asked how to handle sales items that shouldn’t count toward commissions in a #PowerBI report. 🤔
Rather than filtering out rows, he suggested adding a Y/N flag column in the data model and then use #DAX to calculate commissions only where flag = “Yes.”🧵

While Monkey Tools won't help you build a LAMBDA function, we definitely make it easier than anyone else to inject them into your workbook. Join Ken as he shows how to use this Free Monkey Tools… The FASTEST way to Store/Inject LAMBDA functions in Excel!

While Monkey Tools won't help you build a LAMBDA, it definitely makes it easy to inject them into your #Excel workbook. @excelguru.ca shows how to use this FREE feature to both store and inject LAMBDA functions into your workbooks - no macros, not notepad files:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5d0...

We almost put a sad face emoji in the original reply, but then thought that might send mixed messages. 😜

News from the Data Monkey Brought to you by Excelguru and Skillwave (Image of a cyborg monkey in a superhero-type crouch) November 12, 2025 In This Issue: - From the AKA Sessions - What's New in Excel - Recent Meet-up Recording - Upcoming Courses and Conferences - Available Training Options Ken had a great time in Bulgaria and Germany at the end of October, but is glad to be back home now. This month he's leading several training sessions for CPABC and private clients, as well as hosting the 'Ask Ken Anything' calls and welcoming a new batch of registrants for the Self Service BI and Excel Fundamentals Academies. Our team is also busy preparing for our annual Cyber Week sale - stay tuned for details starting the last week of November!

The latest edition of "News from the Data Monkey" has just been sent! 🐵📃 Our twice-monthly newsletter includes what's new in #Excel and #PowerBI, features from our AKA sessions, the latest meet-up recording, and info on our courses, events, promotions, and more! Sign up today at skw-t.com/news

Agreed, this is really stupid.

Testimonial "Lots of examples, very knowledgeable instructor, comprehensive instructions" J.P. (5 stars) Self Service BI Academy (Caricature of Ken Puls) Developed and delivered by Microsoft MVP and Chartered Professional Accountant, Ken Puls (Skillwave Training logo)

With 299 students trained and an average rating of 4.9 / 5 stars, see why our #SelfServiceBI Academy by @excelguru.ca is so popular! 😍

This hands-on training will teach you how to use #Excel, #PowerQuery, #PowerBI, #DAX, and #DimensionalModeling together. Join us today at skw-t.com/ssbi

Screenshot of two worksheets: Left-hand worksheet has Column1 and Column2 with a pattern of 4 rows containing information about a specific employee. Right-hand worksheet has separate columns for Employee, Employee Number, Start Date, and Salary, with each row containing the information for an individual employee.

It's common to need to transform data from one “shape” to another before it can be used in #PowerBI or #Excel for #DataAnalysis, eg. left-hand data needs to look like the table on the right. 👉 In this classic article, Matt Allington shows you how to pivot text using #PowerQuery: buff.ly/3Ol967I

Microsoft PL-300 Exam Prep Give yourself the best chance of passing the exam the first time! Topics covered include: - Gather & transform data - Model & optimize data - DAX formulas & functions - Data visualization - Publish & share reports - Prepare for the exam PL-300 Exam Preparation for Power BI (Headshot of Matt Allington) Developed & delivered by Matt Allington https://skw-t.com/pl300prep (Skillwave Training logo)

Are you an experienced #PowerBI user thinking of taking the PL-300 PBI #DataAnalyst exam from Microsoft? Matt Allington has you covered with this on-demand video training. Understand the depth and breadth of the exam, and see where you need to spend more time preparing. Go to skw-t.com/pl300prep

Have you ever wanted to add your favourite icons to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) in the Power Query editor in Excel or Power BI? Wonder no more as Ken shows you how to do so! In this video, Ken… Customize the Power Query QAT - Monkey Shorts Episode 049

Have you ever wanted to add your favourite icons to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) in the #PowerQuery editor in #Excel or #PowerBI? 🤔 Wonder no more, as @excelguru.ca shows you how to do so! Check out how he added the "Detect Data Types" button to the Power Query QAT:

#BusinessIntelligence and #DataAnalytics are the driving force behind informed decision-making and sustainable growth for organizations of all sizes. Investing in your knowledge can be a game-changer for your career or business, and our #Excel and #PowerBI training can help. Go to skw-t.com/courses

Testimonial The content and structure was perfect for the way I learn. I've been using Power BI almost entirely self taught for the past few months and I can see many areas that I need to fix to become more efficient and with DAX now no longer being a scary language, I'm excited to update my original projects to put the learnings into practice. Matthew G. (5 stars) Supercharge Power BI Online (Caricature of Matt Allington) Developed and delivered by Microsoft MVP alumnus and best-selling author, Matt Allington (Skillwave Training logo) skillwave.training

#DAX can be intimidating, even for experienced users of #PowerBI and #Excel #PowerPivot. 😫 But our Supercharge Power BI training by expert Matt Allington will walk you through writing and understanding DAX measures, turning you data into actionable insights. 😀 Enroll today at skw-t.com/supercharge

Hahahaha, classic!

Self Service BI Academy Prepare to change your company's reporting game forever! In the Self Service BI Academy, Ken Puls will teach you how to use Excel, Power Query, and Power BI together to build robust Self Service BI…

Learning is great - applying it is even better. Enroll in our #SelfServiceBI (skw-t.com/ssbi) or Excel Fundamentals (skw-t.com/excelfun) Academies, or the AKA sessions on their own (skw-t.com/aka), to get help applying what your learned to your real-world scenarios.

...month-to-month comparisons across years, fiscal calendars, 4-4-5 periods, and how the end users’ experience could change depending on which control you provided.

🧭 Takeaway: Understanding the subtle differences between slicers and timelines changes how your audience explores a #PivotTable.

Ken explained that timelines force users to select contiguous date ranges – perfect for financial or sales reporting – while slicers permit non-contiguous selections (like January and March only). The group loved seeing both options demo’d live, sparking side discussions about...

Timelines vs Slicers: When ‘It Depends’ Actually Means Something Understanding the subtle differences between slicers and timelines can completely change how your audience explores a PivotTable: - Timelines force users to select contiguous date ranges - Slicers permit non-contiguous selections (Screenshot of a timeline with Jan-Feb-Mar selected vs a slicer with just Jan and Mar selected) (Skillwave Training logo)

A lively debate broke out in our latest Ask Ken Anything (AKA) when one of our attendees asked, “When should I use a timeline instead of a slicer to filter dates?”

Cue @excelguru.ca's favorite answer: “It depends.” 😄

#DataAnalysisTools #financialanalytics #BusinessIntelligence

(Skillwave Training logo) Image of a cyborg monkey leaping into the air, cheering with its fist raised. A thought bubble next to the monkey says: "Let’s see, it’s fall back, spring ahead... YES, an extra hour of sleep this weekend!"

(Skillwave Training logo) Screenshot of the Power Query Recipe card 60.910.x, which outlines the steps to convert UTC DateTime to local DateTime NOTE: This recipe is Daylight Savings Time aware! If you do not want this volatility in your transformation, see Recipe 60.920.x to lock in a time zone.

Don't forget: daylight savings ends in North America on Sunday, November 2. ☀️ Luckily, our #PowerQuery recipe for converting a UTC DateTime to a Local DateTime is daylight savings aware. Get the full recipe collection at skw-t.com/pqrecipes

#Excel #PowerBI #DataAnalytics #DataAnalysisTools

Nice overview!

Power Query doesn't have a great concept of row context, making it very difficult to compare values across rows. In this week's episode of Monkey Shorts, Ken demonstrates a super-cool black magic… Compare vs Prior Row in Power Query - Monkey Shorts Episode 048

#PowerQuery doesn't have a great concept of row context, making it very difficult to compare values across rows. In this episode of Monkey Shorts, @excelguru.ca demonstrates a super-cool black magic technique that allows you to do exactly that. 🧙
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdNY...

#Excel #PowerBI

Testimonial "The course was clear, complete, and very useful." Pascal I. (5 stars) Building Financial Statements in Excel with Power Pivot (Caricature of Ken Puls) Developed and delivered by Microsoft MVP and Chartered Professional Accountant, Ken Puls (Skillwave Training logo) https://skillwave.training

Another happy student! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Elevate your #FinancialReporting game with our advanced #Excel #PowerPivot course by CPA and FCMA, @excelguru.ca. Learn how to correctly lay out chart of accounts, build P&L measures, and generate Balance Sheet measures using #DAX. Enroll today at skw-t.com/buildfs

News from the Data Monkey Brought to you by Excelguru and Skillwave (Image of a cyborg monkey in a superhero-style crouch) October 28, 2025 In this issue: • From the AKA Sessions • Latest Monkey Tools Updates • What's New in Power BI • Recent Meet-up Recording • Upcoming Courses and Conferences • Available Training Options

The latest edition of our newsletter has just gone out! 📧
If you'd like to stay up-to-date on what's new in #PowerBI, #Excel, and Monkey Tools, content from our experts, and info on specials, events, and courses, subscribe at skw-t.com/news
We'll also send your our free #PowerQuery eBook. 📗

Self Service BI Academy Prepare to change your company's reporting game forever! In the Self Service BI Academy, Ken Puls will teach you how to use Excel, Power Query, and Power BI together to build robust Self Service BI…

Real world challenges, practical solutions. That’s the benefit of our AKA sessions! Enroll in our #SelfServiceBI (skw-t.com/ssbi) or #Excel Fundamentals (skw-t.com/excelfun) Academy, or or purchase just the AKA access (skw-t.com/aka) and join live sessions where we help you with your own scenarios.

Watching those empty rows vanish instantly in the PivotTable was one of those deeply satisfying #Excel moments we all crave.
The crowd reaction? “Wait – why didn’t I know that trick before?”
👏 Takeaway: Sometimes the smallest DAX tweak delivers the biggest clarity in your reports.

Zero Means Nothing... Literally! iEver wondered how to make a PowerPivot-backed PivotTable suppress rows full of zeros? In our last Ask Ken Anything session, Ken Puls wowed the group with a simple DAX pattern to suppress zeros dynamically so only meaningful values remain. Screenshot of DAX formula: =VAR vAmount = SUM( Sales[Amount] ) VAR vResult = IF( vAmount = 0, BLAND(), vAmount) RETURN vResult (Skillwave Training logo)

Ever wondered how to make a #PowerPivot-backed #PivotTable suppress rows full of zeros? Someone asked that exact question in our last AKA session, so @excelguru.ca demonstrated a simple #DAX pattern to suppress zeros dynamically so only meaningful values remain.

Unfill in Power Query Recently I received a question on how to Unfill in Power Query - remove all duplicate instances of a value, replacing them with null

Following up on yesterday's video about how to "un-fill" in #PowerQuery, here is @excelguru.ca's original article about how to keep only the first instance and replace all subsequent repeating values with the "null" keyword: excelguru.ca/unfill-in-po...

#Excel #PowerBI #DataPreparation

Will have to check this out! 🥊