One of the major requirements of many report creators especially when creating financial reports is the ability to highlight the differences between two measures without the use of any DAX. It could be either a percentage difference or an absolute difference.
Otherwise known as a variance column.
In Power BI we can create Variance Columns via a Calculated Column:
However, this method is far too cumbersome as it requires us to use DAX every time we want to create a Variance column. Plus, it becomes even more time consuming when we want to create a Percentage Variance column.
In Inforiver Matrix we can instantly create a Variance column without the use of any DAX via the Set Version feature.
The Set version feature can be used to compare two or more measures in a report and can easily calculate both absolute and percentage variances automatically. We can also achieve variance analysis of measures by the use of IBCS templates.
Important Note: A minimum of two measures is required to use the Set version feature.
Let us demonstrate with an example.
1) Below we have a regular report with Actuals, PY and PL data:
2) Go to Insert tab -> Select 'Set Version':
3) We can now drag and drop Measures in the appropriate fields as per our own requirements and then click Update:
4) Next, we can go to Manage Columns and select the Absolute Variance and Percentage Variance columns. In this particular e.g., we are choosing the (AC-PY) variance column and (AC-PY) % variance column:
5) Another way of achieving Variance Analysis is through the use of IBCS templates. So once again in Set Version after doing the measure mapping, we can select Variance analysis instead:
6) The best suited IBCS template gets applied once we select the Variance analysis option. For this example, the T03 Measure rows template has been used:
7) We can also visualize using a different template in this case we have chosen the T05 Variance bars template:
8) Finally, when there are a large number of measures in the report, we can use the 'Search' box to find a specific measure as highlighted below:
