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Power BI Literacy

Maintenance Mindset for Sustainable Reporting

💡 Hover over any tip or practice to see practical maintenance examples
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Design for Ongoing Change

  • Assume requirements will evolve after go live
  • Avoid hard coded logic and brittle filters where possible
  • Centralize business rules so you update once, not everywhere
  • Document assumptions and edge cases in the model
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Refresh, Monitoring, and Alerts

  • Track refresh outcomes, duration, and recurring failures
  • Design for stale data with clear warnings for users
  • Validate schema changes and source breakage quickly
  • Define escalation paths for refresh and data incidents
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Model Hygiene and Refactoring

  • Remove unused columns, tables, visuals, and measures regularly
  • Refactor DAX as logic grows to stay readable and testable
  • Recheck relationships after source changes and new tables
  • Reassess model size and cardinality as data volumes grow
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Performance as a Habit

  • Test performance after every major change, not only after complaints
  • Watch for slow visuals, heavy measures, and expensive interactions
  • Use performance tools to isolate bottlenecks early
  • Keep visuals and calculations simple where it improves speed
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Adoption, Support, and Lifecycle

  • Review usage to spot unused pages, reports, and datasets
  • Retire or archive content that no longer delivers value
  • Create a support playbook for common user questions
  • Schedule regular reviews with stakeholders and owners
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Documentation and Ownership

  • Keep business definitions current and easy to find
  • Record data sources, refresh logic, credentials, and dependencies
  • Assign owners for datasets, metrics, and critical visuals
  • Make handover simple for the next developer

Best Practices for a Maintenance Mindset

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Define Support Expectations
Set SLAs for refresh windows, incident response, and change requests so everyone knows what “supported” means.
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Validate After Every Refresh
Add simple reconciliation and reasonableness checks so “refresh succeeded” also means “numbers still make sense.”
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Schedule Hygiene Sessions
Quarterly cleanups remove unused fields, refactor measures, and simplify visuals to prevent slow drift.
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Communicate Change Clearly
Use release notes and in report callouts for major changes to avoid confusion and support tickets.
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Monitor Adoption and Value
Track usage patterns, remove dead content, and double down on what stakeholders actually use.
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Protect Critical Assets
Manage credentials, gateways, and permissions carefully. A small change can break refresh or expose sensitive data.