The Life Starter
0 of 6 complete0%
Course Library · Lesson 5 of 6
Digital · Guided lesson

Design and test filter interactions

About 36 minutes · 6 reading + 30 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
See this course’s project requirements

A locally saved interactive Power BI report with checked measures, site filters, source CSVs and a tested refresh handoff.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • Two typed source queries and baseline counts.
  • Inspected one-to-many relationship.
  • Three explicit checked measures.
  • Site slicer, cards, verification table and dated chart.
  • Local report, source files and refresh handoff.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • Rows and measures reconcile.
  • Site filters affect the intended data.
  • Visual labels and date ordering are clear.
  • Refresh and local handoff are reproducible.
Open the full course project
Want more background?
Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

Build a local interactive report for fictional workshop attendance and capacity.

The idea

Interactive visuals should make the selected subset visible and its effects checkable.

Follow along

Design and test filter interactions — guided practice

Use a slicer and labeled visuals without hiding the report’s current scope.

Use free Power BI Desktop on a supported 64-bit Windows computer; check the linked current system requirements and installation policy. No cloud sign-in, subscription or publishing is needed. Save sessions.csv and sites.csv in one stable practice folder. Sessions are S1 N Jan 15 8/10; S2 S Jan 15 6/10; S3 N Feb 15 7/10; S4 S Feb 15 5/10; S5 N Mar 15 4/10; S6 S Mar 15 9/10 (all dates 2026; values attended/capacity). Sites: N=North, S=South. Follow lessons cumulatively and save report.pbix locally. Menu/pane labels can vary slightly with monthly releases; use the named feature.

  1. 1. Add a site slicer

    Insert a Slicer visual using Sites[site_name]. Keep the three cards and verification table.

    You should see: North and South are selectable.

    A slicer exposes the report’s filtering dimension.

  2. 2. Test North

    Select North.

    You should see: Attendance 19, Capacity 30, FillRate 63.3%.

    The known fixture makes filter behavior testable.

  3. 3. Test South and reset

    Select South, then clear the slicer.

    You should see: South 20/30=66.7%; reset restores 39/60=65.0%.

    Reset is part of reliable exploration.

  4. 4. Add a clear trend

    Add a column chart with session_date on the axis as the date field (not an unintended hierarchy) and Attendance as value; title it Recorded visits by session date.

    You should see: Jan 15=14, Feb 15=12, Mar 15=13 when unfiltered.

    A chronological axis and labeled metric prevent ambiguity.

Now change one thing

Select North in the base data. Enter its total attendance.

Your work

What to finish

A report page with site slicer, three cards, verification table and dated chart.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Leaving a hidden filter active when exporting or explaining a total.

How can I tell I understand it?

Complete the changed case, explain your result, and pass the three application checks.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1A report shows Site A’s count but the filter is not visible. What should improve?
2A date chart orders April, February, January alphabetically. What is a better axis basis?
3A slicer is cleared. Which behavior should a baseline check verify?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
5
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

Go to the knowledge check
Optional course overview video · same video as Lesson 1
Kevin StratvertHow to use Microsoft Power BI - Tutorial for BeginnersYouTube
Optional course overview

How to use Microsoft Power BI - Tutorial for Beginners

From Kevin Stratvert. Watch here or open it on YouTube .

Optional course overview. Follow the written steps below at your own pace.
Tools, templates, and lesson sources

Tools and templates

Tools open in a new tab so you can keep your place here.

Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

Microsoft: Overview of slicers
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12

Opened and inspected on 2026-09-12: Filter controls and visual interactions.

Access: Free public web page; no paid enrollment required.

Reuse: Public reference; link only. LifeStarter prose, exercises and files are independently authored.

Microsoft: Create your own measures
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12

Opened and inspected on 2026-09-12: New measure workflow, DAX and filter context.

Access: Free public web page; no paid enrollment required.

Reuse: Public reference; link only. LifeStarter prose, exercises and files are independently authored.

Report a problem with this lesson

Tell us what went wrong. Please leave out personal information and private project contents.

No sign-in needed.