Welcome to Power Mondays. Every Monday, learn all about Power BI, Power Query & Power Pivot in full length examples, videos or tips. In the first installment, let’s take a look at something we all can related to – Money.
We all know that Power BI is good for creating awesome visual experiences. Today let me share another fun way to use Power BI – to build a calculator. Learn how to create nest egg calculator in this Power BI parameter example tutorial.
This is what our output looks like:
Ready to learn how to do this in Power BI? Read on then…
Creating a nest egg calculator with Power BI Parameters – Step by step tutorial
We will use a very interesting and little known feature of Power BI – what-if parameters to build our nest egg calculator.
Step 1: Defining goals for the nest egg calculator
Just as building a large nest egg requires patience and planning, our nest egg calculator too needs some planning. But what planning you say? Just thinking out loud what our calculator should look like and what it should do is enough. So on that note, let’s define some goals:
- We have two kinds of savings – regular (monthly) and one time (already invested)
- The expected rate of return is different for each type of saving
- We want to see how the nest egg will grow over time, for example, next 30 years
Let’s say we want to figure out future value of 3 monthly investments and an existing investment. Each has their own expected rate of return.
We need to calculate value of investment at the end of year for next 30 years. ie Future value of our investment.
Step 2: Set up Power BI parameters to capture inputs
As each of our inputs can change, we need something that let’s us toy with the inputs. Guess what? We will use Parameters. This feature of Power BI let’s you add a what-if parameter to your workbook.
When you add a what-if parameter, Power BI does two things:
- Creates a table with all possible parameter values
- Creates a harvester measure that tells you which value is selected by user
To insert a parameter:
Open blank Power BI workbook and using what-if parameter button in the modeling tab, insert a parameter, as below.
Power BI Parameter Example – Demo
Now, repeat this step for 7 more times, so that we end up with 8 parameter tables, as described below.
At the end of this step, we will have 8 tables and 8 measures.
Lay out the parameter slicers like this on the canvas:
Note: You need to enable slider for the slicers.
Step 3: Create a table for forecast
We want to forecast the future value of investments for next 30 years. That means, we need to know the future value for each of those 30 years. If only, we had a table with numbers 0 to 30, then we can write some sort of DAX formula to calculate the FV.
To start off, let’s generate a table with numbers 0 to 30 (31 rows). You can do this in either Power Pivot (using GENERATESERIES() DAX formula) or in Power Query using the query ={0..30}
Let’s do this in Power Query. To create the forecast table in PQ:
- Go to home > get data > blank query
- When a blank query is created in PQ, in the formula bar type ={0..30} and press enter
- PQ will create a series of 31 numbers (starting from 0 and ending at 30) as a list
- Convert this list to a table using List tools > Transform ribbon.
- Add any other columns (derived) if you want.
- Name this query as Projection and load it to Power BI.
Step 4: Calculate forecast values
Now that our parameters and forecast table are ready, we can calculate future values of each investment. If you have this data in Excel, you can use FV() function to calculate the value. Unfortunately, Power Pivot doesn’t have FV() DAX formula. So how?
Simple, we can write the actual algebra.
The equation for future value of P payment for n periods at r interest rate is:
FV = P*(((1+r)^n – 1) / r)
For example, for [Amount 1 Value] of $100 invested at [Growth 1 Value] for 5 years would be:
=[Amount 1 Value] * (((1+[Growth 1 Value])^5 – 1)/[Growth 1 Value])
But wait, we are investing monthly…
As we are investing monthly instead of yearly, we need to to change r & n to r/12 and n*12.
So the final formula for future value after 5 years will be:
=[Amount 1 Value] * (((1+[Growth 1 Value]/12)^(5*12) – 1)/([Growth 1 Value]/12))
Replacing the division with DIVIDE() DAX formula, we get:
= [Amount 1 Value] * DIVIDE(((1+[Growth 1 Value]/12)^(5*12)-1),([Growth 1 Value]/12),1)
Calculating for all years
The above DAX formula works only for 5th year. How to calculate for any year?
Simple, we create a measure called as [selected year] which when used in a visual (like chart or table) will return different years. Something like =MAX(Projection[year]) should do.
Replacing 5 with [selected year], we get:
Amount 1 FV := [Amount 1 Value] * DIVIDE(((1+[Growth Pct 1 Value]/12)^([selected year]*12)-1),([Growth Pct 1 Value]/12),1)
Create 2 more such measures for Amount 2 FV and Amount 3 FV.
Calculating Future Value of [Amount have]:
In case of starting amount (existing investments), we can use compound interest logic to calculate future value.
The future value of amount P invested at r interest over n periods is given by this formula:
=P*(1+r)^n
Here is the measure for same:
Already have FV := [Already have Value]*(1+’Growth Pct (have)'[Growth Pct (have) Value])^[selected year]*1000
Remember, already have value is entered in $000s, so we must multiply the result with 1000.
Step 5: Visualize the result
And now comes the best part. We visualize all the yummy results calculated by our measures.
Start by inserting a stacked area chart. This is perfect for our calculator.
Add years as axis. Add [Amount 1 FV], [Amount 2 FV], [Amount 3 FV] and [Already have FV] as values. Your chart is ready.
When you put years on X axis of this visual, Power BI (thru Power Pivot) calculates the future value of all 4 investments for each year and shows the output as a stacked area chart. Cool no?
Now as you play with the sliders, the future amounts change. Go ahead and find out how much your nest egg will be worth. And then start working towards it.
See all of it in action – Live retirement savings calculator
Want to play with this but not near Power BI? Just use the embedded Power BI visual below to play and find out how much your nest egg will be worth.
Download Nest Egg calculator Power BI workbook
Click here to download the PBIX file for this. Play with it to learn more.
Note: This is made with July 2018 release of PBI, but should work in any recent version. If you notice anything funny, drop a comment so I can help.
Want more Power? Check out these amazing examples
If you like Power BI, please check out these examples to see other creative ways to use it.
- Which countries did better – Commonwealth Games 2018 dashboard in Power BI
- Homer Simpson in Power BI – D’oh counter
- Bitcoin what-if calculator in Power BI [Data Chant]
- Visual flair with custom backgrounds [Power Pivot Pro]
- Collapsible slicer pane for your Power BI Reports [Data Veld]
Excited about Power Mondays? Tell me what you want to see more?
I am super excited about Power Mondays. Every Monday, you will see the mighty magic of various Power tools. If you think I should talk about a certain business problem or concept, please post your suggestion in the comments. I will research and write about it on the blog in a subsequent Power Monday episode.
28 Responses to “Team To Do Lists – Project Tracking Tools using Excel [Part 2 of 6]”
[...] & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts Team To Do Lists - Project Tracking Tools Part 3: Preparing a project time line [upcoming] Part 4: Time sheets and Resource management [...]
the templates are great (I bought the combo).
What I'm missing is a way to have the project gantt chart and reporting with the data per resource, in such a way that I can also show the occupation per resource on an extended gantt chart.
So with hours entered per person per project or sub-activity, to show a gantt chart of how many hours/days a person spent on which project (or plans to spend).
[...] from: Team To Do Lists - Project Tracking Tools using Excel [Part 2 of 6] 25 Jun 09 | [...]
Hi Chandoo,
Funny I have a post on the value of MS project lined up which I will post when the current monster project I'm working on finishes and I get some free time!
I'm not sure this would help with any of the projects I've worked on, closing down a to do list seems like more effort than it's worth, but it might be useful for some things. I guessing it doesn't, but does the time stamp not update when you recalculate the work book?
keep up the good work!
Ross
@Ross.. Thanks for sharing your ideas... I think to do lists are a great way to keep up with project activities and ensure accountability from individual team members, when they are implemented right.
"I guessing it doesn’t, but does the time stamp not update when you recalculate the work book?"
Your guess is right. When you change the calculation mode to "iterative", excel takes care of the nittygritties and retains older values in circular references in formulas.
[...] Project Management in Excel [New Series] - Gantt Charts | To Do Lists [...]
[...] & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts Team To Do Lists - Project Tracking Tools Project Status Reporting - Create a Timeline to display milestones Part 4: Time sheets and Resource [...]
Hi Chandoo,
The template give me lot of convenience to monitor the thing to do. It simple. Thank You
[...] & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts Team To Do Lists - Project Tracking Tools Project Status Reporting - Create a Timeline to display milestones Part 4: Time sheets and Resource [...]
[...] make sure you have read the first 4 parts of the series - Making gantt charts [project planning], team todo lists [project tracking], project time lines chart [reporting] and Timesheets and Resource Management using Excel. Also [...]
Chandoo,
I really do not see any befit to this function in Excel unless it was somehow tied into some other chart. That is say a scheduled activities % complete is based on the to-do list.
The only way this chart would be useful is if no one was assigned none dependent task that could be done by anyone. The cases were both of these conditions are true are so few and far between it really makes this chart worthless.
@Brian... Once you have a todo list up and running, it is easy to get metrics out of it. I didnt propose it as it might look a bit too micro-management-ish.
I am able to understand what you meant by "The only way this chart would be useful is if no one was assigned none dependent task that could be done by anyone. The cases were both of these conditions are true are so few and far between it really makes this chart worthless."
Can you explain?
"Chandoo"
What I mean is this. Lets say you have 10 task which are part of one activity/WBS that is in your schedule. One there are very few cases were many people would be assigned to complete this one scheduled activity with no direction being given who should what of the 10 task. It is poor management, and the task 90% of the time would not get done in a timely manner if say 4 people were responsible. Secondly, you are assuming all 10 task are independent of each other. You might need to do task 1 thru 3 before you can do task 4, and to do task 7 you might need to do 4 and 6. Thirdly, the time it would take to compile and then fill out the to-do-list even in limited applications is really not worth it.
I just see almost no applications why a team would need to inform others separate from the schedule that they have completed a task on a to-do list unless anyone of the 4 people could of completed that task.
My point is, there might be a few very limited applications for this type of list but this list would be worthless as a Project Management tool in every other case.
However, change this from a to-do-list to a document change log and it is perfect. Instead of to-do it is the documents name or summary of what changed in the document. The person is who edited the document, and the time stamp is when they checked it in. But I do not know why you would use excel when there is free software you can use commercially that is 10 times better that does document management.
I think using excel to do Project Management over a real Project Management application is a bad idea. Unless you are running a very small, simple project, the time and effort is a lot more to use excel compared to the cost of the Project Management software.
This comes back to my point, I love your site, however, just because you can do something in excel does not mean you should do it. To often the time it takes to use excel is wasted 10 times over from the cost of doing it in an application designed to for the specific application.
@Brian: The todo list mentioned here is meant to keep track of all the tasks for which detailed planning is not necessary but some sort of tracking is needed. These are not be confused with project activities (a la gantt chart).
I like your suggestion about using this as a document tracker. Pretty cool use.
Coming to your point about excel as a real project management tool, well, I have my views, but in a serious project environment, it would surely payoff to have a dedicated project management application.
[...] & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts Team To Do Lists – Project Tracking Tools Project Status Reporting – Create a Timeline to display milestones Time sheets and Resource [...]
Chandoo,
Wonder how the timestamp column will maintain its previous data. Both Today() and Now() functions will update as and when the next timestamp happens.
[...] Preparing & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts Part2: Team To Do Lists – Project Tracking Tools Part3: Project Status Reporting – Create a Timeline to display milestones Part4: Time sheets and [...]
I've combined this with the issue tracker since I like the automatic date stamp, but one thing I'm noticing is that I can't replicate the chart that goes along with the issue tracker because the cells that are referenced have the formula that inserts the time stamp instead of a the actual date value. All the dates of the last 30 days display 0 when they should have a value.
Is there a way around this?
I have edited the chart so that my team members can update the percentage completion of the assigned tasks. When the cell is updated, i would like the time stamp to update. How would I manipulate the formula to update whenever the drop-down list is changed?
[...] … ??? To Do List [...]
Excel is great however sometimes you need to get a better idea of what tasks each person on your team is working on at any given time. We've developed a web app that can do just that! Each person has a list of tasks, listed in the order they have to complete them.
HII,
I want to expand the database through excel where i am working on 11 cities as of now and i want to expand it upto 50 cities and hence forth the data related to it will also expand so i want to make it precise where i can get updates also that this work is required to be done at that particular day or date
Thanks for making all of this information available for free. I am currently using excel to track everything for the first time. I later plan to output our information here with a more visual presentation. Wish me luck!
Can some one point me out to some additional direction on the "Who Finished it?" column? Something more 'basic' for a newbie excel guy? lol I got everything else working on this tutorial but that column. I can't seem to recreate it and I know a lot of it is due to lack of knowledge with VB code. I'd like to recreate this column very much 🙁
Dear Chandoo,
Thanks for the team to do list, kindly let me know how to set the column who " finished it " from another work sheet
Hi Chandoo,
Unable to download it - can you please check the link and confirm.
Great inhisgt! That's the answer we've been looking for.
Hi Team,
I know u all are the best programmers in the world!!! that's I am here to rectify my issues. here is my question please ans me as soon as possible before 8-3-2017 its really urgent.
I have a project named the production tracker.
1) I require the user form which shows the names of the Associates which are linked to the different tracks. when the user is selected the particular track related details and dropdowns should appear.
2) I need to track the associate needs how much of the time to complete the particular task. with start stop and pause and resume timer.
3) It should display the daily count of the production and save the data to the another Excel file.
this production tracker should save all the data no matter how many people logs in into it.
Please help me for this it will be very appreciated.
you can directly email me on my mail ID: tusharkch694@gmail.com