PL-300 Model the data Practice Question
You have a Power BI model with a table 'Sales' that contains columns: Date, SalespersonID, and Amount. You have a 'Salespeople' table with columns: SalespersonID, Name, and Region. You need to create a measure that calculates the total sales amount for the current region, but only for salespeople who have made at least one sale in the current month. Which DAX expression achieves this?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
SUMX(FILTER(Salespeople, CALCULATE(COUNTROWS(Sales), Sales[Date] >= DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()), 1)) > 0), CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Salespeople[Region] = SELECTEDVALUE(Salespeople[Region])))
It first filters the Salespeople table to only those who have made at least one sale in the current month (using COUNTROWS > 0 with a date filter), then iterates over that filtered list with SUMX, and for each salesperson calculates the sum of Amount filtered to their region using CALCULATE. Option A is wrong because it sums all sales in the selected region without any filter on salespeople who have sales this month. Option C is wrong because it sums over all salespeople without first filtering to those with current month sales, so it would incorrectly include salespeople with no current month sales. Option D is wrong because it sums sales only in the current month but does not restrict to salespeople with at least one sale in the current month; it would include all sales in that month, regardless of salesperson.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Salespeople[Region] = SELECTEDVALUE(Salespeople[Region]))
Why it's wrong here
Does not filter salespeople with sales in current month.
- ✓
SUMX(FILTER(Salespeople, CALCULATE(COUNTROWS(Sales), Sales[Date] >= DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()), 1)) > 0), CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Salespeople[Region] = SELECTEDVALUE(Salespeople[Region])))
Why this is correct
Correctly iterates over salespeople who have at least one sale in the current month and sums their sales for the current region.
- ✗
SUMX(Salespeople, CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Salespeople[Region] = SELECTEDVALUE(Salespeople[Region]), Sales[Date] >= DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()), 1)))
Why it's wrong here
Sums for all salespeople but only sales in current month; does not filter salespeople without sales.
- ✗
CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Salespeople[Region] = SELECTEDVALUE(Salespeople[Region]), Sales[Date] >= DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()), 1))
Why it's wrong here
Filters sales by current month but does not ensure salesperson has at least one sale in that month (all salespeople with any sale in the month are included).
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