hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PL-900 Practice Question: A Power BI report contains a measure that…
A Power BI report contains a measure that calculates year-over-year growth. The measure works correctly in Power BI Desktop but shows blank values after publishing to the service. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume blank values are caused by missing data or permissions, but the real issue is the subtle difference in time zone handling between Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service, which is a frequent source of confusion in PL-900 exam questions.
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
✓
The time zone settings in the service differ from Desktop
Time zone settings in the Power BI service can cause date-based measures like year-over-year growth to return blank values. When a measure uses functions such as SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR or DATEADD, the service may interpret date boundaries differently than Power BI Desktop, especially if the dataset uses a different time zone or if the service applies UTC conversion. This mismatch can result in no matching dates for the calculation, leading to blank results.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The dataset was deleted from the service
Why it's wrong here
If deleted, the report would not open at all.
- ✗
The user does not have permission to view the measure
Why it's wrong here
Permissions control access, not calculation.
- ✓
The time zone settings in the service differ from Desktop
Why this is correct
Year-over-year calculations often depend on date functions that are sensitive to time zone.
- ✗
The scheduled refresh is not configured
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled refresh does not affect measure calculation; it only updates data.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PL-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PL-900 exam.