PowerBI Accelerator Course Bonus Content - Columns to Scalar Value?

Cole Welsh
Cole Welsh
Third Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
in SKY Developer General Discussions

Hi everyone!

I'm working on the bonus content part of the PowerBI Accelerator Course for the Line & Column Chart, and I'm getting an error in PowerBI that I don't entirely understand.

In Step 56, you're required to copy/paste the following DAX in for a New Column:

Giving Level = // Assign a Giving Level range to each gift header record based on total gift amount (not split)

// Reference the Giving Level spreadsheet for min/max of each range

CALCULATE(VALUES('Giving Level'[Giving Level Description]),FILTER('Giving Level',Gift[Gift Amount]>= 'Giving Level'[Giving Level Min] && Gift <='Giving Level'[Giving Level Max]))

However, when I put this in, I receive the following error:

The expression refers to multiple columns. Multiple columns cannot be converted to a scalar value.

I did some Google-ing, and I'm not exactly sure I'm ending up with any good idea for how to fix this - I've seen that a scalar value is supposed to return one single value? Which makes sense, I think, but I don't know how you're supposed to get that from multiple columns then.

Help?

Comments

  • Dan Snyder
    Dan Snyder Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 March 2026 Challenge: Answered Questions Commented in Discussion

    @Cole Welsh
    I am not entirely sure this will solve your problem, but I see an extra comma between Level and Gift

    CALCULATE(VALUES('Giving Level'[Giving Level Description]),FILTER('Giving Level',Gift[Gift Amount]>= 'Giving Level'[Giving Level Min] && Gift <='Giving Level'[Giving Level Max]))

  • Matt Thacker
    Matt Thacker
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    Hey @Cole Welsh, in the second condition of your FILTER expression, the reference to the Gift table isn't specifying a column, it's referencing the entire table.

    CALCULATE(
    VALUES('Giving Level'[Giving Level Description]),
    FILTER(
    'Giving Level',
    Gift[Gift Amount]>= 'Giving Level'[Giving Level Min] && Gift[Gift Amount] <= 'Giving Level'[Giving Level Max]
    )
    )

  • Rebecca Sundquist
    Rebecca Sundquist Blackbaud Employee
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Cole Welsh, you'll find the working DAX for this calculated column in your Lab1b_solution.pbix file. Matt solved it. Thank you for pointing out where the workshop documentation requires an update. ✨ You earn bonus stars for working through the bonus workshop content!!

    Giving Level = // Assign a Giving Level range to each gift header record based on total gift amount (not split)

    // Reference the Giving Level spreadsheet for min/max of each range

    CALCULATE(VALUES('Giving Level'[Giving Level Description]),FILTER('Giving Level', Gift[Gift Amount]>= 'Giving Level'[Giving Level Min] && Gift[Gift Amount]<='Giving Level'[Giving Level Max]))

    In other words, we are trying to find the ONE value from the Giving Levels de-coder to apply to each gift amount.

    Credit where credit is due: This example was borrowed from @Ellen Smith's Power BI Template for use with Exports.

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