Powerbi.com Server Time

[JuliaYebra]

I have a report that works well on Power BI Desktop but on the Service shows wrong values.

This is because when using now() function on Desktop shows my country time correctly but on Service it shows 3 more hours.

As I'm not a Tenant Admin on my company I can't see if there is any Time/zone configuration on the Service.

Does anybody know if Power Bi takes the time/zone from a user or tenant configuration and where is it??  

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@JuliaYebra You can tell where you data is being stored by clicking on the question mark in the upper right hand corner, and selecting "About Power BI". This may help in troubleshooting. 

[elliotdixon]

Hi @Seth_C_Bauer I have the same issue on all my reports.

Data is being stored in Singapore under NZ timezone

however as you can see it still thinks it is yesterday ! New Zealand is +12 hours.

Any fix for this you can recommend would be great.

Cheers

ED.

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@elliotdixon If you take the current time in the NOW() function and subtract the time as a fraction of 1 day you can remove hours. So, 1 day = 24 hours. 1/24 * (number of hours you want subracted) will be the decimal that you subtract. This should give you the local time you want to display in your reports when using the NOW() function. Here are some quick examples, you'll notice the 22 hours ago correctly moves you back a day.

[elliotdixon]

Hi @Seth_C_Bauer Thanks for this - helps a bit. I have been using the format

NZ Now = NOW()+(12/24)

Which gives +0.5. Excatly what you have. Which is great.

Issue is that now its the afternoon in my time the dates are still looking +0.5 of a day ahead. Means I am getting numbers for Friday when it is still Thursday. Any ideas how this can be fixed?

Cheers

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@elliotdixon I guess I would need to know more about what you are trying to accomplish. If I read this correctly, you are in NZ timesone, and your data is being stored in a DC that is 12 hours ahead and the dates are stored in the TZ of the DC? Can you elaborate a bit? 

[elliotdixon]

Hi @Seth_C_Bauer Thanks for your help with this.

I seemed to have solved the issue for the Import model of Power BI but now need to get it working for my DirectQuery model.

On each data table with dates I can add two columns

Add Column –> Add Custom Column

• Name:  Date_TABLENAME (NZ+12)
• Formula:  =DateTime.AddZone([Column with Date / time values],12)

 Then

Add Column –> Add Custom Column

• Name:  Date_TABLENAME_GMTTime
• Formula:  =DateTimeZone.SwitchZone([#"Date_TABLENAME (NZ+12)"],0)

I then connect the GMTTime colum back to the main dates table I have setup. It all then works online. Great.

The 12 hours is due to NZ being 12 hours ahead at the moment - I will have to fix during the summer months when we go +13 but thats something to worry about another time.

The next issue is that I need to relicate this in Direct Query but it does not allow the adding of new columns.

Any idea how to solve that?

Cheers
ED.