FIRSTNONBLANK used to pick an attribute
"FIRSTNONBLANK used to pick an attribute" is one of the dax quality checks Auditabi runs on a Power BI semantic model. n measure(s) use FIRSTNONBLANK or LASTNONBLANK to read an attribute. It is a low-severity finding: hygiene and maintainability, worth fixing when you next touch the object. Use SELECTEDVALUE with an alternate result, or MIN / MAX when any value would do, so ambiguity is explicit.
What is detected
n measure(s) use FIRSTNONBLANK or LASTNONBLANK to read an attribute. Those functions scan in the model's sort order and hide the fact that several values exist, so a duplicate in the source silently changes the number shown.
Why it matters
Hygiene and maintainability. Fix when touching the object.
How to fix it
Use SELECTEDVALUE with an alternate result, or MIN / MAX when any value would do, so ambiguity is explicit.
Does your model fail this check?
Free static audit with the exact objects, no account, nothing stored.
More DAX checks
- Arithmetic or comparison on a measure that returns text
- Measure returning text in one branch and a number in another
- Share denominator clears a fact-table column instead of the dimension
- "Previous period" window overlaps the current one
- Percentage label built without ×100
- Percentages and amounts summed together