In Power BI, such date range filters do not have to be difficult to compose or require vast DAX. Below there are some constructive methods of accomplishing flexible date range filtering with little or no DAX:
1. Use Relative Date Slicers
One of the simplest methods would be using the Relative Date Slicer, which is available in Power BI. This slicer allows one to specify dynamic ranges such as "In the Last 7 days," "This month," or "In the Following quarter" without having to use DAX. This is rather suitable in case there is a need to have a period that keeps rolling to the present day. To do so, one should just find a slicer visual in the report, connect it to the date field, and set it to relative. This is useful especially for the dashboards, as even the audience can select the time frame during which the said data is most recent.
2. Use Slicers and Filters for Custom Date Ranges
If more precise controlling of particular date ranges is desired, two slicers can be incorporated, one designating the Start Date and the other the End Date. Both slicers could be linked to the date column, and the users will be able to select a range manually. This approach does not call for any DAX, as Power BI will filter the data according to the dates chosen. To further improve the effectiveness of this strategy, it is recommended to make the Date table in Power BI a 'Date Table' as that may also enhance the effectiveness of the slicers in dealing with Date data.
3. Take Advantage of Ready-Made Date range fields that can be found in Your Date Tables
When period rendering for different durations like "YTD" or "QTD" is important, it is worth creating new columns in heuristic calendars of common time frames such that these will allow the calculation of more extreme periods. After that, columns can be used as visual filters. For instance, there can be a column in the date table that gives the status of every date of either YTD or MTD so that users can filter these. Hence, periods may be changed easily without the need to write complicated DAX statements.
