Using Power Query Editor from within Dataflow Gen1 – fuzzy matching and fill down

Data is the lifeblood of any analytics project, and Power BI offers a powerful toolset to help users clean and prepare their data for analysis. The Power Query Editor from within Dataflow Gen1, an integral part of Power BI, provides a range of techniques to streamline data cleaning. In this section, we’ll explore two essential techniques: fuzzy matching and fill down, and discover how they can elevate your data preparation game.

Fuzzy matching

Data from various sources can be notoriously inconsistent. Spelling mistakes, abbreviations, and different naming conventions can wreak havoc on your data analysis efforts. Fuzzy matching is a powerful technique that helps you match similar strings within your data, making it invaluable for consolidating information and reducing data inconsistencies.

Fuzzy matching uses a similarity score to determine how closely two strings match. It assigns...