Power BI Report Builder - Total is inflated

Question

Power BI Report Builder - Total is inflated

HGlon 5

I am building a report in Report builder and am having difficulty getting the total to calculate correctly. I have four parameters (user name, start date, end date, and activity grouping) acting on the single dataset this report is drawing on. It is displaying the correct Activities and hours associated with each Activity for that Date; I'm just looking to sum those hours for each date. I added a Total row by right clicking on the ActivityGroup in the Row Groups panel > Add Total > After. It popped up as a row with "Total" in one column and nothing else. Then, I added in the Value: =SUM(Fields!Count.Value)

I'm assuming this is related to how I've set up my groups. Suggestions welcome; this is my first paginated report.

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Answer 1

Erland Sommarskog 137.4K MVP Volunteer Moderator

For questions about Power BI, you might be better off in asking in the Fabric Communities: https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/.

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Answer 2

The total row was added correctly, but the expression is likely summing Fields!Count.Value in the wrong scope. In a grouped tablix, =Sum(Fields!Count.Value) can aggregate over a broader scope than the date group, which inflates the result.

Use the total row that was added from the Date row group, and set the total textbox to a scoped sum for that group.

A working pattern is:

=Sum(Fields!Count.Value, "YourDateGroupName")

Replace "YourDateGroupName" with the actual name of the row group for Date.

Key points:

The Add Total command adds a row outside the current group and inserts a default aggregate for numeric fields.
If the expression is edited manually without the correct group scope, the total can evaluate across the whole data region or another parent scope.
The Sum function supports summing within a specific group or data region scope.

What to check in Report Builder:

In the Row Groups pane, identify the group that is based on Date.
Right-click the Date group cell again and use Add Total > After if needed, so the total row is tied to that group.

In the total textbox, replace:

   =Sum(Fields!Count.Value)

with:

   =Sum(Fields!Count.Value, "DateGroupName")

Preview the report. The total should now repeat once per date group and sum only that date’s rows.

If the total row is for a child group instead of the Date parent group, it will total the wrong scope. For nested groups, the total row for a child group is outside the child group but still inside the parent group, so placement matters.

If the goal is one subtotal per date, the total must be attached to the Date row group, not the Activity detail row or another nested group.

Example from the expression syntax:

=Sum(Fields!LineTotal.Value, "Order")

That same pattern applies here for the Date group.

References: