In a semantic model, which function allows returning only columns from the most recent complete period?

In a semantic model, the function that effectively returns only columns from the most recent complete period is the SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR function. This function is designed to retrieve data corresponding to the previous year's complete period, ensuring that the user can analyze performance or metrics while maintaining temporal relevance.

By leveraging this function, analysts can compare trends and patterns between the most recent completed time frame and the same time frame from the prior year. Such comparisons help in understanding seasonal effects, yearly performance metrics, and overall growth or contraction of data.

The other functions mentioned serve different purposes and do not provide the same functionality. For instance, LASTYEAR typically allows users to access data from the past year but does not necessarily constrain the output to only complete periods. PREVIOUSBYMONTH could focus on previous months without ensuring a full year's context or completeness. YEARDIFF could be used to analyze differences over years but lacks the specificity needed to return only the complete periods.

This pinpointed capability of SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR to conditionally filter data sets to complete periods makes it an essential tool for temporal analysis in semantic data modeling.