Book Image

Tabular Modeling with SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services Cookbook

By : Derek Wilson
Book Image

Tabular Modeling with SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services Cookbook

By: Derek Wilson

Overview of this book

SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS) has been widely used across multiple businesses to build smart online analytical reporting solutions. It includes two different types of modeling for analysis services: Tabular and Multi Dimensional. This book covers Tabular modeling, which uses tables and relationships with a fast in-memory engine to provide state of the art compression algorithms and query performance. The book begins by quickly taking you through the concepts required to model tabular data and set up the necessary tools and services. As you learn to create tabular models using tools such as Excel and Power View, you’ll be shown various strategies to deploy your model on the server and choose a query mode (In-memory or DirectQuery) that best suits your reporting needs. You’ll also learn how to implement key and newly introduced DAX functions to create calculated columns and measures for your model data. Last but not least, you’ll be shown techniques that will help you administer and secure your BI implementation along with some widely used tips and tricks to optimize your reporting solution. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained hands-on experience with the powerful new features that have been added to Tabular models in SSAS 2016 and you’ll be able to improve user satisfaction with faster reports and analytical queries.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Tabular Modeling with SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Browsing your model with Microsoft Excel


Most users will want to use Microsoft Excel to interact with the data and perform analysis. By using Excel you can create many types of interactions with the data in the model. This recipe shows you how to connect to the model and build a Power View report.

How to do it...

  1. Open Microsoft Excel and create a new workbook.

  2. Click on the Data ribbon and then select Get External Data | From Other Sources | From Analysis Services.

  3. Enter your Analysis Services Server name and Log on credentials on the next window.

  4. Select Chapter3_Model from the drop-down list and click Next.

  5. On the next screen click Finish.

  6. Now you can Select how you want to view the data in Excel. If you have installed  Power View Report, select it and select OK.

  7. After connecting to the data you will have a new Power View sheet in Excel.

  8. Select Year from the MasterCalendar_TCalendar_YQMD hierarchy and drag it to the design surface. Then drag the CRASH_KEY from the Crash_Data table and...