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

Using the AutoSum measure in Visual Studio


It is common when building a new model or enhancing an existing model that you will need to apply formatting onto various columns. Updating the formats in the model prevents users from needing to modify the format each time to access the model. For example, to determine the number of records in a table using a record ID column that is numerical would need to be aggregated with a COUNT function and not a SUM function. This behavior when set at the model level affects how everyone using the model sees the data. When designing your model in Visual Studio, there is an option to quickly apply one of six predefined common functions to numerical columns:

  • Sum

  • Average

  • Count

  • DistinctCount

  • Max

  • Min

This option is very helpful when you need to add calculations on several columns quickly that are numerical data types.

How to do it...

  1. Open the Visual Studio solution for your crash data tabular model.

  2. Select the CRASH_DATA_T table in the Grid View and then scroll to the...