Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

By : Paul te Braak

Buy this Book

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

By: Paul te Braak

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

Business Intelligence Semantic Models (BISM) is a technology that is designed to deliver analytical information to users through a variety of mechanisms that include model structure, definition, and design. This book demonstrates how to create BISM models so that information can be presented to users in an intuitive and easy-to-use format. Once the model is defined, we also show you how it can be managed and maintained so that the data in it remains current and secure. Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook is an all-encompassing guide to developing, managing, creating, and using analytical models using the Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM). This title covers a range of modeling situations and common data analysis related problems to show you the techniques required to turn data into information using tabular modeling. Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook examines three areas of tabular modeling: model development, model management and maintenance, and reporting. This book is a practical guide on how to develop semantic models and turn business data into information. It covers all phases of the model lifecycle from creation to administration and finally reporting. It also shows you how to create models which are designed to analyze data. All sections of BISM modeling from development to management and finally reporting are covered. The sections on development examine a wide range of techniques and tricks required to build models, including moving data into the model, structuring the model to manipulate the data, and finally the formulas required to answer common business questions; all of these are discussed in this book in detail. Finally, the book examines methods of reporting on the data within the model, including the creation of data-driven workbooks and reports for a powerful end user experience.

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

Getting Started with Excel

Introduction

Creating the model

Managing the appearance of tables and fields

Using tabular relationships to filter data

Adding fields to tables

Linking fields between tables

Creating model calculations

Importing Data

Introduction

Importing data as text

Importing data from databases

Managing connections and tables

Using data feeds

Advanced Browsing Features

Introduction

Sorting data

Creating hierarchies for drilldown interaction

Summing aggregates and row iteration

Parent-child hierarchies

Creating and using Key Performance Indicators

Role playing dimensions and relationships

Building ratios

Time Calculations and Date Functions

Introduction

Calculating running totals – totals to date

Month, quarter, and year to date aggregations

445 dates and irregularities

Last year and prior period values

Relative Time – pivoting around measures

Moving averages and last n averages

Applied Modeling

Introduction

Grouping by binning and sorting with ranks

Defining many-to-many relationships

Using the last non-empty function for stock data

Performing currency calculations

Allocating data at different levels

Programmatic Access via Excel

Introduction

Connecting pivot tables and Slicers

Using cube functions

Working with worksheet events and VBA

Managing the Slicer through VBA

Enterprise Design and Features

Introduction

Restoring a workbook to Analysis Services

Importing models into SQL Server Data Tools

Developing models in SQL Server Data Tools

Securing data with roles

Implementing dynamic security

Creating perspectives

Enterprise Management

Introduction

Deploying models from SSDT

Deploying models with the Deployment Wizard

Creating and managing partitions

Processing the data

DirectQuery and real-time solutions

Querying the Tabular Model with DAX

Introduction

Retrieving data from a single table

Using projection to combine data from different tables

Restricting data with filters and where conditions

Deriving tables and selecting top n records

Visualizing Data with Power View

Introduction

Creating a Power View report

Creating and manipulating charts

Using tiles (parameters)

Using and showing images

Automating the table fields with default field sets

Working with table behavior and card control

Using maps

Using multiples (Trellis Charts)

Installing PowerPivot and Sample Databases

Installing PowerPivot

Creating the database

Index

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

Creating model calculations

The sales model that has been developed in this chapter allows the user to interrogate data from the order list by products, customers, and dates. In doing so, the user can create an implicit measure so that the underlying data is aggregated according to the current filter context. The aggregation function of implicit measures is determined by the underlying data type of the column that is used for the measure. This method offers the user the ability to create and show simple calculations from the model data. However, it does not create a robust model because the calculations aren't readily selectable by the user and the calculation definition is not conformed within the model.

This recipe introduces calculations which are contained within the model and presented to the user as measures. DAX (the tabular model language introduced in Adding fields to tables recipe) is used to define measures, so that it can explicitly use these measures in the model. Furthermore, the ability to create measures through a complex DAX allows the model designer a larger degree of flexibility than is involved with implicit measures.

Getting ready

This recipe assumes that the sales model created in Linking fields between tables recipe is available and that the appropriate relationships exist among the Product, Subcategory, and Category tables.

By default, a table in Data View will have a horizontal line that does not show any data. This is referred to as the calculation area. If this is not visible, ensure that the Calculation Area button is selected in the Home menu.

How to do it…

There are many ways to create simple measures. Let's start with the automatic creation of measures.

Select any cell in the order_quantity field. Then, from the ribbon, select the SUM function from the AutoSum drop-down. A new calculation will be created in the calculation area as:
```
Sum of order_quantity:=SUM([order_quantity])
```
In the formula bar, select the name of the measure (Sum of order_quantity) and rename it to Total Order Quantity. The calculation should now look like this:
```
Total Order Quantity:=SUM([order_quantity])
```
Right-click on the calculation, select Format Cells... from the pop-up menu, and specify the format as a number format—(decimal number) with zero decimal places and click on the User 1000 separator (,) checkbox.
Select this group of columns: unit_cost, tax, total_price, and total_profit, by selecting the unit_cost column and dragging the mouse across to the total_profit column.
Click on the AutoSum button to create your calculations for these columns.
Rename the measures to Total Cost, Total Tax, Total Price, and Total Profit respectively with the same format as Total Order Quantity. Note that the format of the number is inherited as currency.
Select the cell in the calculation area under the unit_price column and type the formula:
```
Average Price:=AVERAGE([unit_price])
```
Intellisence provides a list of formulas available (based on the expression that is entered) and a description of the function, as shown in the following screenshot:
Hide the following fields of the Sales table: order_quantity, unit_price, tax, total_price, and total_profit.
Return to the PowerPivot Field List pane (in Excel) and refresh the model. Existing implicit calculations that were based on existing fields are removed from the model and the Sales table now includes the additional measures which were created. These measures can now be placed in the pivot tables (value) field list.
Tip
Explicit measure cannot be used in a slicer, filter, or as row or column labels.

How it works…

Measures that are created in the calculation area operate in the same manner as implicit measures. That is, the aggregation function is applied to the filtered data specified by the row and filter context within the client tool.

Because the measures are explicitly defined in the model they are called explicit measures and interpreted by the client tool as measures (many client tools detect an explicit measure as a special type of field and treat it differently than a table's standard field or dimension field).

There's more...

By default, the tabular model created in PowerPivot will display the model through a PowerPivot pivot table. This shows the model in its tabular form where measures and columns are shown with respect to the tables that they relate to. For example, the measures created in the Creating model calculations recipe appear under the Sales table node. In order to compare this (tabular) view with that of a traditional OLAP client, simply do the following:

Ensure that a cell within the pivot table is selected.
Activate PivotTable Field List by clicking on the Field List button from the Options tab of the PivotTable Tools menu.
The PivotTable Field List window opens, which shows the tabular model in the multidimensional (client) format.

The client tool (PivotTable Field List) shows the model in a different format and represents how a client tool interpretation of the model would be shown. Here, the measures are shown in measure groups and are not included as table objects.

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

By : Paul te Braak

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

By: Paul te Braak

Overview of this book

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Current Title:

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

Creating model calculations

Getting ready

How to do it…

Tip

How it works…

There's more...