Book Image

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

By : Paul te Braak
Book Image

Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook

By: Paul te Braak

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.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Microsoft Tabular Modeling Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Connecting pivot tables and Slicers


Excel 2010 introduced new functionality into Excel in the form of Slicer controls. A Slicer can be thought of as an Excel data control that connects to multidimensional data as a client tool, which has built-in functionality for interacting with pivot tables. Since the tabular model is presented to Excel as a multidimensional model (it is essentially a server model stored in Excel and accessed through Excel's client tools), the pivot table and Slicer can connect to the tabular model.

In fact, the PowerPivot Field List is a special field list for interacting with a pivot table based on the tabular model that includes two window groups for horizontal and vertical Slicers, as shown in the following screenshot (the horizontal or vertical position only refers to the Slicers position in relation to the location of the pivot table). This is only available in Excel 2010.

While the Slicer can be attached to a pivot table through the PivotTable Field list, the Slicer...