In the last months, I got the infamous “it’s by design” answer for many bugs/issues/irrational behaviors I posted to Microsoft. For most of them I used the Connect web site, in a couple of cases I opened a formal incident…  Read more

The August 2015 update of Power BI Desktop added two important features for existing Excel and Analysis Services users: Import Excel Power BI artifacts (Data Model, Queries, Power View) into a new Power BI Desktop file Live Analysis Services Connections: Ability…  Read more

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Adding a measure to a Tabular model

This article describes how to add a measure to a Tabular model already deployed on Analysis Services by using C# or PowerShell. This can be useful to deploy user-defined metrics without deploying the entire database.  Read more

<rant mode=”funny”> Most of the time I submitted an issue to Microsoft Connect, I got a “it’s by design” answer. I’ve been always irritated by this sentence because they don’t admit in this way that they have a bug. Today,…  Read more

If you have 30 seconds available, please vote the following items on Connect: https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/679618/import-attribute-key-from-ssas-in-powerpivot When you import data coming from an Analysis Services cube in PowerPivot, you cannot import the attribute key value. Only the attribute name is included in…  Read more

Almost two years ago I wrote a post about the abuse of the “it’s by design” answer Microsoft gives to many bugs. You know, I think that a bug in design produces the same results (if not worst) than a…  Read more

Many people requested me how to connect to Power Pivot from an external program, without publishing the workbook on SharePoint or on Analysis Services Tabular. I always said it is not possible (for both technical and licensing reasons), but someone…  Read more

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Data Model Size with VertiPaq Analyzer

Analyzing table and column size is an important step in optimizing a data model for Power Pivot, Power BI, or Analysis Services Tabular. This article describes VertiPaq Analyzer, an Excel workbook to analyze detailed information extracted from Dynamic Management Views.  Read more

The DAX query syntax allows you to insert a parameter by using the @ symbol. EVALUATE CALCULATETABLE(     ‘Product Subcategory’,     ‘Product Category’[Product Category Name] = @Category ) Depending on the client and on the driver you are using to…  Read more

If you think PowerPivot and Tabular are good tools but sometime the design tools are not fast/complete/flexible enough, please consider voting this suggestion on Connect to request a textual representation Tabular or PowerPivot Data Models. This is the simplest way…  Read more