If you get an error trying to create chained relationships in PowerPivot (i.e. Customers – Orders – OrderDetails), there is a known issue with a possible workaround. The item is described on Connect, but here is the issue and the workaround: ISSUE: A  Read more

This topic is general and not related to a specific feature of PowerPivot. In the way it is designed today, when data are imported from a SSAS cube into PowerPivot, the dimensionality of the original cube is lost and a flat table is imported as the result  Read more

Every measure imported from a SSAS cube is imported as a Text column instead of as a Numeric column. This is very annoying because users are used to use SSAS data with rich metadata, and a measure is usually numeric. Moreover, the standard aggregation  Read more

If you write direct MDX queries using SSAS 2005/2008 as a PowerPivot data source, it is better if you prepare your MDX query by using another editor. For example, write and test your MDX query by using SQL Server Management Studio and then copy &  Read more

The query designer in PowerPivot has a few limitations that require the manual modification of the MDX query to get data that are often needed to create a PowerPivot model that compares data from cube with data from other sources (like Excel workbooks  Read more

A general problem of any cube is the way PowerPivot handles calculated members. From a technical point of view, it is absolutely correct that PowerPivot imports the result of a calculated member evaluated at the granularity of the query result. However,  Read more

If you are curious to look at the upcoming book Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010: Give Your Data Meaning that I wrote with Alberto , you can see the first 4 chapters in draft format through the “ Rough Cuts ” initiative by O’Reilly. I’d like to get  Read more

Companies that have cubes on Analysis Services 2000 and still have not completed a migration to SSAS 2005/2008 might be interested in connecting to AS2000 from PowerPivot. Unfortunately, there are several limitations about using AS2000 as a data source  Read more

In the next 2 to 3 weeks I will publish a few blog posts about importing data to PowerPivot using Analysis Services as a data source. This is something I studied a lot during the beta test of PowerPivot and it is not a topic that has a place in the upcoming  Read more

Did you missed our SQLBI Methodology session at PASS Summit 2009? Don’t worry. We will make the show again, live and directly on your PC – for free! On September 15 and 16 there will be a new edition of 24 Hours of PASS . I and Alberto will show SQLBI  Read more