VertiPaq is the internal column-based database engine used by PowerPivot and BISM Tabular models. High cardinality columns might be the more expensive parts of a table. If you cannot remove a high cardinality column from a table, by using the…  Read more

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Using calculation groups or many-to-many relationships for time intelligence selection

This article compares two common techniques to filter time periods in DAX: calculation groups and many-to-many relationships.  Read more

We presented a few session at SQLBits and the video of these sessions are available. This is the list of sessions available from SQLBits 8 and SQLBits 9 – just click the link on the title and jump to the…  Read more

Tomorrow January 10th, 2012 at 3pm Eastern Time (which is 8pm GMT) I will deliver a free online session for the PASS DW/BI Virtual Chapter. This is the official description of the session. Vertipaq vs OLAP: Change Your Data Modeling…  Read more

When you create a PowerPivot workbook or a BISM Tabular model (new in Analysis Services 2012), you store data by using the VertiPaq engine, which is an in-memory columnar database. Instead of considering the row of a table as the…  Read more

If you work with Power Pivot, Power BI, or Analysis Services Tabular, you probably already know VertiPaq Analyzer. If you never used it, with the new release 1.7 you have another couple of very good reason to try it. VertiPaq…  Read more

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DIVIDE Performance

The DIVIDE function in DAX is usually faster to avoid division-by-zero errors than the simple division operator. However, there are exceptions to this rule, described in this article through a simple performance analysis.  Read more

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Relationships in Power BI and Tabular models

This article describes the types of relationships available in Power BI and Analysis Services, clarifying the differences in cardinality and filter propagation of physical relationships.  Read more

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Introducing wholesale and retail execution in composite models

In composite models, any query can be executed on the remote model (wholesale execution) or by mixing local and remote engines together (retail execution). This article describes the differences between the wholesale and retail modes, along with examples.  Read more

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Costs of Relationships in DAX

The relationships in a data model queried by DAX are a fundamental part of the engine and simplify the query itself. This article examines the cost of relationships in a data model, providing hints to optimize them.  Read more