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PowerPivot

  • SSAS Tabular String Imported as Integer

    August 9th, 2014 in Analysis Services, Blog, PowerPivot, Tabular

    Let me start by saying that I think the SSAS Tabular model is great. But…. there are a number of problems that Microsoft still need to get ironed out. Not least of which is being able to import data properly directly from CSV/Text files. Yes you can import directly from csv, but you are given absolutely no control over the process, and this can lead to some serious problems. One of these issues is the rather odd automated data type…

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  • PowerPivot Vs QlikView 101 – SQLBits Video

    November 10th, 2011 in Analysis Services, Blog, Business Intelligence, PowerPivot, QlikView

    PowerPivot Vs QlikView 101 – SQLBits Video The video is now available from my PowerPivot and QlikView talk at SQLBits 9 in Liverpool in September 2011. You can download or watch the video here. In this 1 hour session I create interactive dashboards from scratch in both PowerPivot and QlikView, showing how to set up the data model, overcome common pitfalls and build the dashboards. I create almost identical dashboards in both systems and…

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  • SQLBits 9 Session – PowerPivot and QlikView 101

    October 15th, 2011 in Blog, Business Intelligence, Community, PowerPivot, QlikView, SQL Server

    Thank you to the SQLBits committee, speakers, helpers and attendees, for making SQLBits 9 one of the best yet. What a great example SQLBits is of the power of the SQL Server community coming together to help each other, and enjoy a few beers in the process! I was delighted to have my “PowerPivot & QlikView 101” session chosen by the committee, which I presented on Saturday afternoon. Thank you to all those who attended, great to…

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  • The Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM)

    May 18th, 2011 in Analysis Services, Blog, Business Intelligence, PowerPivot

    I’m a happy chap. Why? Because I read a blog post yesterday by T.K. Anand (SSAS Principal Group Program Manager) about the vision and roadmap of Analysis Services. There were slightly concerning questions last November (following the PASS conference) surounding the future of Analysis Services, or more specifically the UDM, the dimensional model that we all know and love in SSAS 2005 & 2008. The arrival of PowerPivot into the Microsoft…

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  • Will DAX replace MDX

    September 3rd, 2010 in Analysis Services, Blog, PowerPivot

    For those that haven’t yet heard of DAX, it’s an expression language developed by Microsoft to perform calculations against PowerPivot. Stepping back one step further, PowerPivot is essentially a local Analysis Services cube that runs within Excel 2010. I’ve heard plenty of comments from various sources about how DAX is the [multi-dimensional] query language of the future and how it’s going to kill off MDX. Ok….…

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  • Calculating Run Rate in DAX for PowerPivot

    August 20th, 2010 in Blog, Business Intelligence, PowerPivot

    In my previous post I explained how to create a calculated MDX member that projects full year data (sales etc.) based on existing year to date data. In this post I’ll be doing exactly the same but in DAX, the new expression language used to enhance PowerPivot data. As it’s the same desired outcome, I’m not going to repeat the background, you’ll have to look at my previous post for that. The expressions below assume that…

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