Build agile and responsive business intelligence solutions Create a semantic model and analyze data using the tabular model in SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services to create corporate-level business intelligence (BI) solutions. Led by two BI experts, you will learn how to build, deploy, and query a tabular model by following detailed examples and best practices. This hands-on book shows you how to use the tabular model’s in-memory database to perform rapid analytics—whether you are new to Analysis Services or already familiar with its multidimensional model. Discover how to: • Determine when a tabular or multidimensional model is right for your project • Build a tabular model using SQL Server Data Tools in Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 • Integrate data from multiple sources into a single, coherent view of company information • Choose a data-modeling technique that meets your organization’s performance and usability requirements • Implement security by establishing administrative and data user roles • Define and implement partitioning strategies to reduce processing time • Use Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL) to execute and automate administrative tasks • Optimize your data model to reduce the memory footprint for VertiPaq • Choose between in-memory (VertiPaq) and pass-through (DirectQuery) engines for tabular models • Select the proper hardware and virtualization configurations • Deploy and manipulate tabular models from C# and PowerShell using AMO and TOM libraries Get code samples, including complete apps, at: https://aka.ms/tabular/downloads About This Book • For BI professionals who are new to SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services or already familiar with previous versions of the product, and who want the best reference for creating and maintaining tabular models. • Assumes basic familiarity with database design and business analytics concepts.

A guide to tabular modeling of the Innovative Business Intelligence Semantic Model describes such tasks as integrating data from multiple sources, implementing business calculations and KiIs, and designing cached and real-time data access.

Create Business Intelligence (BI) solutions with the Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM) Tabular model - and discover a simpler method for analyzing business data.

Get up to speed with the new features added to Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Analysis Services and create models to support your business Key FeaturesExplore tips and tricks to design, develop, and optimize end-to-end data analytics solutions using Microsoft's technologiesLearn tabular modeling and multi-dimensional cube design development using real-world examplesImplement Analysis Services to help you make productive business decisionsBook Description SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) continues to be a leading enterprise-scale toolset, enabling customers to deliver data and analytics across large datasets with great performance. This book will help you understand MS SQL Server 2019’s new features and improvements, especially when it comes to SSAS. First, you’ll cover a quick overview of SQL Server 2019, learn how to choose the right analytical model to use, and understand their key differences. You’ll then explore how to create a multi-dimensional model with SSAS and expand on that model with MDX. Next, you’ll create and deploy a tabular model using Microsoft Visual Studio and Management Studio. You'll learn when and how to use both tabular and multi-dimensional model types, how to deploy and configure your servers to support them, and design principles that are relevant to each model. The book comes packed with tips and tricks to build measures, optimize your design, and interact with models using Excel and Power BI. All this will help you visualize data to gain useful insights and make better decisions. Finally, you’ll discover practices and tools for securing and maintaining your models once they are deployed. By the end of this MS SQL Server book, you’ll be able to choose the right model and build and deploy it to support the analytical needs of your business. What you will learnDetermine the best analytical model using SSASCover the core aspects involved in MDX, including writing your first queryImplement calculated tables and calculation groups (new in version 2019) in DAXCreate and deploy tabular and multi-dimensional models on SQL 2019Connect and create data visualizations using Excel and Power BIImplement row-level and other data security methods with tabular and multi-dimensional modelsExplore essential concepts and techniques to scale, manage, and optimize your SSAS solutionsWho this book is for This Microsoft SQL Server book is for BI professionals and data analysts who are looking for a practical guide to creating and maintaining tabular and multi-dimensional models using SQL Server 2019 Analysis Services. A basic working knowledge of BI solutions such as Power BI and database querying is required.

Expert tabular modeling techniques for building and deploying cutting-edge business analytical reporting solutions About This Book Build and deploy Tabular Model projects from relational data sources Leverage DAX and create high-performing calculated fields and measures Create ad-hoc reports based on a Tabular Model solution Useful tips to monitor and optimize your tabular solutions Who This Book Is For This book is for SQL BI professionals and Architects who want to exploit the full power of the new Tabular models in Analysis Services. Some knowledge of previous versions of Analysis services would be helpful but is not essential. What You Will Learn Learn all about Tabular services mode and how it speeds up development Build solutions using sample datasets Explore built-in actions and transitions in SSAS 2016 Implement row-column, and role-based security in a Tabular Data model Realize the benefits of in-memory and DirectQuery deployment modes Get up to date with the new features added to SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services Optimize Data Models and Relationships Usage In Detail SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS) has been widely used across multiple businesses to build smart online analytical reporting solutions. It includes two different types of modeling for analysis services: Tabular and Multi Dimensional. This book covers Tabular modeling, which uses tables and relationships with a fast in-memory engine to provide state of the art compression algorithms and query performance. The book begins by quickly taking you through the concepts required to model tabular data and set up the necessary tools and services. As you learn to create tabular models using tools such as Excel and Power View, you'll be shown various strategies to deploy your model on the server and choose a query mode (In-memory or DirectQuery) that best suits your reporting needs. You'll also learn how to implement key and newly introduced DAX functions to create calculated columns and measures for your model data. Last but not least, you'll be shown techniques that will help you administer and secure your BI implementation along with some widely used tips and tricks to optimize your reporting solution. By the end of this book, you'll have gained hands-on experience with the powerful new features that have been added to Tabular models in SSAS 2016 and you'll be able to improve user satisfaction with faster reports and analytical queries. Style and approach This book takes a practical, recipe-based approach where each recipe lists the steps to address or implement a solution. You will be provided with several approaches to creating a business intelligence semantic model using analysis services.

This comprehensive and authoritative guide will teach you the DAX language for business intelligence, data modeling, and analytics. Leading Microsoft BI consultants Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari help you master everything from table functions through advanced code and model optimization. You’ll learn exactly what happens under the hood when you run a DAX expression, how DAX behaves differently from other languages, and how to use this knowledge to write fast, robust code. If you want to leverage all of DAX’s remarkable power and flexibility, this no-compromise “deep dive” is exactly what you need. Perform powerful data analysis with DAX for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Excel, and Power BI Master core DAX concepts, including calculated columns, measures, and error handling Understand evaluation contexts and the CALCULATE and CALCULATETABLE functions Perform time-based calculations: YTD, MTD, previous year, working days, and more Work with expanded tables, complex functions, and elaborate DAX expressions Perform calculations over hierarchies, including parent/child hierarchies Use DAX to express diverse and unusual relationships Measure DAX query performance with SQL Server Profiler and DAX Studio