Category: SQL Server Analysis Services – SSAS

Azure Analysis Services, BISM Tabular, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, SQL Server Analysis Services - SSAS, Uncategorized

Import Power BI Desktop Model to SSAS Tabular 2017 Using Azure Analysis Services

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NOTE: This method is no longer available (from 1st March 2019) as Microsoft discontinued supporting Web Designer in Azure portal. Microsoft is working on an alternative solution, but there is no timeframes or details to announce yet. Read more here. In the meantime, you still can import your Power BI Desktop Models to SSAS Tabular following the method described here. 

A while ago I wrote a blog post on how to import you currently existing Power BI Desktop models to SSAS Tabular 2016. However, the method I explained is NOT supported by official Microsoft BI tools like SSDT, so you may consider it as a WORKAROUND only until Microsoft supports imploring Power BI models in SSDT. In this post, I show you how to import Power BI Desktop Model to SSAS Tabular 2017 using Azure Analysis Services. It is easy and hassle free.

Requirements

Notes:

  • In this post I do NOT explain how to install Azure Analysis Services
  • This method works only for SQL Server Analysis Services 2017 Tabular

How it works

As mentioned earlier it is really easy in compare with other methods I explained in my previous post. Azure Analysis Services is capable of importing Power BI Desktop files creating a Tabular model version of your Power BI model in the cloud. Then you can simply download Visual Studio project file and redeploy it in your on-premises instance of SSAS Tabular 2017. Let’s go through the steps…

  • Open Power BI Desktop
  • Import data from WorldWideImportersDW from any desired combination of fact tables and dimensions. I imported
  • Create some simple Measures like:

Total Sales = SUMX(‘Fact Sale’, ‘Fact Sale'[Unit Price] * ‘Fact Sale'[Quantity])

  • Save your Power BI Model and close the file
  • Login to your Azure PortalBrowse to your instance of Azure Analysis Services
  • Click on “Open” under “Web designer—preview”

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  • This opens a new page for fabulous “Azure Analysis Services Web Designer”. You’re right, a web designer for tabular models. How cool is that? Smile
  • Click “Add” button under “Models” section
  • Yes, you got it, enter a name for your model and click “Power BI Desktop” button
  • Click “Browse” and select the Power BI file you saved earlier then click “Import”

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Continue reading “Import Power BI Desktop Model to SSAS Tabular 2017 Using Azure Analysis Services” →

Power BI, Power BI Desktop, SQL Server, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server Analysis Services - SSAS, SQL Server Integration Services - SSIS, T-SQL, Uncategorized

Exporting Power BI Data to SQL Server

Exporting Power BI Data to SQL Server

Update 2021 March:

You can now export the data directly from Power BI Desktop using our free external tool, Power BI Exporter. Read more here.

Update 2019 April:

If you want to export the data model from either Power BI Desktop or Power BI Service to CSV or SQL Server check this out.

In the previous blog posts, I explained how to export Power BI data to Excel and CSV here and here. As promised in this post I explain how to export data from Power BI Desktop to SQL Server.

Hans Peter Pfister has already explained how to export data from Power BI Desktop to SQL Server using R scripts. Although Hans has done a brilliant job, it might be a bit hard to make it work if you don’t have any R experience and you don’t even know how to install and call R libraries. That’s so true about me, I’m NOT an R guy, but, who knows, maybe I will be. Smile 

But, what if you don’t want to go with R? If you are more involved with BI than analytics, then using R might not really be your cup of tea. Luckily, there is another way to export your Power BI data to SQL Server which is more BI friendly. You can export Power BI data to SQL Server using SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services). So if you are familiar with SSIS, then it might be your preferred choice.

With respect to Hans, in this post, I explain his method of exporting data from Power BI Desktop to SQL Server more in detail so that anyone who is not that familiar with R can make it work. I also explain how to export data from Power BI Desktop to SQL Server using SSIS. If there is any other methods you’re aware of please let me know in the comment section below.

Exporting Data from Power BI Desktop to SQL Server with R

As stated before, Hans has already explained this method here. So I don’t explain exactly what he did, but, I use his method to export data from the existing Power BI Desktop model to SQL Server and I explain it step-by-step.

Requirements

To make this method work you need to:

  • The latest version of Power BI Desktop, you can download it from here
  • Have access to an instance of SQL Server, either on your own machine or on a server in your local network to export the data to
  • Either install R for Windows, you can download it from here OR using an existing R-Server OR install SQL Server 2016 R Services
  • Install RODBC library for R, you can download the library from here

Note: I haven’t installed R Studio and nothing went wrong.

Installing RODBC Library for R and SQL Server R Services

As mentioned earlier, you can install R OR SQL Server R Services OR R-Server, but, as I haven’t tried R-Server myself I just explain how to install RODBC in R and SQL Server R Services.

You have to download the library from the link provided above, then extract the contents of the zip file which contains an “RODBC” folder. Then all you really need to do is to copy the “RODBC” to the “library” folder that exists in either R or SQL Server 2016 folders in your “Program Files” folder.

Library folder in R

Library folder in SQL Server 2016

How Does It Work?

Open an existing Power BI Desktop model that you’re willing to export its data to a SQL Server table and follow the steps below: (I use the “Internet Sales” model created on top of AdventureWorksDW. You can download my Power BI Desktop model at the end of this post.)

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BISM Tabular, Business Intelligence - BI, DAX, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, Power Pivot, Power Query, Self-Service BI, SQL Server 2016

Creating Custom Table in SSAS Tabular using Table and Row Constructors in DAX

Dynamic_Measures_in_Card_Visual_-_Power_BI_Desktop

A while ago I was working on a Power BI project which the customer wanted to define a new table directly in the model. The easiest way to achieve this in Power BI Desktop is to “Enter Data” which creates a new table by typing or pasting in new contents. I was thinking of that project the other day and thought, hey, how we can do the same in SSAS Tabular when there is no Power Query (M) language available in SSAS Tabular 2016. The good news is that Power Query will be available in the next version of SSAS Tabular in SQL Server vNext. But, until then a workaround would be entering data to a CSV file then load it to the model. Another way is to implement custom tables in DAX in SQL Server 2016 Tabular models using Table and Row Constructors. In this post I show you a way of creating custom table in SSAS Tabular using table constructors in DAX. You can do the same in Power BI as the same principle applies. Therefore, in case you’d prefer not to use “Enter Data” feature which effectively uses Power Query to create a new table in Power BI Desktop, then you can use DAX to do the same.

Requirements

If don’t already have SQL Server 2016 it’s probably time to download and install it. I use AdventureWorksDW as sample database in this article.

Scenario

You are involved with an SSAS Tabular project and the customer asked for a report in Power BI with dynamic Card so that the values shown in the Card visual should dynamically change based on selected measure from a slicer. You have several different measures in the model and the customer wants to show some of them dynamically in only one Card visual. Consider you have the following measures to be shown in the Card:

  • Total Internet Sales
  • Internet Sales in 2014
  • Total Number of Internet Sales Transactions

You have to create a logic so that the users can selected any of the above measures to show in a single Card visual.

How it works

After you meet the requirements, you’re good to start implementing the above scenario in SQL Server Data Tool (SSDT). Creating a calculated table in SSAS Tabular 2016 is fairly easy. All we need to do is to create a custom table with two columns. One column stores friendly names for measures and the other one holds DAX expressions for the measures. As you might have noticed, I’m talking about creating a custom table in DAX and populating it with values. Continue reading to see how. What we are going to do is to create a calculated table using table constructors in DAX. Table and Row Constructors weren’t available in previous versions of DAX in SSAS Tabular. They are very similar to Lists or a list of Tuples just like what we have in MDX.

I’ll explain this later when we created our sample model in SSDT.

Continue reading “Creating Custom Table in SSAS Tabular using Table and Row Constructors in DAX” →
BISM Tabular, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, SQL Server Analysis Services - SSAS

Import Power BI Desktop Model to SSAS Tabular 2016

Import Power BI Model to SSAS Tabular

Note: This article has been updated on June 2017 to support latest versions of Power BI Desktop and SSAS Tabular 2017.

Update July 2020: While this method still works with Power BI Desktop June 2017 release and SSAS 2017, it potentially doesn’t work with the later versions of Power BI Desktop (Jul 2020) and SSAS 2019 as there are new DAX functions that are available in the Power BI Desktop but not in SSAS 2019. So use this method as an experimental method AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Have you created a robust model in Power BI Desktop and you are looking for a way to import it to an instance of SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular? Hmm, it would be highly beneficial if you could import Power BI model to SSAS Tabular and it potentially saves lots of development time and costs. The good news is that with SQL Server 2016 and SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2015 it is possible. In this post I show you how to import Power BI Desktop model to SSAS Tabular 2016. Unfortunately, you cannot do the job in any prior versions of SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio or SSDT.

Requirements

  • SQL Server 2016 Tabular: You can download SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition for free. Check this out for more information
  • SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2016: Down SSMS 2016 from here
  • SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2015 (SSDT 2015): You can download it here
  • Power BI Desktop: Download Power BI Desktop from here

How it works?

The idea is to

  1. Connect to Power BI Desktop model from SSMS 2016
  2. Script the model
  3. Modify the script
  4. Execute the scripts on your on-premises instance of SSAS Tabular 2016
  5. Open the new SSAS Tabular database in SSDT 2016
  6. Modify the model
  7. Redeploy and process the model

Note: Do not close Power BI Desktop until we completely import the model to SSAS Tabular.

Assumptions

I assume

  • You’re familiar with all required tools listed above
  • You’re familiar with SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular models and any corresponding concepts, security settings and so forth
  • You’re familiar with DAX and Power Query

Continue reading “Import Power BI Desktop Model to SSAS Tabular 2016” →