Performance tuning Tabular and PowerPivot models Notes from the field By Johan Ludvig Brattås Cambridge, September 2015

Introduction. Johan Ludvig Brattås Managing consultant @ Johan-ludvig.brattas@capgemini.com Twitter: @intoleranse Co-lead of PASS Excel BI VC (Want to present for us? Contact me!)

Agenda Brief introduction to xVelocity and Vertipaq Tabular vs PowerPivot Anatomy of an Excel file The three performance vectors Your data Your calculations Your model

xVelocity/Vertipaq etc. etc. Vertipaq introduced with Powerpivot in 2010 xVelocity introduced with Tabular mode MS SQL 2012. In-memory Columnstore.

Tabular vs PowerPivot Same engine Serverbased vs filebased Distribution/Access Security

The anatomy of an Excel-file Applies to .xlsx only Easiest to demonstrate.

1st vector of performance – Your data 1. Granularity 2. Column sorting 3. Select *…

2nd vector of performance – Your calculations DAX Calculation-obesity Calculated columns vs calculations Gimme an E, T and L

3rd vector of performance – your model What’s in a model anyways? Does it really matter? What to choose when?

The end! Questions? BISM Server report link: http://www.powerpivotblog.nl/what-is-using-all-that-memory-on-my-analysis-server-instance/

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