1. See what’s new in SQL Server Analysis Services 2016 Tabular Models
Microsoft Ignite 2016
8/7/ :44 PM
BRK3289
See what’s new in SQL Server Analysis Services 2016 Tabular Models
Marco Russo
SQLBI
© 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

2. What’s new in SSAS 2016: quick summary
Data modeling
New DAX functions
Bidirectional filters
Calculated tables
Compatibility level 1200
JSON, TMSL (improved versions compare)
Translations
Display folders
DirectQuery
Performance
MDX Support
Row-level security
Calculated columns
Data sources: Oracle, Teradata, APS, …
Performance
Improved SSAS formula engine (Super DAX)
Parallel partition processing
Development tools
Improved performance SSDT in v1200 (JSON)
Improved DAX formula editing
Tabular Model Explorer
Management tools
Simplified scripting for v1200
SSMS generates TMSL for v1200
DBCC support for Analysis Services
XEvents for Analysis Services

3. Architecture Analysis Services 2016

4. New DAX functions Date and time functions Math and Trig functions
CALENDAR, CALENDARAUTO, DATEDIFF
Math and Trig functions
ACOS, ACOSH, ASIN, ASINH, ATAN, ATANH, COMBIN, COMBINA, COS, COSH, DEGREES, EVEN, EXP, GCD, ISO.CEILING, LCM, MROUND, ODD, PI, PRODUCT, PRODUCTX, QUOTIENT, RADIANS, SIN, SINH, SQRTPI, TAN, TANH
Statistical functions
BETA.DIST, BETA.INV, CHISQ.INV, CHISQ.INV.RT, CONFIDENCE.NORM, CONFIDENCE.T, EXPON.DIST, GEOMEAN, GEOMEANX, MEDIAN, MEDIANX, PERCENTILE.EXC, PERCENTILE.INC, PERCENTILEX.EXC, PERCENTILEX.INC
Other
ADDMISSINGITEMS, CONCATENATEX, ISEMPTY, GROUPBY, INTERSECT, ISONORAFTER, NATURALINNERJOIN, NATURALLEFTOUTERJOIN, SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, UNION, XIRR, XNPV, SUBSTITUTEWITHINDEX

5. Bidirectional filters
Single
Propagates filter from “one” to “many”
Filtering one year, it always shows all products
Both
Propagates filter from “one” to “many” and from “many” to “one”
Filtering one year, it also filters only products with at least one row in Sales for that year

6. Calculated tables Materialize table from DAX table expression
DAX table expression returning a table
The entire table is evaluated and compressed every time underlying data changes
Automatic evaluation of dependencies, similar to calculated columns
Use cases
Create table combining data from tables coming from different data sources
Creating a derived table is too expensive outside of a Tabular model
Example: Customer classification based on historical sales evaluated 3 times faster in DAX than in SQL (on the same hardware)

7. Snapshot Customer Class in SQL
WITH SalesRunningTotal
AS ( SELECT d.CalendarYear,
d.CalendarMonth,
s.CustomerKey,
Sales = ( SELECT SUM(hs.Quantity * hs.[Net Price])
FROM Analytics.Sales hs
WHERE hs.[Order Date] <= MAX(s.[Order Date])
AND hs.CustomerKey = s.CustomerKey )
FROM Analytics.Sales s
LEFT JOIN dbo.DimDate d
ON s.[Order Date] = d.Datekey
GROUP BY d.CalendarYear,
s.CustomerKey )
SELECT rt.CalendarYear,
rt.CalendarMonth,
rt.CustomerKey,
rt.Sales,
CustomerClass = CASE WHEN rt.Sales < 1000 THEN 'Retail'
WHEN rt.Sales < THEN 'Affluent'
ELSE 'Vip'
END
FROM SalesRunningTotal rt;

8. Snapshot Customer Class in DAX
=SELECTCOLUMNS ( SUMMARIZECOLUMNS ( 'Date'[Calendar Year], 'Date'[Calendar Year Month Number], Customer[CustomerKey], Sales, "Cumulated Sales", CALCULATE ( SUMX ( Sales, Sales[Net Price] * Sales[Quantity] ), FILTER ( ALL ( 'Date' ), 'Date'[Date] <= MAX ( 'Date'[Date] ) ) ) ), "CalendarYear", 'Date'[Calendar Year], "CalendarMonth", 'Date'[Calendar Year Month Number], "CustomerKey", Customer[CustomerKey], "CustomerClass", SWITCH ( TRUE, [Cumulated Sales] < 1000, "Retail", [Cumulated Sales] < 10000, "Affluent", "Vip" ) )

9. Demo
Bidirectional filters
Calculated tables

10. Development tools SQL Server Data Tools New features in SSDT after RTM
Improved performance SSDT in v1200 (JSON)
Improved DAX formula editing
New features in SSDT after RTM
Tabular Model Explorer (August 2016)
Integrated Workspace Mode (September 2016)

11. New scripting language: TMSL
Tabula Model Scripting Language (TMSL)
Data model defined in JSON file
Easier to read/write
Easier to compare between different versions
Faster to process by development tools

12. Display folders Display Folder property
Group table columns and measures
Supported by Power BI and Excel
Not compatible with v1103 managed by BIDS Helper
It was working only for MDX / Excel
Different internal format, migration not supported

13. Demo
New features in SSDT
Bidirectional filters

14. Translations Create translation file Edit translation files
JSON files containing translations of metadata
Caption
Description
Display Folder
One file can include one or more cultures
Edit translation files
Text editor (but the file is JSON)
SSAS Tabular Translator
Import translation file
Merge translations in BIM file (Tabular model)

15. Demo
Translations

16. DirectQuery DirectQuery in SSAS 2016
Support for several RDBMS (including Oracle and Teradata)
Support for DAX and MDX queries (it works with PivotTable in Excel)
Multiple SQL queries for one MDX/DAX query
Security roles supported
Huge performance improvements over 2012/2014
Partial cache in SSAS
Formula engine support in SSAS
Full DAX language in query/measures

17. Demo
DirectQuery

18. Performance improvements
Super DAX
Variables
Strict evaluation of IF/SWITCH
Non empty calculation optimization
Measure fusion (single SE query for multiple measures)
Grouping sets
Redundant join elimination
Multiple result sets from a single DAX query
Join orders
Countrows optimization
Storage engine cache per database instead of per server
Parallel partition processing
Process multiple partitions of the same table in parallel (also available for v1103 models)

19. Demo
Performance improvements

20. Management tools Simplified scripting for v1200 SSMS support for v1200
JSON files describing the data model are easier to read/write
SSMS support for v1200
SSMS generates script in TMSL for v1200 and XMLA for v1103
DBCC support for Analysis Services
Check database consistency for Tabular and Multidimensional (for both v1103 and v1200)
XEvents for Analysis Services
SQL Profiler not deprecated for Analysis Services
All standard profiler events available in XEvents
More low-level events available in XEvents

21. Recap and call to action
Upgrade to SSAS 2016 as soon as possible
Huge performance improvements
Applied also to v1103 models
Upgrade to v1200 models
If you use BIDS Helper and/or DAX Editor, check for correspondent features first
Drillthrough customization not available in v1200 yet
Translations in BIDS Helper do not upgrade to v1200
Once you upgrade to v1200, you cannot revert to v1103
Once in v1200, consider new data modeling features (calculated tables, bidirectional filters)

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