HomeData warehouseSQL Server 2012: Multidimensional vs tabular

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SQL Server 2012: Multidimensional vs tabular — 18 Comments

  1. Hi, many-to-many is supported in tabular. Although there are no many-to-many dimensions, many-to-many functionality can be implemented in DAX. Please see the Many to Many revolution white paper, located at http://www.sqlbi.com/articles/many2many/, for a description of how to implement in tabular.

    Also drillthrough is supported in tabular, although custom drillthrough actions are not supported. However, custom drillthrough actions can be implemented using BIDS Helper.

    Computing calculated columns in tabular does require a processing operation at the database level, called a Process Recalc. Obviously just doing a Recalc is faster than getting the data, but for a sufficiently large data set it is not free.

    Not sure if I agree with your statement that a star schema is not required for tabular, it really depends on the scenario. ETL might be required to materialize bridge tables in the data warehouse for many-to-many calculations. It all depends on the complexity of the DAX you are writing.

    Finally, regarding skill level for tabular – basic tabular is easy, mastering DAX and optimizing DAX is hard. Pros definitely need to make a real investment in a tabular skillset before they will be able to deliver performant models.

    People should also think carefully about the differences between DirectQuery and ROLAP if real time implementations are required, there are pros and cons to the various scenarios.

    Otherwise I think you have hit the major points here, and glad you like tabular.

  2. Good post James. I´m thinking in upgrade our solution, based on MSBI2008, my option was creaating both types of models, tabular for some users and uses, and MD for others, your post confirm it to me.

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  6. Thanks James for very useful information.

    Could you provide some insight on how security can be implemented in Tabular Model or any example would be very helpful

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