Forum Discussion
Data structure and data limits
Hi How is the data stored/structured in BI? Is it stored in tables like Access, as an example? Are there any data limits? Thanks Andy
We use the Data Model. Excel is one of the containers of the Data Model. Power BI Desktop is another and then Analysis Services Tabular.
Anonymous just to add to Adam's last comment, the engine that we know as Power Pivot in Excel or what we sometimes call a model in Power BI Desktop is in fact Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services. When you open up Power BI Desktop or Power Pivot, you effectively instantiate a Tabular instance of Analysis Services.
SQL Server 2014 is running inside Excel 2013 Power Pivot and SQL Server 2016 is running inside Power BI Desktop. So, if you want to understand practical limits of Power Pivot or Desktop Data models, you can simply look up limitations of the respective versions of Analysis Services.