Connecting to live SSAS data cube

[mjmar025]

Good morning,

I am wondering if anybody else has experience connecting to a live SSAS data cube in Power BI. Most of the work that I have done in Power BI up until this point has been via connecting to databases and flat files. It appears that the live connection to the cube greatly inhibits the amount of functionality that Power BI gives you. I can't even create a calculated column.

Does anybody know a way around this other than importing the data (which in my case is way too much for Power BI to handle)? Or does Microsoft have any plans to give the user more functionality within Power BI even if it's connected to a live source?

Thank you

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @mjmar025,

With Power BI desktop May release, we can create a measure when connect to SSAS tabular in live, see: Report level measures for live connections to Analysis Services tabular models & Power BI service da....

For your requirement, you an vote on those two ideas:

Create calculated columns when using SSAS live connect

Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@mjmar025 I do the majority of my work in Tabular Models. You are correct in that Power BI really just becomes the front end for reports when you use a Tabular model. The latest version of the Desktop allows for you to add measures, but the assumption is that you are doing the vast majority of your coding in the model itself.

The other current limitation is that when you connect live or in direct query you can't add other datasources.

I know of no other ways to get around this functionality.