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Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

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77326476 fdc8-ea11-a812-000d3a8faea9 on 04 May 2017 01:32:23

In May 2017 Power BI Desktop started supporting creation of DAX measures when working in live connect mode to an external SSAS model: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-desktop-may-feature-summary/


Vote on this idea if you want support for calculated measures against multidimensional models too.

Comments (146)
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82da4f97 0fce-4855-8560-208b77a1377e on 10 Jul 2020 17:20:40

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

we definitely still need this

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951bbc18 9cb7-45ec-a69f-01756134379f on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:34

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

We really need to calculated measures against multidimensional models . Using Live Connection we need to be able to create DAX measures. thanks. Miriam

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74fe6afa 0271-4b5e-b9fc-b32ae7b28d65 on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:26

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

still

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257e052d 899a-45b5-9d5f-acec9dc8d53f on 06 Jul 2020 00:12:08

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

Still needed

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a987bec9 1f2f-49a3-a837-a90e6732a72b on 06 Jul 2020 00:06:12

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

8 months ago I accidentally created a measure in my live connected environment and crashed the cube, not just in powerbi but in my excel reports as well. Realized I couldn't do this, tried to look for any documentation came up short, even the workarounds are not very good. Hopefully, after nearly 3 years of this ticket being open the PowerBI team will address this being an option.

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bb9ed867 4726-4008-ba2e-ba522c37568e on 06 Jul 2020 00:04:17

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

I found a workaround and covered it in this blog post. It is not ideal, but it works http://www.neoral.cz/2019/11/dax-for-analysis-services.html

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d9f66855 f7bb-ea11-a812-000d3a9b112e on 06 Jul 2020 00:00:17

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

'@MRLuge - basically, use a published report or a gateway as your data source, which then allows you to put report-level measures on top of it.

With a non-personal gateway, report-level measures refresh directly from cubes. If you are pushing highly automated reports to many non-pro users - I would think you are using an on-prem gateway + premium work-space.

With no gateways - a little bit of a work-around, but still works:

1. Live-connect a PBi desktop report to an SSAS mdx cube.
2. Publish that blank report to a workspace (does not have to be premium).
3. Open a new report and connect to that published report as dataset
(go to:: Get Data / Power BI Datasets, find your blank MDX live-connect)
4. You now should be able to right-click/button-click New Measure on dims and measure groups in this second report

In this no-gateway mode, to refresh the data you will need to refresh the first and the second reports,in that order. While this is sub-optimal, it should be sufficient for less-automated/externally used reporting. Definitely sufficient for moderately complex reporting dev.

SIDE NOTE - Power BI will use the target SSAS Server version of DAX. Some of the more recent and very useful DAX functionality might not be available if the server DAX is outdated. Upgrade the server DAX if you can.

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d67296aa ce7d-4b79-8ed0-9352e109bae1 on 06 Jul 2020 00:00:15

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

'@andrey Yakimov,

Could you share the method on how to add calculated measures when live connected on MDX cubes ?

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d9f66855 f7bb-ea11-a812-000d3a9b112e on 05 Jul 2020 23:59:23

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

FYI, If you are about to vote on this - Report-level measures on MDX have been working for a while now.

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b4a9b0ad 2a53-4a3d-bde5-5a5859aa55db on 05 Jul 2020 23:59:07

RE: Calculated measures when live connected to MDX cubes

So annoying!