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Better support for SSAS MD formatting

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Koen Verbeeck's profile image

Koen Verbeeck on 14 Apr 2016 17:42:51

Power BI (Desktop) supports formatting designed in the SSAS cube. However, when I format a measure as \€ #,##0.00;\€ -#,##0.00, the € sign is lost in Power BI. It works in Excel though.

Comments (37)
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62ff82a2 ca4b-45b4-ad77-498baff8fb75 on 05 Jul 2020 22:59:23

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2017/04/18/power-bi-ssas-multidimensional-and-dynamic-format-strings/

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96356869 c3c0-4a69-92b5-5331fe6e44e2 on 05 Jul 2020 22:54:41

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Supporting SSAS MD Formatting is a must have.
Without the feature will clearly impacts the user adoption of PowerBI + SSAS.
Also, it will be nice to have the ability change the formatting directly in Power BI.

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028b2fba 4807-46b9-9f13-ba798ddd66f2 on 05 Jul 2020 22:53:04

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Formatting measures on a SSAS MDX cube with a live connection is really unpredictable.
It seems the format of calculated measures work but formatting natural measures does not.
Please fix this issue.

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82c4006f 2d2f-4e48-8793-9c5bd0675e19 on 05 Jul 2020 22:50:04

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Have you tried formatting the measure as a calculations and then referencing that in Power BI? Not ideal but for whatever reason we seem to have had better luck with formatting when applying it as a calculation

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3a2f0342 61d8-420d-85af-e6b28c2eac77 on 05 Jul 2020 22:49:10

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Please fix! Excited about Power BI on-premise, but this simple issue will give end-users fits!! Let's make this work like it fundamentally should, please!

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d89a6fe7 7510-455a-baea-83efa8b3fd3b on 05 Jul 2020 22:48:56

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Being able to port formatting from the cube is a basic functionalities that should been there from day one. Keep in mind that Dashboard are created to be shared with Senior staff for assessments and running their groups. Specially if you are working with the finance group who is very particular on how the data should be formatted. Not having this functionality is causing extra work to compensate for this BUG, and please do not called by design. It feels like Microsoft is not listening to the user base when I hear this reply!!

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766393e2 4480-e811-a961-000d3a1bece3 on 05 Jul 2020 22:47:34

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Need to have formatting for SSAS Multidimensional. Power BI doesn't support formatting from the cube. Also, it should support the ability to change the formatting directly in Power BI. Please work on this.

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ea75ba8b b83f-48db-88e1-90de030f69b5 on 05 Jul 2020 22:42:05

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

This is a must have. How can we explain to our end-users 0.2 means 20%, 2 means 200% etc. It clearly impacts the user adoption.

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4e8e499d bfaa-41bf-b235-d8458b417fc5 on 05 Jul 2020 22:36:20

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

Through some research I found out that you can make a created member work for percent but there isn't much leeway you are stuck with 00.00%. Here is an example of what works:

CREATE MEMBER CURRENTCUBE.[Measures].[Gross Margin Percent] AS
DIVIDE([Measures].[Gross Margin],[Measures].[Net Sales]),
VISIBLE = 1,
ASSOCIATED_MEASURE_GROUP = 'Measures'
, FORMAT_STRING="Percent";

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4e8e499d bfaa-41bf-b235-d8458b417fc5 on 05 Jul 2020 22:36:19

RE: Better support for SSAS MD formatting

I'm curious how this issue isn't affecting more people (based on the number of votes)? Is it that not many customers are using SSAS MD with this tool or are they not using live connections? Or is there some trick a few of us are missing to make the passthrough formatting work?