Analysis Services Improves Tabular Features

SQL Server 2017 Analysis Services received numerous improvements, mostly by adopting Power BI features that make Analysis Services more compatible with Power BI and enable sharing of queries and data models between the products. The additions also signal the importance of Analysis Services in Microsoft’s business intelligence (BI) landscape. Other enhancements improve security to address control of highly sensitive data models and improve management features to help administrators respond to changes more quickly than redeploying models. However, all enhancements are for Tabular mode only, and the deprecation of Multidimensional mode features point to Multidimensional mode’s ultimate end.

Analysis Services Overview

SQL Server Analysis Services, a component of SQL Server, is an online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining platform that can process and return results from large, complex data sets to help guide business decisions. Organizations typically load data into Analysis Services databases (called models) from operational sources, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) databases and other business applications, to organize it for efficient analysis.