Custom SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) Solutions

What is SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)?

Analysis Services (SSAS) is an online analytical processing (OLAP) engine and data mining tool that is part of SQL Server. Users are able to design, create, and manage multidimensional structures coming from multiple databases, disparate tables, and/or files. Analysis Services stores data in multi-dimensional cubes with pre-aggregated data, allowing for faster data analysis.

With the release of SQL Server 2012, Microsoft released Tabular Mode as a new enhancement to Analysis Services. This was a deep plunge into the world of self-service BI, as tabular models extend on concepts that are easier to understand and use in comparison to multidimensional models.

Analysis Services 2016

The release of SQL Server 2016 brought along with it a number of enhancements to Analysis Services. Microsoft continues to focus their efforts toward tabular models and the 2016 release puts that on full display. Highlighted in the release are modeling concepts like display folders for organizing your measures and out of the box bi-directional relationships. There are also many improvements to the tabular language, DAX. Additionally, Analysis Services is available as a cloud service in Azure.