Analysis Services has been Microsoft's enterprise Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) BI engine for many years. The Analysis Services Tabular model including the DAX programming language, in-memory and columnar storage, and columnar compression was first introduced with Microsoft's entry to self-service business intelligence with Power Pivot for Excel 2010. Analysis Services Tabular, which now includes the Power Query M programming language and the optional DirectQuery storage mode described earlier in this book, is the default installation mode of SSAS 2017. Additionally, the Analysis Services Tabular engine is built into Excel, Power BI, and the Azure Analysis Services PaaS offering.
The data model built into Excel workbooks is limited to in-memory storage mode and does not support bi-directional relationships. Additionally, Excel workbooks containing...
