Brilliantly stupid MDX debugging technique
Whenever I do something really stupid, rather than keep it to myself, I prefer to blog about it for the entire world to see. Even better – I came up with a debugging technique to save myself from my...
View ArticleAdventures with Virtualization
Those of us needing to run BI software in virtual environments are well familiar with the challenges of getting things running smoothly, especially if you are using a laptop as your lab or demo...
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Resetting "Windows XP Mode" to initial settings
Under Windows 7 64-bit ultimate edition, I’ve had the need to reset my “Windows XP Mode” to initial settings several times over the past few days. Initially I did this because as I used the XP virtual...
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Strange results from MDX Query
I am currently working on adding forecasting capabilities to an existing customer cube. The MDX to do this is based on calculations in an existing spreadsheet model. The spreadsheet works very well in...
View ArticleSolution to “Very strange results from MDX Query”
The solution to “Very strange results from MDX Query” It turns out that there was both a psychological component and a technical one. The sleuth who help me discover these issues was none other than my...
View ArticleMDX Query to show number of child members in a Dimension
I was validating some assumptions about my dimensions’ data distribution and hierarchies and wrote some MDX to confirm the number of members. You could also do this by writing a SQL query against the...
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Creating Dashboards WITHOUT SharePoint
As a business intelligence consultant, a frequent request I receive is to “create a dashboard”. One of the first things I do is verify that I understand what the client is actually asking for. Many...
View ArticleMicrosoft on SSAS and BI Vision Roadmap
A lot of this has been floating around various blogs and press releases, but here’s a very succinct synopsis of where MS is planning to go with Microsoft BI and the BI Semantic Model.
View ArticleBacking up SSAS – Yes or No?
A question came up recently about how to back up SSAS. The vast majority of my clients do not back up SSAS. This isn’t appropropriate for all deployments, though. Here’s the thread: This runs contrary...
View ArticleWindows 8 Hot-Keys
One of the best things you can do to get comfortable with a new OS is take some time to learn the keyboard shortcuts. Here are the Windows 8 Hot-Keys Windows logo key+ C Opens Charms bar Windows logo...
View ArticleSimple way to test connectivity or compose OLEDB connection strings
This tip has been around a while, but I still run into developers who don’t know it, so it’s worth a post. If you ever need to test connectivity or compose a valid OLEDB connection string, try this:...
View ArticleI am positive that measure is not negative – Weird Analysis Services Cube...
I ran into a situation recently that had me stumped for a bit, and there didn’t seem to be any other posts about this when I searched. I was working with a cube containing a very straightforward...
View ArticleDAX Duration Measure in Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds
Credit where credit is due. This is an enhancement of the technique originally posted here by @konstantinos and @smoupre. A client needed a duration expressed in this format: 2 days, 05:03:52 In other...
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