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Microsoft sneaked a couple of ne Introduction A few weeks ago I showed how to create a fully dynamic table using CUBE formulae against a PowerPivot model in Cooking With Cubes.This example presented data from the AdventureWorks database of sales of product categories over years, all integrated with a Fiscal Year slicer. I recently had a similar need, but with the further challenge of presenting two levels in a hierarchy (actually, this was related tables in a snowflake schema). I needed to show all of the items in the first level, and for each of these items, all of the … Continue reading CUBEs For Dessert

Excel’s ability to run pivot tables against an OLAP cube in Analysis Services is a truly wondrous beast. The ease of use; volumes of data; the filtering; all of these provide a rich environment for users to easily inspect their data and get real information out. Add to this that Microsoft seem to believe that pivot tables are a winner and keep improving it, access to cubes and slicers being some of the latest significant changes, I can see no reason for all serious Excel users not to get to grips with this technology. In addition to all of this … Continue reading Cracking The Code

One of my primary interests at present is Business Intelligence (BI), using available tools to present meaningful information to the business that actually adds value. I won’t go into what BI is, the quality of BI products available at present, or the how businesses perceive or fails to perceive BI, that may be a topic for another day, but rather in developing my skills and capabilities in this area. Excel is a wonderful medium for presenting this information, and the majority users that I know would rather use Excel than other tools. Most people who are familiar with BI will … Continue reading Does Excel Do MDX?