BI Architect Bill Pearson concludes his introduction to the MDX Members functions. In this Level we wrap up our exploration of the “family” group with the .LastSibling, and Cousin() functions.  Read more...

BI Architect Bill Pearson continues his introduction to the MDX Members functions. In this Level we continue our exploration of the general “family” group with the .LastChild and .FirstSibling functions.  Read more...

BI Architect Bill Pearson continues his introduction to the MDX Members functions. In this Level we continue our exploration of the general “family” group, with the Ancestor() and .FirstChild functions.  Read more...

Some of the most important 'Member' functions of MDX are often known as the 'Family Functions'. These are used in queries on multidimensional structures for analysis and reporting, and can refer to relative nodes in the hierarchy in much the same way as in a family tree.  Read more...

Bill explains what is meant by a 'Member' and 'Member function' in MDX. A member is an item in a dimension that include the 'measures' which are the values of the attributes that belong to a dimension. 'Measures' are themselves members of a dimension called the “measures” dimension. MDX has a set of functions, known as member functions, each of which allow us to perform operations upon any member of a dimension   Read more...

Bill Pearson continues his examination of the versatile Order() function, focusing upon its use in providing dataset sorts that reach beyond dimensional hierarchies  Read more...

The Order() function provides the 'hierarchized' sorts you need for reports and applications using MDX. In this Step, Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson explores using the versatile Order() function for providing dataset sorts that respect dimensional hierarchies.  Read more...

To learn MDX, there is really no alternative to installing the system and trying out the statements, and experimenting. William Pearson, the well-known expert on MDX, kicks off a stairway series on this important topic by getting you running from a standing start.  Read more...

To query an Analysis Services cube, MDX is used as the query language. In most business settings, one would find a set of queries that are common across a number of user query requirements. To cater to this, even with a modest size IT team, there is a good chance that the same queries are developed redundantly either within a SSAS MDX script or repetitively in an ad-hoc manner in client applications. In this tip we would look at how to reuse queries without redeveloping them over and over.   Read more...

Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson introduces the MDX Ordinal Function, as a means for generating lists and for conditionally presenting calculations. He also demonstrates the use of the function in creating datasets to support report parameter picklists.  Read more...

I used to think naively that IIF is an innocent little function that can only do good and help me...  Read more...

A sample chapter from a new book on Analysis Services. Check it out and see if this is the book for you.  Read more...

This is part four in the series of blog posts that will help in building a library of calculations you...  Read more...

MDX applies "bankers' rounding" algorithm in its ROUND() function. This article shows you how to avoid that and round like in T-SQL and Excel.  Read more...

Join BI Architect Bill Pearson as he leads hands-on practice with the “Clusters” discretization method in Analysis Services. In this article we continue to explore attribute discretization, as a part of an extended examination of the dimensional model lying at the heart of the integrated Microsoft Business Intelligence solution.  Read more...

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SSAS Architect Bill Pearson examines another intrinsic member property, LEVEL_UNIQUE_NAME, which allows us to exercise a great deal of presentation “sleight of hand” in working with MDX in Analysis Services, as well as within Reporting Services and various other reporting applications that can access an Analysis Services cube.  Read more...

This month's installment of "MDX Essentials" examines the HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME intrinsic member property. Join SSAS Architect Bill Pearson in an introduction of this intrinsic member property, which Bill complements with hands-on exercises and sample uses.  Read more...

SELECT statements should be the most popular query in SQL Server, so why are they unpopular? It's the complex, confusing MDX SELECT statement that warehousing expert Vincent Rainardi is writing about.  Read more...