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SSAS Perspectives

  • 6 April 2023
  • 1 reply
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Christian Hauggaard
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Note: Perspectives apply to Tabular endpoints only.

Tabular models can become complex with numerous tables, fields, and measures, making it challenging for users of analysis and visualization tools to maintain an overview and quickly locate specific objects they need. To address this, SSAS Perspectives are introduced as a subset of objects within a tabular model that users of tools like Power BI, Excel, and others can apply to simplify their interaction with the model.

 

A SSAS perspective represents a focused subset of objects in a tabular model that relates to a specific area. For instance, you can create a "finance" SSAS perspective that includes all objects related to finance. When this perspective is utilized in front-end tools, any objects outside this subset will be hidden, providing a streamlined view for users.

Add or Edit a Perspective

Expand the instance, and right-click on Semantic Model. Select Manage Perspectives.

Click on Add in the Perspectives window to create a new perspective.

Rename a Perspective

Double-click the Perspective header to rename it, e.g., "Finance Model".

Adding Objects to a Perspective

Select the checkboxes for the objects you want to include in the perspective.

Note that when all objects in a table are selected, the table is marked with a checkmark. If only some objects are selected, the table is marked with a dot.

Click OK after selecting the objects.

Deploy and execute the semantic model for the SSAS perspective to take effect.

Using the SSAS Perspective in a Front-End Visualization Tool

Power BI

Select Get Data > From Analysis Services

Enter the server name and credentials, then select the SSAS database and perspective. Click OK.

Excel

Select Get Data > From Analysis Services

Enter the server name and credentials, then select the SSAS database and perspective. Click Finish.

 

SSMS

Browse the SSAS database in SSMS

Click the three dots next to the SSAS database in the Browse tab, select the SSAS Perspective, and click OK.

Troubleshooting

Error: No data fields are available in the OLAP cube

To resolve this error, ensure that a measure is selected in the SSAS perspective.

1 reply

S
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This only works if you have standard edition of Azure analysis services as mentioned in this thread No perspectives when deploying tabular model | Community (timextender.com). Or if you are running it locally on a sql server instance, then you need the enterprise edition of sql server, since perspectives only work then with developer or enterprise edition. We also discussed this already with @Thomas Lind, about possibly workarounds for users with only standard edition. This could possibly be added in the article or later in the thread when found. 

 

P.S. 

 

If you try to create perspectives in the GUI, with a local standard edition sql server, it will deploy without problems. Maybe a warning should be put in place here to indicate that it cannot create the perspectives due to environment constraints.  

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