SSAS front end tools

[scottcabral1979]

Hi,

I built a dimensional model with the fact and dim tables populated and created a cube using SSAS 2008.

Now I would like to give the end user's the ability to drag and drop and slice and dice the data like you can using SSAS, however I'm not sure what tools are best for this.

I know Excel has powerpivot which can connect to cubes and/or to the dimensional model. I would like to create a template for them with all of the fields that they will need, publish it to sharepoint and then refresh the data as needed on a scheduled basis. This way, each time they open the workbook the measures/dimensions will be available for them to drag and drop and the data will be refreshed as well.

Are there any good sites that explain this process using excel powerpivot or does anyone have a different or better solution?

thanks

Scott

 

[blom0344]

Well, Powerpivot is the way to use Excel as an OLAP engine. You basically download data to the spreadsheet and build the cube locally. To interact with an SSAS cube you only need Excel itself (2007 , even better 2010) . You connect to the cube and build your report in Excel. That way the data stays where it belongs.. (In the backend)

Ties Blom

 

[JanetStackpole]

Have you considered Report Builder in SSRS? Our staff have been using for a number of years and really like it. PowerPivot is also a good option, but only works for the Enterprise version of SQL.

 

[blom0344]

The 2012 version comes with a special BI edition which is positioned between Standard and Enterprise. This BI edition offers Powerview and Powerpivot for sharepoint.
SSRS is a developers tool, it does not support drag and drop the way the combination of SSAS / Excel does. But it is perfectly possible to build SSRS reports against an SSAS cube.

Ties Blom