Business Intelligence Semantic Model
Tomislav Piasevoli
SoftPro Tetral d.o.o.
Contents
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What is BISM?
PowerPivot
SQL Server „Denali”
The significance of BISM
Guidelines
Prerequisites
• interest in BI
• curiosity 
Few questions to start with ...
• how many of you worked in PowerPivot?
• how many used PowerPivot on SharePoint?
• how many of you has experience in building cubes?
• how many used cubes for reporting?
1
WHAT IS BISM?
Analytical systems
• turn data into information
• goals of their architecture
1. optimize access to source data
2. prepare the data for analysis
I – Optimize access to source data
• store the data in structures suitable for analysis
and ad-hoc querying or leave them „as is“ on
the source
• requirements
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–
–
–
good performance
flexibility
scalability
...
• which technology to choose/use?
MOLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP
• row-based databases
– MOLAP = multidimensional
– ROLAP = relational
– HOLAP = hybrid (only for measure groups = facts)
•
•
•
•
performance based on aggregations
partitioning
compression (MOLAP)
not limited by available memory
II – Prepare the data for analysis
1. enable the data analysis like there’s only one source
of data
– actually, there can be many various data sources
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relational databases
Excel files
text files
RSS feeds, ...
– where to perform the join of the distributed systems?
2. provide the interpretation (business meaning) to data
– how to make it comprehendable to the end users?
Semantic data model
• a metadata layer (on top of the data)
– describes concepts (entities) and connections
(relations) between them
– user-oriented
• shows what the tables and relations represent in the real
world
semantics = the study of meaning
UDM
• existing semantic model for BI
• came with SQL Server 2005
• enables connecting data from various sources
– add relations between tables
– add calculations
• in tables – calculated columns in DSV (T-SQL)
• over the model – MDX script (MDX)
– calculations cannot be combined (different
languages!) or it’s very hard to do so
UDM – data modeling 1/3
UDM – data modeling 2/3
UDM – data modeling 3/3
UDM – data analysis
SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services
SharePoint 2003
&
SharePoint 2007
Reporting Services
2005
&
Report Builder 1
3rd party SSAS
clients
•Reporting Services
MDX
MDX
PerformancePoint
2007
MDX
MDX
Excel 2003 +
add-in
&
Excel 2007
MDX
SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
SharePoint 2007
• Reporting Services
• PerformancePoint Services
• Excel Services
• Visio Services
Reporting Services
2008
&
Report Builder 2
MDX
MDX
Excel 2007
MDX
3rd party SSAS clients
MDX
SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services
SharePoint 2010
Reporting Services
2008 R2
&
Report Builder 3
•Excel Services
•PerformancePoint
Services
•Visio Services
MDX
MDX
Excel 2010
MDX
3rd party SSAS
clients
MDX
PowerPivot add-in for Excel 2010
Excel
2010
2
POWERPIVOT
PowerPivot
• SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services
as an integrated version
• covers personal and team BI segments
Integration
Excel 2010
• free add-in for Excel 2010
(www.powerpivot.com)
• comes as 32-bit and 64bit application
SharePoint 2010
• comes with SQL Server
2008 R2 x64
• during the installation,
you choose SQL Server
PowerPivot for
SharePoint
25
VertiPaq
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in-memory column-based database
very high data compression
scales linearly with the number of cores
doesn’t require the process of designing and
building aggregations and other tunning
• envisioned to support partitioning and paging
on large data sizes (although it doesn’t do that
in PowerPivot)
BISM v1
•
•
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the new semantic model for BI
came with SQL Server 2008 R2 (for PowerPivot!)
enables connecting data from various data
sources
– add relations between tables
– add calculations, two places:
• in tables – calculated columns (DAX)
• over the whole model – calculated measures (DAX)
– calculations can be combined (same language)
BISM v1
• the result of merging todays analytical (UDM =
SSAS) and reporting (SDML = SSRS)
semantic data model with the goal that it
integrates (in due time)
– reporting, analysis, dashboards and
scorecards
– personal, team and corporate BI segments
• works in cached (VertiPaq) mode
BISM v1 – data modeling
BISM v1 – data analysis
DEMO
BISM v1 in
SQL Server 2008 R2
Short contents of the demo
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PowerPivot is an arhived SSAS database
DAX functions are hidden among MDX functions
SharePoint controls with the BISM instance of SSAS
the existance of new DMVs for BISM instance on
SharePoint
• BISM models support MDX
• SQL Profiler VertiPaq SE events
3
SQL SERVER „DENALI”
BISM v2
• one model for all
– reporting, analysis, dashboards, scorecards
– personal, team, corporate BI
• has a relational and multidimensional API
• it was announced that it will eventually support
both cached (VertiPaq) and the pass-through*
(realtime) mode
* only SQL Server data sources for now
Pass-through
• no additional database
• data stays as is in the original structures
• ideal for the realtime analysis
BI semantic model and its layers
Data model
• relational model
• supports both relational (DAX) and multidimensional(MDX)
interface
Business logic
• DAX calculations (columns and measures)
• after„Denali” maybe even MDX
Data access
• cached (VertiPaq)
• in „Denali” also the realtime (pass-through mode)
Analysis Services „Denali” - UDM
SharePoint 2010
• Excel Services
• Reporting Services
• PerformancePoint Services
• Visio Services
Reporting Services
„Denali”
MDX
3rd party SSAS clients
SharePoint 2010
MDX
• Project Crescent
MDX
MDX
Excel 2010
MDX
Analysis Services „Denali” - BISM
SharePoint 2010
• Excel Services
• Reporting Services
• PerformancePoint Services
• Visio Services
Reporting Services
„Denali”
MDX
3rd party SSAS clients
SharePoint 2010
MDX
• Project Crescent
DAX
MDX
DAX
Excel 2010
MDX
DAX
3rd party SSAS
clients
PowerPivot „Denali” add-in for Excel 2010
Excel
2010
Announced improvements of BISM*
• hierarchies, KPIs, parent-child,
drillthrough, perspectives
• additional DAX functions (RankX,
DistinctCount, GroupBy, Lookup, ...)
• security (role-based with Active Directory,
column/row based)
* doesn’t mean that „Denali“ will actually have these exact features
What BISM in „Denali” won’t have?
• some of the UDM features
– scripts, actions, translations, role-playing
dimensions
– object model
– write-back
• other
– realtime for non-SQL Server data sources
– MDX query support for realtime
UDM improvements in „Denali”
• mostly outside of GUI
– no more 4GB string store limit
– better support for PowerShell
– better monitoring (XEvents)
– various engine optimizations
• the goal is to make the SSAS (UDM
instance) more scalable
4
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BISM
Advantages of BISM
• relatively simple model (no cubes, dimensions,
measures, ...)
• fast response no matter the granularity of query
• flexible (every column is also a measure and an
attribute)
• DAX calculations are similar to Excel formulas
• relational model and result format is more
understandable and user-friendly to majority of
people
The same semantic model
PowerPivot
for Excel
PowerPivot
for
SharePoint
SSAS
„Denali”
Scalability
Excel
SharePoint
„Denali”
Other advantages of BISM
• faster development than in UDM
• prototyping by end-users
– they know the best what they want from the
data and what the data means (semantic!)
• easier changes of model
• reduction of cost in developing the full BI
solution
New possibilities in data modeling
• Highlights from various blogs
– Marco Russo – ad-hoc joins, ETL?
– Thomas Ivarsson – master-detail design
– Alberto Ferrari – point-in-time, SCD-2, rank
5
GUIDELINES
source: Thomas Kejser, SQLCAT
ColumnStore
50 TB
5 TB
100 GB
ROLAP
Scalability*
Positioning the BISM
Scalability=
- good support for concurrent queries
- not dependent on available memory
- good maintainability
MOLAP
BISM
2 GB
PowerPivot
Usability
Conclusion
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BISM is not a replacement for UDM
DAX is not a replacement for MDX
every model has its advantages
BI architects must decide when to apply
which model
Advantages and disadvantages
BISM
UDM
BI developers
• most of the existing solutions should stay on
UDM
• new solutions
– use UDM for complex systems (complex
calculations, write-back, budgeting, forecasting,
...)
– try BISM as a potential solution for the rest,
mostly simple systems
• UDM and BISM can be installed on the
same server (SSAS instances)
Users, here’s your DIY kit!
• try and/or migrate to Office 2010
• install the free PowerPivot for Excel 2010
add-in
• load and connect various data sources
• try and learn DAX
• analyze your data
• validate the completness of your model
Model is ok?
• use it for your personal BI
– Excel 2010 and PowerPivot
• share the model with others
– SharePoint 2010 and soon SQL Server
„Denali“
Model is not (yet) ok?
• improve it
– more experienced colleges
• give the PowerPivot model to your company guru
– external consultant
• improvement is possible?
– PowerPivot
– SQL Server „Denali“ (BISM instance)
• or else ...
– build the UDM model based on the BISM template
– implement it on SQL Server „Denali“ (UDM instance)
source: TechNet
Related content
• Presentations
– MS BI Roadmap (SQL Server Denali)
• Workshops
– Build Your First Microsoft BI Solution with SQL
Server 2008 R2