SSAS Feature Matrix: Tabular vs Multidimensional Changes to the feature matrix as of SSAS 2017 CTP 2.1 (1400 compatibility level) include the following: Drillthrough now supported via Detail Rows Expressions Ragged Hierarchies now supported via Hide Blank Members Object Level Security (OLS) on tables and columns to deny metadata access A row (feature) has been added to the matrix for Display Folders For 2016 (1200 CL) features the corresponding 2017 (CTP 2.1) column simply ‘Supported’ As of CTP 2.0, Tabular mode is now the default installation of SSAS. Many other features and improvements specific to Tabular mode that are not included in this matrix Get Data Experience (M), DAX Editor in SSDT, DAX and TMSL Support in SSMS, DMV improvements, new DAX functions and operators, encoding hints and more. See for more details. Given alignment with Power BI (Get Data/M Expressions) and on other features, importing Power BI Desktop to SSAS 2017 likely available soon Bidirectional cross-filtering has a broader application than many-to-many relationships. See the for more details. Feature Detail Multidimensional Tabular 2012-2014 Tabular 2016 Tabular 2017 (CTP 2.1) Many to Many Relationships One of most important features in Multidimensional and frequently used. Supported Complex DAX Functions to control filter context Bidirectional Filtering Relationships Can also use CROSSFILTER function Supported NUMA Awareness Efficiently retrieve data stored on multiple numa nodes Supported Not Supported Available with SP1: separate job on each of four or more NUMA nodes. (Not enabled with less than 4 nodes). Supported
Ragged Hierarchies In Multidim, a user hierarchy can be made to look something like a hierarchy by hiding members if certain conditions are met. Supported Not Supported Not Supported Can set Hide Members property for a user hierarchy to ‘Hide Blank Members’. Role-Playing Dimensions Design and process a dim once, then appear many times in the model with different names and different relationships to measure groups. (role-playing dims in Multidim) Supported DAX Function: USERELATIONSHIP Calculated Tables Added as option DAX Function: USERELATIONSHIP Calculated Tables DAX Function: USERELATIONSHIP Scoped Assignments and Unary Operators Advanced Calculation functionality present in MDX. Supported Not Supported Not Supported Not Supported Parent/Child Hierarchies Special type of self-join hierarchy in Multidimensional dims. Supported DAX PATH Functions: PATH, PATHCONTAINS, PATHITEM, PATHITEMREVERSE, PATHLENGTH DAX PATH Functions: PATH, PATHCONTAINS, PATHITEM, PATHITEMREVERSE, PATHLENGTH DAX PATH Functions: PATH, PATHCONTAINS, PATHITEM, PATHITEMREVERSE, PATHLENGTH Display Folders Organize measure Supported BIDS Helper Add-in for 1100 and 1103 CL Tabular Models Create display folders for measures and columns in SSDT Supported
Drillthrough Click a cell to see detail level data aggregated to return that value. Supported *Can specific which columns are retrieved from drilltrhough Default: column from single table Alternative: BIDS Helper Add-in or edit the XMLA definition of model manually BIDS Helper to be built into VS 2015 SSDT (Preview) *Currently no support for 1200 models Can drillthrough on multi-select with Excel 2016 and SSAS 2016 (or Excel 2016 Data Model) Detail Rows Expression property for measures can define specific columns and rows returned to the end user. (e.g. two columns from customer dimension, 3 columns from fact table) The filter context of the measure in the report is respected. Can also define a default detail rows expression for all measures of a given fact table.