MDS and SSAS Tabular

Question

I'm having a hard time finding anything on this, so I am wondering is it possible to use MDS as a way to pipe data into a tabular model. For example, let's say I have a table specifically designed for this on the DB, and is updated into the model on a daily basis. A business user decides he would like to add a revenue column that does not previously exist. Is this possible? I'm relatively new to SSAS tabular and MDS. If you need further information please let me know and I will provide it!

Answer 1

Hi Magrik,

Thanks for your question.

As we can see from the supported data sources for SSAS Tabular, MDS is not in the list. For more information, please refer to below document:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/analysis-services/tabular-models/data-sources-supported-ssas-tabular

According to this, I guess it is impossible to do so for SSAS Tabular.

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Best Regards
Willson Yuan
MSDN Community Support
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Answer 2

willson,

MDS exports data as SQL Server views (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/master-data-services/overview-exporting-data-master-data-services), so it is possible to use it as a data source for Tabular. However, per documentation these views do not auto-update when the underlying model changes, so a business user would need MDS administrator's assistance were they to add a column.

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Expect me to help you solve your problems, not to solve your problems for you.