Create calculated columns when using SSAS live connect
In May 2017 Power BI Desktop started supporting creation of DAX measures when working in live connect mode to an external SSAS model: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-desktop-may-feature-summary/
Vote on this idea if you want support for calculated columns in this mode as well!

32 comments
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Anonymous commented
Any updates on this?
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Kshitiz commented
Enabling Calculated Columns to be created during live connection will be a really good feature to add in.
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Digbijayee (DJ) commented
yes create calculated column , Hierarchy and DAX Calculated Table will be very useful for Power Bi so that all can be created in Reporting Power BI Layer instead of doing same in Tabular Model with Live connection .
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Akhil commented
Will be a very useful feature for sure. But, it will be interesting to see how this will be implemented. As it stands now, Calculated columns in SSAS Tabular would mean it should store the Data in memory. Will this mean users get access to modify an SSAS Tabular model?!
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Filip Bouckaert commented
I'm using the august version of Power BI Desktop and need to be able to add calculated measures on top of a live SSAS multidimensional connection. When will this be available ?
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William commented
I am using Power BI version 2.58 and using SSAS live connection but new measure button was no enabled, I can't use it. And I also go to option to enable also new feature, seems no improvement. Any other setting / patch / license (I'm using Pro) needs ?
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Jenny Fahlstedt commented
It is possible to create measurements when live connected to tabular cube, but not to create new columns. This would be great to have!
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William commented
Hi Will, my Desktop BI version is 2.58, think it should allow create new column / measure in Live connection environment. However, I found that the feature was still dim, is there any video or procedure to follow to show me how to enable it. Thanks.
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Chris Klimm commented
Will, any update on this? It's a needed feature and with DAX measures already supported I'd think creating DAX calculated columns would be fairly easy to add?
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DamienK commented
I found many other topics that ask the ability to create measures in live connection.
It is too bad that all votes are not regrouped in only one idea.
In total we have approximately 2000 votes !
This feature is very important for me. -
Danaraj commented
Definitely a needed requirement to enhance the model - usually 80-20 rule applies when the business users will try to enhance the model with their own data, and they will need the keys to do so!
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Diederick commented
When is it finished? ;-)
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Anonymous commented
Yes, it will be a good improvement.
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Maria Megnia commented
The fact that we can't do this now is one of the main reason our end users are slow to warm up to the idea of using power bi. Please please please add this functionality.
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Nicky Hopkins commented
The facility to create calculated columns in multidimensional mode is essential to any BI tool whether using Multidimensional or Tabular modes.
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Julie commented
Yes we need this. Critical element to make Power BI useful
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Kawabata Yoshihiro commented
Yes, me too.
I want to adding calculated columns to reports which connecting Power BI Services dataset.
For adding date columns from date/time column,
For grouping 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, ... value columns from 1,2,3,4,5, ... columns.I like the feature to adding measures to reports which connecting Power BI Services.
So, I hope the feature to adding calculated columns, too. -
Erik Areskog Elming commented
This is definitely needed for both Tabular and Multidimensional. The lack of this is one of the key arguments for investing in other solutions than PowerBI.
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Tamsin Harriman commented
I would also like to be able to combine data sources when one of them is a live connection to SSAS. For example, combine fields from an Excel spreadsheet with a related SSAS data source. There is probably a separate suggestion out there already for this but I haven't found it yet... If anyone can point me to one please do so I can vote on it rather than duplicating!
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Dylan Morgan commented
This is not a practical request. A DAX Measure is metadata, and can be passed in at query time. This allows you to creat DAX measures in Power BI and execute them in Analysis Services. A calculated column is a materialized data element evaluated at model process time. Adding the ability for users to add these in Power BI is dangerous because you are essentially adding model development. Calculated columns are generally An anti pattern in enterprise models, because they consume memory and logic that uses them is almost always better placed in ETL or a measure definition.
Do NOT do this.