Power BI (cloud) + SSAS Cubes

[kosmik5]

Hi,

1) Can Power BI (online/cloud-based) use our local SSAS cube directly as a data source?

2) If no, and I assume it is no, then can we upload our SSAS cube(s) to be used as a data source, and how do we do that, preferably incrementally (if it is possible to do that incrementally)?

3) If SSAS cubes cannot be used, then I assume that we have to use data built into the SSAS Tabular Model, and use DAX to query it?

4) If this is true, then how do we send data to there? Do we have to define the tabular model locally and ship the stored results (since the tabular model is in memory, I’m not sure that that even makes sense), or do we send constituent tables to the cloud and build the tabular model structures there.

5) If I build this in an SSIS package (which I gather I do), is it an SSIS package that is built and maintained locally (meaning on our existing database, running MSSQL 2012 w/ Analysis Services, the way our existing SSIS packages are), or is it built and maintained in the Power BI Online environment in the cloud?

We're looking at using the PowerBI Preview to deploy dashboards and scorecards based on data that we collect on-premises. I'm assuming that we'd use that OData plugin to make data available in the cloud, for starters...?

Thanks

Hari

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@kosmik5，

You are able to directly connect to SSAS from Power BI Service. In order to connect to a live Analysis Services server, you would need to install in-premises gateway and add the SSAS data source within the configured gateway.

Moreover, your underlying data remains in on-premises SSAS, the reports you create based on the data are saved in Power BI Service.

For more details, please review the following articles.
SQL Server Analysis Services live data in Power BI
Manage your data source - Analysis Services

Regards,
Lydia