SSAS tabular cube dimension/measure friendly names

[pbix]

Hello,

I'd be grateful for some perspective if anyone has a spare moment.

I've created a tabular model in SSAS/SQL Server 2016. I am connecting to this model via Direct Query. This tabular model has column names like:

SYSTEM_CODE
SYSTEM_VALUE
SYSTEM_REFERENCE
etc...which pull directly from our underlying database tables and views...

I would like to 'translate' these column names into friendly names like:

System Code Number
Current System Value
System Value Reference
Etc... to help users navigate their way around the cube (and to make use of natural language querying, better chart title readability in Power BI).

It there a straightforward way of giving an alias to tabular dimensions/measures without directly renaming the underlying data source structure (like is possible in OLAP cubes) either in Power BI (direct query) or in the tabular cube itself?

Thanks

Pbix

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@pbix Unless I'm mistaken because of the mode... you should be able to just either double click the column name or right click and change the column name in your tabular model?

[pbix]

Hi @Seth_C_Bauer,

Thanks for your reply. You're correct. I think I was just hoping for a way of decoupling underlying database table naming conventions from the naming convention exposed to users..

It seems I have three main options:

Rename columns in the tabular model
Create views that include used a friendly naming convention (possibly including spaces [!!!]) or
Create a hack in the .bim to translate English to English

Ideally I'd like developers to see the same columns in the cube as are in the database and cube users/power BI to see 'friendly names' so I might go down the View route unless there is an alternative?

Thanks

Pbix

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@pbix personally, I'd use the View method. This method allows any backend developer to determine mappings with ease and implement any changes to fields without impacting the model. (ex. the wrong column was mapped to "Name1", you can swap out the column and "Name1" remains intact from the model perspective.

Also, developers wouldn't need to figure out how to navigate the Tabular model to determine where any mapping/name change occured.

The list goes on, but suffice to say, I agree with you.

[pbix]

Thanks Eno, 

Great to get your perspective on this. 

Pbix.