Without a doubt, Microsoft Power BI is the most popular business intelligence and analytics software worldwide, second only to Microsoft Excel. Despite all recent transformative waves in the data space, including the transition to cloud platforms such as Snowflake and Databricks, Power BI remains unrivaled and as strong as ever.

A year ago, we introduced support for Power BI in Cube Cloud. It was enabled by the innovative SQL API and Semantic Layer Sync, the technology that bridges the gap with BI tools (such as Tableau or Preset) by populating datasets, synchronizing field descriptions, and streamlining live connectivity.

At the same time, Microsoft Power BI provides its own native mechanism for data access, based on the XML for Analysis (XMLA) protocol. So, it's only natural for Cube, as the leading universal semantic layer, to support this option.

Today, we're thrilled to introduce the DAX API for native connectivity between Cube Cloud and Microsoft Power BI. Now you can connect Power BI to your semantic layer in the same way it connects to Azure Analysis Services or a regular SSAS instance. Just choose the SQL Server Analysis Services database option and enter the DAX API credentials provided by Cube Cloud:

Watch this end-to-end demo to gain insight into the experience:

Public preview of the DAX API

We're currently launching the DAX API in public preview. However, we're confident that it already comes with capabilities that make it fit for production use cases:

  • All frequently used visualization types and filtering options are supported. You can build complex dashboards with slicers that work across multiple charts.
  • Both live connection and DirectQuery methods are supported. With a live connection, you can access the semantic model in Cube Cloud and use it to build reports in Power BI. As the semantic model evolves, Cube Cloud will synchronize the updates to the model with Power BI. With DirectQuery, you can create a semantic model in Power BI from the semantic model in Cube Cloud and then use it to build reports. This way, you can write your own DAX queries instead of relying on Power BI to generate them. However, doing so requires you to manually synchronize the models as they evolve.
  • An essential subset of DAX functions is already supported. We're working on further expanding the list of functions to support all popular calculations and use cases. Please refer to the documentation for reference.

What's next?

The DAX API is available to customers on Enterprise and above product tiers. It also requires the deployment tier M to ensure a great querying experience and low-latency responses, even for complex dashboards.

We are inviting all Cube Cloud customers who use Power BI via the SQL API and Semantic Layer Sync to transition to the DAX API to get the best of the new capabilities.

If you're not a Cube Cloud user yet but would like to experience the new DAX API, please get in touch—we'd be happy to guide you.