I have been trying to wrap my brain around the various options that Microsoft offers around near real-time analytical experience for the end users. Clearly, a semantic model is needed to isolate the end from the complexity of SQL/Relational Data Warehouse. So I see three options to explore:
- traditional MOLAP model for Analysis Services
- New Tabular mode for Analysis Services (uses xVelocity for compression and in-memory technology)
- multidimensional Analysis Services in ROLAP storage mode on top of a relational set of tables that use Columnstore index for compression and in-memory technology
I am particularly intrigued by #1 vs #3. I have a pretty good data set available for some testing. Hoping to be able to post some early results tomorrow.
Stay tuned 🙂