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Mastering Tabular Video Course

This video course covers tools and techniques to create enterprise-grade Tabular models with Power BI and Analysis Services.

The Tabular semantic model is the core technology that runs Power BI, Azure Analysis Services, and SQL Server Analysis Services. Knowing the features available, understanding their capabilities, and being aware of the limitations is crucial to planning, implementing, and deploying a complete solution in an enterprise environment.

  • Power BI authors can bring their models to the next level, by understanding the details of the model features available in Power BI Desktop and by knowing the additional features available in external tools like Tabular Editor.
  • Business Intelligence developers can learn how to create a model for Analysis Services or Power BI Premium using Visual Studio or Tabular Editor, how to deploy and automate the processing, and how to implement security requirements.
  • Solution architects can understand how the Tabular engine running in Power BI and Analysis Services works. They will better understand all the details needed to choose the right model type depending on latency requirements and on the budget available: Import, DirectQuery, aggregations, composite models, or push datasets.
  • System administrators can learn how to monitor the Tabular engine, how to manage partitions, and how to implement and schedule incremental refresh.

This course is useful to different professionals working with Power BI and Analysis Services. After a first initial review of all the modules, you can use the content as a reference while creating your model. We recommend you review specific modules in depth when working on particular areas of the model, such as security, partitioning, aggregations, deployment, scaling out, and more.

Basic knowledge of DAX is useful to create simple Tabular models. You can follow the free Introducing DAX video course to get acquainted with DAX.

In order to complete your training on Tabular, after the Mastering Tabular video course you should study the Mastering DAX video course. In the Mastering DAX video course, you will learn how to write complex measures and queries using the DAX language, which is not included in the Mastering Tabular video course.

Students have access to a private discussion area where they can interact with the instructors by asking questions related to the lectures and the exercises.

Tabular Editor 3 Enterprise License

Included in your purchase of the Mastering Tabular video course is a license for Tabular Editor 3 Enterprise that is valid for 90 days.
This is to ensure you have time to practice with the more advanced features required in enterprise-level solutions.

Collapse allCurriculum

  • Presentation of Mastering Tabular

    • Analysis Services Tabular overview
      FREE
    • Links to external resources

  • Slides and demos

    • Practice by repeating demos
    • Demos download
    • Slides of the video course

  • Introduction to Tabular models

    • Introduction to Tabular models
      FREE
    • Analysis Services architecture
    • Introduction to TOM
    • Architectural choices

  • Installing the prerequisites

    • Installing the prerequisites
      FREE
    • SQL Server
    • Important notes about SQL Server 2019 and 2022
    • SSMS and the demo database
    • Important notes about Visual Studio 2019 and 2022
    • Visual Studio
    • Power BI Desktop and Excel
    • Tabular development tools

  • Guided tour on Tabular

    • Guided tour on Tabular
      FREE
    • Introducing the workspace database
    • Introducing the guided tour
    • Creating a model with Power BI Desktop
    • Improving the model in Power BI Desktop
    • Getting started with Visual Studio
    • Testing reports with Visual Studio
    • Deploying models from Visual Studio
    • Creating a model with Tabular Editor 2
    • Different ways of working with Tabular Editor
    • Working with Tabular Editor 3
    • Conclusions

  • Understanding model types

    • Understanding model types
      FREE
    • Basic model types
    • DirectQuery model types
    • Conclusions

  • Formula engine and storage engine

    • Formula engine and storage engine
      FREE
    • Introduction to the AS engines
    • Introducing data islands
    • Using multiple data islands
    • Final considerations and conclusions

  • Data sources for Tabular

    • Data sources for Tabular
      FREE
    • Introduction to data sources
    • Power Query data sources
      FREE
    • Authentication and impersonation
    • Data gateway
    • Final considerations

  • Tabular presentation layer

    • Tabular presentation layer
      FREE
    • Introducing the presentation layer
    • Column names and display folders
    • Hierarchies
    • Using format strings
    • Sorting options
    • Summarize by
    • Data category
    • Object visibility and perspectives
    • Grouping columns
    • Grouping columns - additional notes
    • Date table in Tabular and Power BI Desktop
    • Featured tables
    • Detail Rows expression
    • KPI
      FREE
    • Translations
    • Q&A in Power BI

  • Understanding relationships

    • Understanding relationships
      FREE
    • Introducing relationships
    • Types of relationships
    • Special behaviors in relationships
    • The blank row
    • Limited relationships
      FREE
    • Relationships and ambiguity

  • Handling security

    • Handling security
      FREE
    • Introducing security
    • Introducing security architecture
    • Understanding roles
    • Static row-level security
    • Table and column security
    • Dynamic security
    • DirectQuery security

  • Understanding data types

    • Understanding data types
      FREE
    • Introducing data types
    • Data type conversion
    • Floating point rounding errors
    • DateTime
    • Other data types

  • Understanding the VertiPaq engine

    • Understanding the VertiPaq engine
      FREE
    • Row stores and column stores
    • VertiPaq encoding
    • VertiPaq segmentation
    • VertiPaq segmentation update (Power BI Premium)
    • VertiPaq memory usage
    • Best practices

  • Understanding DirectQuery

    • Understanding DirectQuery
      FREE
    • Introducing DirectQuery
    • Using DirectQuery
      FREE
    • DirectQuery and DAX
    • Understanding query limits
    • Real-time and DirectQuery
    • Final considerations

  • Understanding DirectQuery over Analysis Services

    • Understanding DirectQuery over Analysis Services
      FREE
    • Introduction to DirectQuery over AS
    • Architecture of DirectQuery over AS
    • Query resolution in DirectQuery over AS
    • Calculated columns
    • Limitations
    • Security and use cases

  • Aggregations

    • Aggregations
      FREE
    • Introducing aggregations
    • Composite models
    • Dual tables
      FREE
    • Aggregation and granularity
    • Aggregation with custom formulas
    • Aggregation precedence
    • Updating aggregations
    • Conclusions

  • Push Datasets

    • Push Datasets
      FREE
    • Introducing push datasets
    • Implementing real-time solutions with push datasets

  • Hardware considerations

    • Hardware considerations
      FREE
    • Basic hardware considerations
    • NUMA and virtual machines
    • Hardware in the cloud

  • Architectural choices

    • Architectural choices
      FREE
    • Introduction to architectural choices
    • Data modeling constraints and requirements
    • Performance and latency requirements
    • Business logic requirements
    • Conclusions

  • Managing Tabular

    • Managing Tabular
      FREE
    • What's next?

  • Interfacing with Tabular

    • Interfacing with Tabular
      FREE
    • Connections
    • Libraries
    • Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL)
    • REST APIs for cloud services
    • Choosing between TMSL and TOM
    • Conclusions

  • Deploying Tabular models

    • Deploying Tabular models
      FREE
    • Deploying and processing in production
    • Deploying from Visual Studio
    • Deploying from Tabular Editor
      FREE
    • Other deployment techniques
    • Power BI deployment

  • Processing and partitioning Tabular models

    • Processing and partitioning Tabular models
      FREE
    • Processing and partitioning
    • Partitions in Tabular models
      FREE
    • Partitioning strategies
    • Processing options
    • Executing process commands
    • Processing strategies

  • Monitoring Tabular

    • Monitoring Tabular
      FREE
    • Introduction to monitoring Tabular
    • Memory configuration
    • Diagnostic events and tools

  • Backup and restore strategies

    • Backup and restore strategies
      FREE
    • Database storage architecture
    • Executing attach, detach, backup, and restore

  • Scaling out

    • Scaling out
      FREE
    • Scaling-out Analysis Services

  • Conclusion

    • Conclusion
Student Rating
4.9
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5-star Reviews (51 of 58)
  • Dmytro Polishchuk (Nov 8, 2021)

    I think that this is a great course. I don't even know how you can make it better.

  • Pelle Bergkvist (Nov 6, 2021)

    Excellent! I have worked with Power BI for 8 years, but still have a lot to learn. Since Alberto and Marco are so exceptional skilled in this topic I thought the course should be a little bit too advanced for me. But with excellent pedagogy and very good example step by step the course was just perfect for me. I can really recommend it.

  • Iman Ef (Nov 3, 2021)

    Incredibly useful course by the best experts in this area!

  • Eduardo Dellepiane (Oct 10, 2021)

    Excellent! The content, the explanations, the demos, the way you go deeper as we advance...just amazing. Thank you very much!

  • Tyler Snyder (Oct 4, 2021)

    Outstanding value. Undoubtedly, five stars. Pros: - Content. - Clear/detailed explanations of new concepts. - Improved video platform. - Tabular Editor 3 Enterprise license for three months ($300 itself). - Course will be useful as a reference guide post-completion. The one critique I have is the lack of practice material. A simple 'try and complete this objective' statement before some demos would have been enough to meet this need. Would I recommend this to a friend? - "As always, it depends. If you aren't sure, test it with the free trial. Will you utilize this information, or will you not utilize this information? You'll need to understand your unique circumstances to decide what's right for you." ^Some of you will understand why that's in quotes.

  • Sergio Murru (Aug 23, 2021)

    The most complete course about the internals of SSAS Tabular seen as the core of the different products SSAS Analysis Services, Azure Analysis Services and Power BI. This course is amazing!