Who this book is for

This book is designed for two types of users. First and foremost, it is designed for those users who wish to create tabular models for analysis regardless of whether they create the model for personal use in Excel using PowerPivot or server-based models that are deployed to Analysis Services. For those modelers, we show how to design, create, and manipulate the model so that it can be used to answer the types of questions that appear in business. For these users and consumers of model data, we also show how the model can be used to provide an intuitive and interactive report (both in Excel and Power View). Our goal for these users was to give them the skills so that they can build a model capable of answering their business questions.

The second category of users are those who are responsible for the maintenance of models in corporate environments. These are administrators who must ensure that the corporate model data is up-to-date and secure. For these users we show tricks and techniques to deploy the model and keep it running smoothly.