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Anto11
New Contributor

SSAS Tabular Cube 2 billion rows error when using Calculation Group

Hi,

I'm migrating a SSAS Multidimensional cube to a Tabular one using the 2019 version.

In order to provide functionality the users have in their current cube, I'm using Calculation Groups.

Now querying the cube with excel(2016) and using the Group as a filter, I'm able to choose individual Calculation Items and they work correctly.

However if I move the Group to either rows or columns in the pivot table I get the following error (the measure I'm using is based on our Sales table).

 

We couldn't get data from the external source. Here's the error message we got:

The current query cannot be evaluated for the 'Sales (70)' table, because the table contains more than two billion rows.

 

Is there anyway around this?

 

 

3 REPLIES 3
burakkaragoz
Honored Contributor

Hi @Anto11 ,

The error "table contains more than two billion rows" in this specific context (Excel + Calculation Groups) usually indicates that the MDX query generated by Excel is trying to materialize an intermediate result set that exceeds the 32-bit row limit (approx. 2.1 billion), rather than a storage limit on your partitions.

This commonly happens due to how Excel interacts with "Implicit Measures" when Calculation Groups are active.

Here is the checklist to resolve this:

1. Enable "Discourage Implicit Measures" (Most Likely Fix) In your Tabular Model, select the Model object properties. Set Discourage Implicit Measures to True.

  • Reason: When this is False (default), Excel treats every numeric column as a potential measure. When you add a Calculation Group to rows/columns, Excel generates a query trying to cross-join your 2B+ row table with the calculation items. Setting this to True forces Excel to use explicit DAX measures, which drastically optimizes the query plan.

2. Check Dynamic Format Strings If your Calculation Items use dynamic FormatString expressions, the engine might be forced to evaluate the query at the row level to determine the correct format for every single row, hitting the limit. Try removing the Format String expression temporarily to verify if this is the cause.

3. Partitioning Verification Ensure your 'Sales' table is actually partitioned (e.g., by Year or Month). While Tabular 2019 supports tables larger than 2 billion rows, you cannot have a single partition exceeding 2 billion rows unless you are using specific large-table settings, but splitting it is the standard best practice.

Summary: Start by setting Discourage Implicit Measures = True. This is practically a requirement when using Calculation Groups with Excel clients.


If this solves the error, kindly mark it as the Accepted Solution!
This response was assisted by AI for translation and formatting purposes.

Thomaslleblanc
Contributor II

Calculation Groups are designed for DAX, not MDX. Excel is using a conversion from DAX to MDX to display this option. You would need to use a reporting tool (not Excel) to connect to tabular model to only use DAX.

v-prasare
Honored Contributor II

Hi @Anto11,

We would like to confirm if our community members answer resolves your query or if you need further help. If you still have any questions or need more support, please feel free to let us know. We are happy to help you.

 

 

 

Thank you for your patience and look forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards,
Prashanth Are
MS Fabric community support

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