title: Alternatives to OLAP SSAS Cube Pivot Tables in Excel
body: <p>I am accessing OLAP SSAS Cubes on a 2005 SQL Server using Excel 2007 pivot tables and finding that refreshing some of the tables is taking >10 minutes. My coworkers seem to think it is a sad reality, but I am wondering if there are alternatives I should be looking into.</p>
  
  <p>Some thoughts I have had:</p>
  
  <p>Obviously if I could upgrade the server hardware I would, but I am merely an analyst with no such powers, so I don't think hardware improvements are a great option. The same is true of moving to a newer SQL server, which I imagine would also speed up the process.</p>
  
  <p>Would updating to a newer version of excel speed up the process? </p>
  
  <p>I came across this: <a href="http://olappivottableextend.codeplex.com/" rel="noreferrer">http://olappivottableextend.codeplex.com/</a>, which gives me access to the MDX, which is apparently comically inefficient (Sounds like the macro recorder for VBA to me), so would changing the MDX around (I know a bit of it and the queries it gives for the pivot tables don't seem that complicated) be an option?</p>
  
  <p>Would running MDX outside of excel be an option? I can write the queries, but I imagine it would not be as simple as the pivot table is.</p>
  
  <p>It just seems like OLAP Cubes are a great solution in a lot of ways and these are some massive pivot tables processing quite a bit of information, but if there is a reasonable way to speed up the whole process I would love to know more about it.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for your thoughts SO.</p>