SAP has officially confirmed what many of us saw coming years ago: all MDX-based features and MDX-based OLAP universes are removed in SAP BusinessObjects BI 2025.

This aligns with SAP’s broader BI 2025 cleanup strategy — the same strategy that took out Analysis for OLAP, UDT/UNV universes, Multi-Source Universes, and more.

This article is part of my BI 2025 Deprecation Series, where I break down what’s gone, what breaks, and what you need to do before upgrading. If you missed the earlier articles, start with my main overview here:
👉 https://clintvosloo.com/upgrading-to-sap-bi-2025-what-features-youre-loosing-and-keeping

BI 2025: MDX-Based Features Are Gone (And What It Means For You)

"MDX had its place in the BI landscape, but BI 2025 isn’t interested in carrying dead weight. If your reporting still depends on the old MDX connectors, it’s time to stop clinging to what’s familiar and start moving toward the technologies SAP is actually investing in. Upgrade plans don’t get easier by avoiding them — they get harder."

About the Author

Hi, I'm Clint and I've been knee-deep in the SAP Business Objects world for over 25 years now. Yeah, I know, longer than I care to admit. My first installation was way back in SAP BI 6.5 - back when Desktop Intelligence was still a thing. Needless to say, I've seen it all.

After running two wildly successful global SAP Analytics consulting firms, being a SAP Mentor, and speaking on all things SAP Analytics and SAP Business Objects around the world, I'm here to help. I've moved to the "employee of one" model, and I'm available worldwide to assist you with your SAP BO upgrade.

I get it - I know how SAP is moving towards a "cloud first" approach, just like every other big vendor out there. But I also know that customers need to keep their on-premise BI 4.x implementation running alongside SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), as there's no seamless migration path to SAC. With all the lower versions of Business Objects, except for BI 4.3 and BI 2025, now being out of support, the need to upgrade for many customers is pressing. So, feel free to connect with me below to start the conversation or connect with me here or you can find out more about me here.

“With over 25 years in SAP Analytics, I’ve guided numerous businesses through seamless upgrades, ensuring minimal downtime and optimal performance.”

Simplify Your SAP Upgrade Today!

🚨 So what exactly is being removed?

SAP Note 3509206 spells it out clearly:
All MDX-based data access paths (SAP HANA MDX, MSAS MDX, Essbase MDX) are removed in BI 2025.

No MDX connector.
No MDX-based OLAP universes.
No MDX fallback mode.

MDX is simply gone.

🧨 Why MDX is being removed

SAP states the removal is due to third-party deprecations and end of maintenance.

Translation:

“The vendors stopped maintaining their MDX APIs, so SAP isn’t spending money to keep zombie connectors alive.”

And honestly — fair enough.
MDX has been a dead technology for years, and BI 2025 is SAP’s final clean-up operation.

📉 Deprecated MDX Features (from SAP Note 3509206)

Below is a clean table summarising the deprecated items and your supported alternatives:

⚠️ Important Restrictions (even with the new BICS connectors)

Even the supported BICS paths (HANA, MSAS, Essbase) come with limitations.

❌ BICS does NOT support:

Query filters on measures
Member selections using Ancestors, Parents, Exclude

❌ MSAS via BICS also does not support:

Perspectives
Named sets
Calculated members
Functions
KPIs
Input data sources

❌ Essbase via BICS does not support:

Hierarchical measures
UDAs (User Defined Attributes)
Dynamic Time Series
Substitution variables

So even the “alternatives” aren’t full replacements — test early and test everything.

🧭 So what should you be doing now?

Here’s the simplified plan:

Inventory all MDX-based universes
— HANA MDX
— MSAS MDX
— Essbase MDX
Identify OLAP workflows that rely on MDX-based metadata.
Rebuild or migrate to BICS connectors (InA for HANA, BICS for MSAS/Essbase).
Repoint Web Intelligence documents to the new BICS connections.
Test the limitations — especially if you relied on:
- hierarchical functions
- advanced OLAP features
- calculated members
- measure filters
Communicate early — this impacts analysts, developers, and the business.