"The XA:error element at line X cannot appear under..." Error When Connected to MSAS

Issue

When connected to an MSAS cube, attempting to create a calculated member or drag a field to the worksheet may result in an error message similar to this:

Analysis Services database error 0x80004005: The XA:error element at line 11, column 49 cannot appear under Envelope/Body/Fault/detail.

Environment

Tableau Desktop
Windows
MSAS cubes

Resolution

Work with your Database Administrator to ensure that your Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) is written correctly and that the cube is configured appropriately for the analysis you are trying to do.

Additionally, you can also try to connecti through Excel to verify if other tools can perform the needed analysis.

Cause

This error is generally caused by a permission or a configuration issue in the underlying cube, or an error in the custom Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) written for the calculated member.