Cases where MDX is a better alternative to cube rules

Steve Rowe once asked: I’m genuinely interested if there are use cases where an MDX view can deliver things that are not possible or obviously better than in a rule / consolidation?

Here are a few examples where I’ve used MDX in place of a cube rule:

[Year of First Sales]

Using a single “Year” dimension.

(NONEMPTY([Year].[Year].[(All)].CHILDREN , {([Measure].[Measure].[Sales])}).ITEM(0).ITEM(0).NAME)

[Year of Peak Sales]

Using a single “Year” dimension.

(TOPCOUNT([Year].[Year].[(All)].CHILDREN , 1 , ([Measure].[Measure].[Sales])).ITEM(0).ITEM(0).NAME)

[Peak Sales]

Using a single “Year” dimension.

MAX([Year].[Year].[(All)].CHILDREN , ([Measure].[Measure].[Sales]))