I use the Templates feature in SSMS a fair bit when I am working with XML/A, but I sometimes wonder how many people are aware that it exists. On my copy of SSMS, it is docked on the right hand side. If you cannot see the Template explorer at all, you can access it through the View menu. Have a look at the following list of templates that are available for MDX and XMLA for Analysis Services. This feature is really great for XMLA queries. I don't really know of anyone that sits down and writes XMLA ......