Professional Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 with MDX

01/19/2012 · No Responses

When used with the MDX query language, SQL Server Analysis Services allows developers to build full-scale database applications to support such business functions as budgeting, forecasting, and market analysis.
Shows readers how to build data warehouses and multi-dimensional databases, query databases, and use Analysis Services and other components of SQL Server to provide end-to-end solutions
Revised, updated, and enhanced, the book discusses new features such as improved integration with Office and Excel 2007; query performance enhancements; improvements to aggregation designer, dimension designer, cube and dimension wizards, and cell writeback; extensibility and personalization; data mining; and more

From the Back Cover
The new features of Analysis Services 2008 make it even easier to use andbuild your databases for efficient and improved performance. This authoritative book, written by key members of the Analysis Services product team at Microsoft, explains how to best use these enhancements for your business needs. The authors provides you with valuable insight on how to use Analysis Services 2008 effectively to build, process, and deploy top-of-the-line business intelligence applications.

You’ll explore everything that Analysis Services 2008 has to offer and examinethe important features of this product with the help of step-by-step instructionson building multi-dimensional databases. Within each chapter, you will not only learn how to use the features, but you’ll also discover more about the features at a user level and what happens behind the scenes to make things work. You’ll get a look at how features really operate, enabling you to understand how to use them to their full potential. Plus, you’ll sharpen your ability to debug problems that you might not have been able to otherwise.

What you will learn from this book

The basic concepts of using Analysis Services and the common operations you need to design your databases
How to create multi-dimensional databases (such as multiple measure groups, business intelligence wizards, key performance indicators, and more)
Methods for extending MDX via external functions
Ways to administer your Analysis Services programmatically and design and optimize your cube for best performance
How data mining along with Microsoft Office 2007 makes it easy to use and effective to perform analysis on data

Who this book is for
This book is for database and data warehouse developers and administrators interested in exploiting the power of business intelligence and leveraging the SQL Server 2008 tool set.

Table of Contents
Introduction

Part I: Introduction.
Chapter 1. Introduction to Data Warehousing and SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
Chapter 2. First Look at Analysis Services 2008
Chapter 3. Introduction to MDX
Chapter 4. Working with Data Sources and Data Source Views
Chapter 5. Dimension Design
Chapter 6. Cube Design
Chapter 7. Administering Analysis Services

Part II: Advanced Topics
Chapter 8. Advanced Dimension Design
Chapter 9. Advanced Cube Design
Chapter 10. Advanced Topics in MDX
Chapter 11. Extending MDX Using External Functions
Chapter 12. Data Writeback

Part III: Advanced Administration and Performance Optimization
Chapter 13. Programmatic and Advanced Administration
Chapter 14. Designing for Performance
Chapter 15. Analyzing and Optimizing Query Performance

Part IV: Integration with Microsoft Products
Chapter 16. Data Mining
Chapter 17. Analyzing Cubes Using Microsoft Office Components
Chapter 18. Using Data Mining with Office 2007
Chapter 19. Integration Services
Chapter 20. Reporting Services

Part V: Scenarios
Chapter 21. Designing Real-Time Cubes
Chapter 22. Securing Your Data in Analysis Services
Chapter 23. Inventory Scenarios
Chapter 24. Financial Scenarios
Chapter 25. Web Analytics

Appendix A. MDX Functions
Index