Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates: Solutions for Star Schema Performance [Paperback]

Christopher Adamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0471777099 | ISBN-13: 978-0471777090 | Edition: 1

• This is the first book to provide in-depth coverage of star schema aggregates used in dimensional modeling-from selection and design, to loading and usage, to specific tasks and deliverables for implementation projects
• Covers the principles of aggregate schema design and the pros and cons of various types of commercial solutions for navigating and building aggregates
• Discusses how to include aggregates in data warehouse development projects that focus on incremental development, iterative builds, and early data loads

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The first book to offer in-depth coverage of star schema aggregate tables

Dubbed by Ralph Kimball as the most effective technique for maximizing star schema performance, dimensional aggregates are a powerful and efficient tool that can accelerate data warehouse queries more dramatically than any other technology. After you ensure that a database is properly designed, configured, and tuned, any measures you take to address data warehouse performance should begin with aggregates.

Yet, many businesses ignore aggregates, instead turning to specialized, proprietary hardware and software products to solve performance problems. This book fills the knowledge gap that has led businesses on this expensive and risky path.

Data warehouse expert Chris Adamson shows how a well-planned set of aggregates can have an extraordinary effect on the overall throughput of your data warehouse. Regardless of your role or current level of star schema expertise, the best practices in this book will help you achieve astounding performance increases, while avoiding common pitfalls.

From star schema basics through advanced aggregation techniques, this book covers the impact of aggregate tables on the entire data warehouse lifecycle. After establishing a few fundamentals, including the star schema approach to data warehouse design, chapters are dedicated to major phases of the data warehouse lifecycle. Topics include:

• Fundamental principles of aggregate schema design
• How to use aggregates in a production environment, with or without an aggregate navigator
• Integration of aggregate processing into the ETL process
• Standard tasks and deliverables for incorporating aggregates into data warehouse development projects
• How to organize and execute a project that adds aggregate capability to an existing star schema
• The impact of advanced schema design techniques such as bridge tables, heterogeneous stars, or snapshot models on aggregation
• Special considerations when implementing dimensional aggregates using Oracle's materialized views or IBM's materialized query tables
• How aggregates can add value in other areas, including database security and the archive strategy

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About the Author

Christopher Adamson is a data warehousing consultant and founder of Oakton Software LLC. An expert in star schema design, he has managed and executed data warehouse implementations in a variety of industries. His customers have included Fortune 500 companies, large and small businesses, government agencies, and data warehousing tool vendors. Mr. Adamson also teaches dimensional modeling and is a co-author of Data Warehouse Design Solutions (also from Wiley). He can be contacted through his website, www.ChrisAdamson.net.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471777099
• ISBN-13: 978-0471777090
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Data Warehousing

More About the Author

Chris Adamson has taught dimensional modeling to thousands of students world-wide. He is faculty member at The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), teaches at conference events and provides onsite education.

Through his company Oakton Software LLC, Chris works with customers to develop data warehousing strategies, identify and prioritize projects, design solutions, and manage implementations. His customers have included Fortune 500 companies, government entities and software tool vendors.

Chris's latest book is Star Schema: The Complete Reference (McGraw-Hill 2010). He is author of Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates, and co-author of Data Warehouse Design Solutions, both published by Wiley.

Chris also contributes to many TDWI publications, and blogs about data warehousing at StarSchemaCentral.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Accurate and Easy to Follow, November 11, 2006

By 

S. L. Hoffman (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates: Solutions for Star Schema Performance (Paperback)

Chris does a great job of laying out both the good and bad associated with using aggregates as a means to support Business Intelligence and Hierarchical-type queries within a Data Warehouse environment. As a disciple of Ralph Kimball's Chris kept true to the doctrine and helped the reader understand why he recommended the tacts he did throughout the manuscript. The material was easy to follow and his illustrations were clear representations of the material being presented. I especially liked that he added platform-specific hints and scenarios to tailor the material to the reader's environment. While I do not necessarily agree that building aggregate tables are the solution to many of the challenges in a Business Intelligence use of Data from a Data Warehouse, I do feel that Chris' book is a great place to start to learn the challenges and start down the path of solution to the problem. Add on material might include mention of other solutions that are not manual that also address the same challenge - such as the software package from HyperRoll.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Focused, clear and useful, December 27, 2007

By 

Andrea Vincenzi (Arezzo, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates: Solutions for Star Schema Performance (Paperback)

I must confess that I was skeptic before reading the book, because I thought that it could not add very much to Kimball's books. However, I was wrong: this turned out to be a very useful book. Not only it contains the most detailed explanation of DW aggregates available, but it also contains a very good discussion of the loading process for various types of dimensions and facts, which forms the bulk of data warehouse "back room processing".
One more final plus: the author completely adopts the Kimball approach to Data Warehousing, so this book fits very nicely with other books from Wiley's describing Kimball methodology.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So, you want to make your data warehouse queries run faster?, August 21, 2009

By 

F. Hu (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates: Solutions for Star Schema Performance (Paperback)

This book answers the question of how can I make my data warehouse queries run faster. There is no magic to this, just pre-compute the data that you want to query and store that in your data warehouse. That is what is meant by 'aggregates' in this book. Of course that is easier said than done. The book covers issues like what to pre-compute and how to use the aggregate. It also has a nice introductory section on how to load a data warehouse with aggregates.