Written for both the IT manager or database developer, A Practical Guide to Microsoft OLAP Server provides a blueprint for success with data warehousing by using Microsoft tools. With a good eye to other vendors' solutions and project management, this book provides a nuts-and-bolts guide to success with any data warehouse project.
This title excels at giving the reader a wider perspective on data warehouses, their advantages for business, and the evolution of products by numerous vendors. It covers the basics of how warehouses are designed, and does a good job of explaining measures and dimensions and how multidimensional cubes are used within the data warehouse. Although the book zeros in on Microsoft's OLAP Services (part of SQL Server 7.0), it surveys the field with an excellent history of the evolution of OLAP solutions from different vendors in the past. (It also describes how Microsoft licensed technology from other vendors to help create OLAP Server.)
The text is strong when it comes to managing data warehouse projects, with several detailed chapters that will guide you through the entire life cycle of the project, from planning to analysis and design to deployment of your warehouse. Besides zeroing in on the strengths (and limitations) of Microsoft OLAP Server, this book also considers add-ons from other vendors, especially when it comes to building effective clients. (The author shows off how to use Excel as the default OLAP client, but also presents other options, including Web-based solutions.) A later section details how to choose the right client for your organization. While the focus here is on the management side of OLAP, the author includes plenty of hands-on information on installing and using OLAP Server, as well as a good tutorial on its MDX query language.
In all, this title strikes a useful balance between explaining data warehouse technology in general and the specifics of Microsoft OLAP, a combination that can put this powerful technology into the hands of more users than ever before. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Overview of Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and decision support systems, measures, dimensions and cubes, data acquisition and storage, history and evolution of OLAP solutions, OLAP standards, introduction to Microsoft SQL Server and OLAP Services, planning the data warehouse project: resources and staffing, scheduling and budget, risk analysis, final review; systems analysis for OLAP, interviews for executive, business, and technical perspectives, source-data analysis, designing a data warehouse: measures, dimensions, star and snowflake schemas, security issues, installing and running OLAP services, Excel and third-party vendor client tools, PivotTables and PivotCharts, maintaining the data warehouse, MDX tutorial: basic and advanced expressions, advanced features: virtual dimensions and cubes, data analysis, and cell-level security.
Product Description
With the introduction of Microsoft's OLAP Services, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) technology has become a major force in today's marketplace. OLAP, which enables multidimensional databases for sophisticated decision support, is a technology that IT and database professionals need to know. It's a core technology of state-of-the-art customer management systems; budgeting and forecasting models; and sales, marketing, and financial performance analysis applications. It's also used in general-purpose "datamarts" that allow companies to monitor key business measures and discover the strategic opportunities they need to remain competitive in today's fast-paced e-commerce business environment.
A Practical Guide to Microsoft(r) OLAP Server introduces you to OLAP technology and leads you step-by-step through the process of deploying an OLAP server, focusing in particular on Microsoft's OLAP Services. This book explains the basic concepts underlying OLAP, compares various OLAP products, and describes Microsoft's OLAP Services architecture. In addition, it enumerates the development life cycle of an OLAP Services application from planning and design through installation and administration, discussing the goals and approaches for each phase and task.
Essential topics covered include:
OLTP versus OLAP Dimensions, measures, and aggregations Multipurpose query tools Dedicated desktop OLAP Microsoft OLAP Services management software Analyzing OLAP project goals, tasks, resources, and scheduling Data source analysis, including host platform accessibility and dimensionality Designing hierarchies, aggregation, storage, and partitioning Security OLAP server installation, including hardware requirements Designing and building an OLAP database OLAP and Excel OLAP and the Web Administration, training, and technical support
A Practical Guide to Microsoft(r) OLAP Server also provides information on more advanced OLAP topics, including virtual cubes, merging database partitions and custom OLAP development. Real-world examples demonstrate concepts and methods throughout the book, and plenty of practical advice will help you avoid trouble spots and achieve a smooth and successful deployment.
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