Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services

Design and implement fast, scalable and maintainable cubes

• A real-world guide to designing cubes with Analysis Services 2008
• Model dimensions and measure groups in BI Development Studio
• Implement security, drill-through, and MDX calculations
• Learn how to deploy, monitor, and performance-tune your cube
• Filled with best practices and useful hints and tips

In Detail

Microsoft's SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 is an OLAP server that allows users to analyze business data quickly and easily. However, designing cubes in Analysis Services can be a complex task: it's all too easy to make mistakes early on in development that lead to serious problems when the cube is in production. Learning the best practices for cube design before you start your project will help you avoid these problems and ensure that your project is a success.

This book offers practical advice on how to go about designing and building fast, scalable, and maintainable cubes that will meet your users' requirements and help make your Business Intelligence project a success.

This book gives readers insight into the best practices for designing and building Microsoft Analysis Services 2008 cubes. It also provides details about server architecture, performance tuning, security, and administration of an Analysis Services solution.

In this book, you will learn how to design and implement Analysis Services cubes. Starting from designing a data mart for Analysis Services, through the creation of dimensions and measure groups, to putting the cube into production, we'll explore the whole of the development lifecycle.

This book is an invaluable guide for anyone who is planning to use Microsoft Analysis Services 2008 in a Business Intelligence project.

What you will learn from this book?

• Build a data mart suitable for use with Analysis Services
• Create and configure an Analysis Services project in Business Intelligence Development Studio
• Use the Dimension Wizard and the Dimension Editor to build dimensions
• Create measure groups and associate them with dimensions
• Add calculations to the cube, including implementing currency conversion and a date tool dimension
• Explore the security model, including dimension security and cell security, and implement dynamic security
• Tune queries to get the best possible performance
• Automate processing and partition creation
• Monitor your cube to see who's actually using it

Approach

This is a practical tutorial for Analysis Services that shows readers how to solve problems commonly encountered while designing cubes, and explains which features of Analysis Services work well and which should be avoided. The book walks through the whole cube development lifecycle, from building dimensions, cubes and calculations to tuning and moving the cube into production.

Who this book is written for?

This book is aimed at Analysis Services developers who already have some experience but who want to go into more detail on advanced topics, and who want to learn best practices for cube design.