Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services: Design and Implement Fast, Scalable, and Maintainable Cubes

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.

About the Authors

Chris Webb has been working with Microsoft Business Intelligence tools for almost ten years in a variety of roles and industries. He is an independent consultant and trainer based in the UK, specializing in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services and the MDX query language. He is the co-author of “MDX Solutions for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 and Hyperion Essbase”, is a regular speaker at conferences, and blogs on BI. He is a recipient of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional award for his work in the SQL Server community.

Marco Russo is a consultant and trainer in software development based in Italy, focusing on development for Microsoft Windows operating systems. He’s involved in several Business Intelligence projects, including those of relational and multidimensional warehouse design, with particular experience in sectors like banking and financial services, manufacturing and commercial distribution.

He previously wrote several books about .NET and recently co-authored Introducing Microsoft LINQ and Programming Microsoft LINQ, both published by Microsoft Press. He also wrote “The many-to-many revolution”, a mini-book about many-to-many dimension relationships in Analysis Services, and co-authored the “SQLBI Methodology” with Alberto Ferrari. Marco is a founder of SQLBI and his blog is available at http://sqlblog.com/blogs/marco_russo