The book shows readers how to build sophisticated business intelligence solutions using SQL Server Analysis Services, along with SQL Server Integration Services and Reporting Services. The authors begin with an overview showing how Analysis Services and MDX can be used to build data warehouses and multi-dimensional databases. They then quickly move to a tutorial that describes the development process for building dimensions and cubes from various data sources.
The authors next show how MDX can be used to query databases to provide sophisticated analysis of business problems. They demonstrate a variety of techniques against real-world case scenarios and also show how Analysis Services can be used with other components of SQL Server, including Integration Services, Reporting Services, and Data Mining to provide comprehensive, end-to-end solutions.

About the Author

Sivakumar Harinath is currently the Microsoft SDET Lead for the SQL Server Analysis Services, responsible for product testing. He is co-author of the books "Professional SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 with MDX" and "MDX Solutions 2nd edition". Siva has presented talks in Tech-Ed New Zealand and Australia. Rob Zare is program manager on the SQL Server Integration Services team. Robert was, up until very recently, a program manager for the Analysis Services team for over 9 years, in charge of the user interface for the team's development and management tools. Robert is also a co-author of 2018Fast Track to MDX.' Sethu Meenakshisundaram is currently an Architect in SQL Server Business Intelligence group at Microsoft. Over the course of 15+ years, Sethu developed, architected and released major releases of Sybase SQL Server. Sethu has given talks regularly including keynote address at Sybase User Group meetings/conference around the world. Matt Carroll is currently a Senior Development Lead on the SQL Server Integration Services team at Microsoft. Prior to this he spent 10 years working on the SQL Server Analysis Services team as a developer and then development lead. He's presented on Analysis Services at VSLive and compiled and edited the whitepaper "OLAP Design Best Practices for Analysis Services 2005". Denny Lee is a Senior Program Manager in the SQL Customer Advisory Team (Best Practices Group) for Microsoft. He has more than 12 years experience as a developer and consultant implementing complex enterprise OLTP, Data Warehousing, Analysis Services, and Data Mining solutions. He helped create the first OLAP Services reporting application in production at Microsoft and is a co-author of "SQL Server 2000 Data Warehousing with Analysis Services", "Transforming Healthcare through Information [Ed. Joan Ash] (2008)", and consistent contributor to SQLCAT.com.

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.