Chapter 29 -- Using Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services

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Chapter 29

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, formerly called OLAP Services, is a component of SQL Server 2000 designed to assist you with online analytical processing (OLAP), with which you can access and mine data in your data warehouse and data mart. In this chapter, you'll learn what the components of Analysis Services are, how to install them, and how to use them. In addition, you'll learn about the enhancements to Analysis Services found in SQL Server 2000. Because this book is intended for SQL Server administrators, not application developers, this discussion is limited to the topics of installing, configuring, and administering Analysis Services. Application development topics are not covered here.

NOTE

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The terms "data warehouse" and "data mart" are used throughout this chapter. The term "data warehouse" is defined in a number of ways. One way to think of a data warehouse is as a repository for business data that is made up of historical data as well as current data from a company's online transaction processing (OLTP) systems. A data mart is similar to a data warehouse but contains data relating to only one aspect of the company. For example, a company could have a data warehouse containing accounts payable, accounts receivable, and human resources information, and a data mart containing only accounts payable data. Both data warehouses and data marts are usually made up of data configured in a star schema or a snowflake schema, both of which are explained later in this chapter. The concepts discussed in this chapter apply to both data warehouses and data marts. Unless otherwise noted, the term "data warehouse" is used to refer to both types of databases.