Chapter 42. Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services

by Paul Bertucci

IN THIS CHAPTER

• What Is Analysis Services and OLAP?

• Understanding the Analysis Services Environment and the "Land of Wizards"

• An Analytics Design Methodology

• An Analytic Mini-Methodology

• An OLAP Requirements Example

• OLAP Cube Creation

• Creating an OLAP Database

• Working with a Relational Database

• Files at the Operating System Level

This version of SQL Server is jam-packed with numerous data warehousing, data mining, and OLAP-rich tools and technology. A Data Warehouse manager from a prominent Silicon Valley company once said, "I can now build [using MS SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services] sound, extremely usable, OLAP cubes myself , faster and smarter than my whole department could do only a few years ago." This is what Microsoft has brought to the table. In past SQL Server versions, it was much harder to turn Online Analytic Processing (OLAP) requirements into viable and scalable OLAP cubes, let alone get a handle on complex data mining models. Things just got a lot better.