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Professional Data Warehousing with SQL Server 7.0 and OLAP Services
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by Sakhr Youness
Sales Rank: 1568877
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$0.40
At Amazon
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Paperback: 604 pages
Publisher: Peer Information Inc.; 1st edition January 2000
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1861002815
ISBN-13: 978-1861002815
Product Dimensions:
9.2 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
Product Review
Written for those who work with databases on the SQL Server 7 platform, Professional Data Warehousing with SQL Server 7.0 and OLAP Services gives you what you need to implement a data warehouse successfully. This hands-on tutorial exploits the built-in capabilities of various Microsoft tools.
Besides a general introduction to the world of data warehouses (and data marts) done the Microsoft way, this book is best at showing you how to master tools like OLAP Manager, which lets you effectively create and manage data warehouses. There are dozens of screen shots for a variety of tools in action, including the Data Transformation Services (DTS) Designer (for transforming data from one source to another) and the powerful PivotTable tool (which can be used to analyze information).
This tools-based approach means that you can get up and running with OLAP tools without understanding every theoretical detail. (The book does cover the basics here, but it's the practical focus that will make it useful to the working data architect.) There is also coverage of the powerful (and somewhat quirky) Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) from Microsoft, which extends SQL for querying against dimensional data in "cubes." Chapters on basic and advanced MDX will show you how to get the most out of this standard with your databases. (For samples, the book relies mainly on case studies from the Microsoft Web site.)
It used to be that data warehousing required a lot more work just to get started. Armed with Microsoft tools and this capable guide, most anyone can plan and build a data warehouse successfully for SQL Server 7. This is a solid how-to on an essential topic in enterprise database development. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and data warehouse basics; data marts; data mining; Microsoft OLAP and tools; Data Transformation Services (DTS); metadata and the Microsoft Repository; MS OLAP architecture for servers and clients; dimensions and OLAP cubes; drill-down and roll-up; slicing and dicing; star, constellation, and snowflake schemas; virtual cubes; partitions; project design for data warehouses; case studies from Microsoft; techniques for capturing data; OLAP Manager tutorial; using the cube editor; DTS packages and the DTS designer; automating data transformation; data-driven queries; bulk inserts with BCP; beginning and advanced Multidimensional Expressions (MDX); OLAP presentation; using PivotTable; design considerations for data marts; data mining basics; statistics and third-party tools; security; administration and maintenance for data warehouses; replication techniques; optimization and tuning.
Book Description
With the vast amounts of data flowing through the workplace on a daily basis, Data warehouses have evolved to cope with the huge volumes involved by separating the data used for reporting and decision making from the operational systems. Microsoft have entered the world of datawarehousing with the introduction of SQL Server 7 and OLAP Services.
The purpose of the data warehouse is simply to store the raw data. The combination of this with OLAP enables the data to be transformed into useful information that reflects the real factors affecting the enterprise. OLAP techniques may range from simple navigation and browsing of the data to more serious analyses, such as time-series and complex modeling.
Customer Reviews & Comments
While WROX Press usually covers programming topics well, this title is an exception. I've read all three books on MS OLAP. Many of the MDX examples are incorrect in syntax (no quotes where required, or CREATE SET SESSION instead of CREATE SESSION SET). It also blithely talks about syntax that MS OLAP doesn't support (like sets in the WHERE clause) without letting you know you're wasting your time trying it. Some errors, like multiple descriptions of and references to the non-existent CREATE SET GLOBAL, or stating that drill-down functions don't work on tuples when they do, state clearly that the author doesn't really know Microsoft's MDX. The author makes other odd claims, for example that virtual dimensions are useful for security (how?) I found it really interesting that area after area (discussions of preparing a database, discussions of MDX, database optimization, many of the diagrams, the discussion of NULL values and invalid member references, a large number of small asides) follow the outline, diagrams, examples and occasionally unique terminology of "Microsoft OLAP Solutions" fairly closely, including idiosyncrasies such as the attention to dealing with irregular hierarchies in more depth than leveled hierarchies early on, and yet goes into far less depth. It strains belief that the author didn't study this prior work and borrow heavily. It also disappoints in the areas where it could have offered some unique insights. Unlike the other two books, it devotes a small chapter to types of data mining, and offers in chapter introduction that it will discuss whether OLAP Services supports data mining. At the very end of the chapter, he only says that "Microsoft has yet to come up with a ... product that performs such tasks and handles gigabytes of data" and that "Excel is the best representative of Microsoft products in this regard". Huh? Meanwhile, possible application of OLAP Services' statistical functions to forecasting is completely unmentioned, although the same statistical functions (correlation, regression) are mentioned as data mining components. Yes, you can too do forecasting with MS OLAP! Data warehousing with SQL 7 is very thin. If you have "The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit," "90 Days to the Data Mart", and any SQL Server reference, you'll be way ahead. Stay away! Buy "Microsoft OLAP Solutions" and get a deeper treatment of OLAP Services features and MDX, and buy "Microsoft OLAP Unleashed" and get a ton of DTS and client ADO programming. I'll give this one star instead of zero, as it at least has some information in it.
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Professional Data Warehousing with SQL Server 7.0 and OLAP Services
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