Professional Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 with MDX (Paperback)

• When used with the MDX query language, SQL Server Analysis Services allows developers to build full-scale database applications to support such business functions as budgeting, forecasting, and market analysis.
• Shows readers how to build data warehouses and multi-dimensional databases, query databases, and use Analysis Services and other components of SQL Server to provide end-to-end solutions
• Revised, updated, and enhanced, the book discusses new features such as improved integration with Office and Excel 2007; query performance enhancements; improvements to aggregation designer, dimension designer, cube and dimension wizards, and cell writeback; extensibility and personalization; data mining; and more

You'll explore everything that Analysis Services 2008 has to offer and examinethe important features of this product with the help of step-by-step instructionson building multi-dimensional databases. Within each chapter, you will not only learn how to use the features, but you'll also discover more about the features at a user level and what happens behind the scenes to make things work. You'll get a look at how features really operate, enabling you to understand how to use them to their full potential. Plus, you'll sharpen your ability to debug problems that you might not have been able to otherwise.

What you will learn from this book

• The basic concepts of using Analysis Services and the common operations you need to design your databases

• How to create multi-dimensional databases (such as multiple measure groups, business intelligence wizards, key performance indicators, and more)

• Methods for extending MDX via external functions

• Ways to administer your Analysis Services programmatically and design and optimize your cube for best performance

• How data mining along with Microsoft Office 2007 makes it easy to use and effective to perform analysis on data

Who this book is for
This book is for database and data warehouse developers and administrators interested in exploiting the power of business intelligence and leveraging the SQL Server 2008 tool set.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.