Janus Fouché SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Companion eBook Available Pro this print for content only—size & color not accurate CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK PANTONE 123 C BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS ® US $44.99 Shelve in: Database / SQL Server User level: Intermediate–Advanced THE APRESS ROADMAP Pro SQL Server 2008 Analytics Pro SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Beginning SQL Server 2008 for Developers Accelerated SQL Server 2008 Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services www.apress.com SOURCE CODE ONLINE Companion eBook See last page for details on $10 eBook version ISBN 978-1-4302-1995-8 9 781430 219958 5 44 9 9 Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Dear Reader, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) is a powerful online analytical processing (OLAP) and data-mining environment included with Microsoft’s database platform. Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services is your guide to using Analysis Services along with SQL Server to deliver effective business intelligence (BI) solutions. We show how to create data source views, build and deploy a cube for analysis, and mine your data for busi- ness insight, and ultimately for profit. Our desire is to pave your path to success by sharing our experience. We show how SQL Server professionals use SSAS to address and solve real-world challenges every day. We discuss SSAS features in detail, including the enhanced Cube and Dimension Designers. For administrators, we discuss several areas in server man- agement. These include cube processing and processing options, the Performance Monitor, scheduling, and security. Business intelligence solutions require metrics. To deliver metrics to your users, you will learn how to define, create, and use key performance indicators (KPIs), cal- culated members, perspectives, and actions. Data mining with SSAS enables you to create predictions based on trends in historical data stores of virtually any size. SQL Server Analysis Services and Microsoft Office 2010 are now tightly integrat- ed to enable self-service business intelligence capabilities across the enterprise. PowerPivot is a new set of technologies that give end users the tools needed to per- form complex analysis and data mining at their workspace. We introduce you to PowerPivot, helping you get started with this new and important tool. We believe you will gain valuable experience with SQL Server Analysis Services, as well as insights into developing BI solutions, by applying the methods demon- strated throughout this book. Philo Janus & Guy Fouché 7.5 x 9.25 spine = 0.90625" 480 page count THE EXPERT’S VOICE ® IN SQL SERVER Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Philo Janus and Guy Fouché Create value and competitive advantage through careful mining and analysis of your company’s business data Covers Release 2! Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Philo Janus Guy Fouché Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Copyright © 2010 by Philo Janus and Guy Fouché All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. 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To Jodi Fouché: For her poetry, being my biggest fan, and unequivocal love —Guy Fouché Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS iv Contents at a Glance Contents v About the Authors xiv About the Technical Reviewers xv Acknowledgments . xvi Introduction xvii Chapter 1: Introduction to OLAP .1 Chapter 2: Cubes, Dimensions, and Measures .15 Chapter 3: SQL Server Analysis Services 41 Chapter 4: SSAS Developer and Admin Interfaces .75 Chapter 5: Creating a Data Source View .97 Chapter 6: Creating Dimensions .117 Chapter 7: Building a Cube .167 Chapter 8: Deploying and Processing .195 Chapter 9: MDX .219 Chapter 10: Cube Features .251 Chapter 11: Data Mining .275 Chapter 12: PowerPivot 311 Chapter 13: Administration .333 Chapter 14: User Interfaces 373 Appendix A: Setting Up Adventure Works .431 Appendix B: Data-Mining Resources 435 Index .437 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS v Contents Contents at a Glance iv Contents v About the Authors xiv About the Technical Reviewers xv Acknowledgments . xvi Introduction xvii Chapter 1: Introduction to OLAP .1 From Pivot Tables to Dimensional Processing .2 Data Warehousing .4 Applications of OLAP 5 History of OLAP 7 SQL Server Analysis Services 8 Data Mining .13 Summary .14 Chapter 2: Cubes, Dimensions, and Measures .15 Cubes and Their Components 15 Defining Measures and Dimensions 18 Schemas . 18 Dimensions in Depth . 20 Measures 27 Types of Aggregation 31 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS vi Writeback . 32 Calculated Measures 33 Actions .34 XMLA 35 Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) 36 Data Warehouses .37 Storage 38 Staging Databases 38 Storage Modes . 38 Summary .39 Chapter 3: SQL Server Analysis Services 41 Requirements 41 Hardware 41 Virtualization . 43 Software . 44 Upgrading . 44 Standard or Enterprise Edition? 44 Architecture .46 The Unified Dimensional Model 46 Logical Architecture 49 Physical Architecture 52 Storage . 54 Cube Structures in SSAS .59 Data Sources 61 Data Source View . 61 The Cube Structure Itself 63 Dimensions . 64 Mining Structures . 65 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS vii What’s New in SQL Server 2008 65 Performance . 65 Tools . 69 Summary .73 Chapter 4: SSAS Developer and Admin Interfaces .75 Business Intelligence Development Studio 75 BIDS Is Visual Studio? 75 Panes 76 Solution Explorer 79 Properties Pane 80 Creating or Editing a Database Solution . 82 SQL Server Management Studio 86 Managing Analysis Services . 87 Executing MDX Queries 91 PowerShell .92 A Convincing Example 93 PowerShell for SQL Server . 93 PowerShell with SSAS 94 Summary .95 Chapter 5: Creating a Data Source View .97 Cubes Need Data .97 Data Sources .98 Data Source Views .105 Designer Tour . 105 Named Calculations and Queries 110 Summary .116 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS viii Chapter 6: Creating Dimensions .117 Dimensional Analysis .117 Review of the Dimension Concept 118 Star or Snowflake? . 119 Dimensions in SSAS 127 Creating a Dimension . 127 Analysis Management Objects (AMO) Warnings . 135 Dimension Properties . 136 Attributes .148 Attribute Relationships . 150 Attribute Properties 156 Parent-Child Dimensions .157 The Time Dimension 159 Summary .166 Chapter 7: Building a Cube .167 Dimensions and Cubes 169 Creating Cubes . 170 Using Measure Group Tables 170 Selecting Dimensions . 173 Defining Dimension Usage . 179 Measures and Measure Groups .182 Measures 182 Measure Groups . 184 Calculated Measures 185 Summary .193 Chapter 8: Deploying and Processing .195 Deploying a Project 195 Project Properties . 195 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. [...]... watermark Introduction Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services offers an in-depth look into the latest and greatest suite of analytic tools from Microsoft This book will help you create business intelligence (BI) solutions that improve your company’s analysis and decision making by focusing on practical, solution-oriented application of the technologies available in SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services (SSAS)... (www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol /sql/ 70/maintain/olap.mspx) OLAP Services offered a Cube Creation Wizard to design cube schemas, a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in to manage the services, and Pivot Table Services for client-side OLAP In SQL Server 2000, the feature was renamed SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) OLAP capabilities were underappreciated in SQL Server 7 and 2000 Between the perception that SQL Server. .. Deployment Scripts 202 Synchronizing SSAS Databases 202 Processing .204 What Processing Does for Us 205 How to Initiate Processing from BIDS 208 Processing from SQL Server Management Studio 214 Processing via XMLA 215 Processing with Analysis Management Objects (AMO) 215 Scheduling OLAP Maintenance ... The cube browser in BIDS SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 is somewhat more evolutionary than revolutionary After the upheaval in the SQL Server 2000-to-2005 transition, Microsoft was intent not to stir the pot again so soon As a result, SSAS 2008 focused on improving performance, implementing user feedback on the tools used, supportability, extensibility, and data-mining improvements Of course, you’ll... every department defining profit margin with different business rules, they simply provide the underlying data, and the KPI does the work at any level of aggregation Note Chapter 11 covers KPIs to some degree, but for an in-depth examination of how SQL Server Analysis Services fits into business intelligence, check out Philo’s book Pro PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Apress, 2008) Most notably, the Business... a ubiquitous analysis front end and had the extensibility hooks enabling other vendors to leverage it for their own use By 2004, most OLAP vendors leveraged Excel as a user-friendly front end Microsoft’s second game-changer was to enter the OLAP server market themselves SQL Server Analysis Services In 1996, Microsoft acquired OLAP technology from Panorama Software It shipped with SQL Server 7 as OLAP... enables a more “point and play” approach (Figure 1-12) 10 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO OLAP Figure 1-12 Data mining in Excel leveraging SQL Server Analysis Services Microsoft established SQL Server as their business intelligence platform by adding key performance indicator (KPI) features to Analysis Services, as shown in Figure... 1-10 Viewing the details of an SSAS cube in SQL Server Management Studio SSAS 2005 also made configuration management easier In SSAS 2000, data connections to underlying databases were hard-coded and had to be manually changed when migrating a cube from development to test or production environments SSAS 2005 provided tools to automate this process In 2005, Analysis Services also introduced the data... [Dimensions].[Time].[FiscalQuarter].PrevMember would always show the last full quarter of data Figure 1-7 A report produced from OLAP data • A business user will prefer using a desktop tool such as Excel to perform ad hoc analysis of data (Figure 1-8) Excel, ProClarity, and other tools like these provide the ability to dig through data, produce reports, and perform analysis on large amounts of information from numerous data sources that have... cubes, dimensions, and measures With that foundation laid, Chapters 3 and 4 introduce you to what SQL Server provides You’ll get your first look at Analysis Services and its administration interface Chapters 5 through 7 show you how to design and build a cube for analysis The cube is the focal point of Analysis Services Once you’ve created a cube, Chapter 8 shows how to deploy it for use After you’ve . 2008 Analytics Pro SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Beginning SQL Server 2008 for Developers Accelerated SQL Server 2008 Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services. 219958 5 44 9 9 Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Dear Reader, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) is a powerful online analytical processing (OLAP)