Preface

Most books about Analysis Services are targeted at people who already work in the BI space and want to become experts. I wanted to write a book that could be read and understood by a novice who wants to become a BI developer. I have made this journey myself; I had worked with database solutions for more than 10 years when I started to work with BI solutions. I had a hard time finding a book that would cover the introduction to multidimensional modeling.

The intent of this book is not to be a complete book on Analysis Services development, but to serve as an introduction that will allow the user to get started. The book also contains links to where a reader can find more in-depth material on the topics covered. This will allow the user to start as a novice and to move into the role of an intermediate Analysis Services developer.

What this book covers

This book is a step-by-step instruction on how to get started with cube development. It takes the reader through the steps of installing and developing a BI solution built on Analysis Services. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Self-service Business Intelligence, Creating Value from Data, serves as an introduction to Business Intelligence solutions and specifically self-service solutions.

Chapter 2, Installing SSAS and Preparing for Cube Development, discusses the different models available to a user in Analysis Services. It covers the installation of Analysis Services and an introduction to the development environment.

Chapter 3, Creating Your First Multidimensional Cube, starts with an introduction to data warehousing modeling followed by a step-by-step instruction covering the initial development of the first OLAP cube.

Chapter 4, Deploying and Processing Cubes, covers the deployment and processing of cubes that are necessary in cube development. You will learn how you can automate processing of cubes to ensure that they contain the latest information from the data warehouse. You also learn how to partition your cubes to minimize processing times.

Chapter 5, Querying Your Cube, serves as an introduction to MDX, the query language used in Analysis Services. You will also learn how Excel can be used as a query tool against multidimensional cubes.

Chapter 6, Adding Functionality to Your Cube, looks at how you can extend your cube with calculations such as calculated measures and members, key performance indicators (KPIs), time calculations, and actions. It also contains information about how you can use your cube in a multi-lingual environment through the use of translations, and how you can build budgeting solutions using Analysis Services.

Chapter 7, Securing Your Cube Project, discusses how security works in Analysis Services and how a cube can be secured. You will learn how you can implement a dynamic security model using MDX functions.

Chapter 8, Using Aggregations to Performance Optimize a Cube, covers how aggregations can be used in Analysis Services to improve the performance of the BI solution. You will learn how you can create aggregations based on the actual usage of the cube.

Chapter 9, In-memory, the Future, introduces how you can build in-memory models in Analysis Services tabular mode. The chapter discusses measures, hierarchies, security, partitioning as well as more advanced topics such as time calculations and KPIs.

Chapter 10, Cubes in the Larger Context, shows how cubes fit into the larger architecture of a BI solution. You will get an introduction to the available frontend tools from Microsoft as well as the third-party tools that can be used as query tools against cubes.

What you need for this book

To follow the step-by-step instructions in this book you need a computer with the following software:

• Windows Vista SP2 or later if you install it on a workstation, or Windows Server 2008 SP2 or later if you install it on a server.

• One of the following Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise, BI, Developer, or Evaluation Editions. You can download the Evaluation Edition at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29066

• Adventure Works Data Warehouse 2012 sample database. You can download the sample using the following link: http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/downloads/get/165405

Who this book is for

The audience of this book includes SQL Server developers that previously have not worked with Analysis Services, but want to move into the BI space. It is assumed that you have experience with relational databases but no skills in cube development are required.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."

A block of code is set as follows:

--Query 5.2
SELECT [Measures].[Sales Amount] ON COLUMNS,
  [Product].[Product Hierarchy].[Product Category] ON ROWS
  FROM [Adventure Works DW2012];]

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "clicking on the Next button moves you to the next screen".

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Reader feedback

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[e-mail]>, and mention the book title via the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.

Customer support

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

Errata

Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the code—we would be grateful if you would report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the errata submission form link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded on our website, or added to any list of existing errata, under the Errata section of that title. Any existing errata can be viewed by selecting your title from http://www.packtpub.com/support.

Piracy

Piracy of copyright material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you come across any illegal copies of our works, in any form, on the Internet, please provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can pursue a remedy.

Please contact us at <[e-mail]> with a link to the suspected pirated material.

We appreciate your help in protecting our authors, and our ability to bring you valuable content.

Questions

You can contact us at <[e-mail]> if you are having a problem with any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.