Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Data warehouses have evolved to cope with the huge volumes of data flowing through the workplace by separating the data used for reporting and decision making from the operational systems. The purpose of the data warehouse is simply to store the raw data, and in combination with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, this data can be transformed into accessible information that reflects the real factors affecting the enterprise.

In this book, we introduce the key concepts of data warehousing, OLAP, and data mining. In addition to coverage of Data Transformation Services (DTS) and MDX, this book also demonstrates how to develop an Analysis Services client application, and how to secure and optimize your data warehouse. There is also an in-depth discussion of the exciting new topic of Web Housing.

By reading this book, you will learn how best to employ data warehousing and OLAP in your business, and how to leverage it to provide your organization with improved revenue and profitability.

This book covers:

Understanding Analysis Services Architecture
Designing Data Warehouses and Data Marts
Using Data Transformation Services (DTS) in Data Warehousing
Techniques for Data Mining and Analysis
Building OLAP cubes with Analysis Manager, and programmatically through DSO
Securing, Administrating and Optimizing a Data Warehouse and OLAP system
Using Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) to query OLAP cubes
Building OLAP client applications with Visual Basic and ASP
English Query, PivotTable Service

---

---

Rating: - Poorly Written and Confusing
Avoid this book. It was written by ten different people and it shows in the text - overlapping material and total lack of flow make it impossible to get a grasp on Analysis Services. It appears that many of the authors have difficulty understanding and adequately explaining the concepts themselves.

The Analysis Services tutorials included with SQL Server and Books Online are much more informative - with deliberate, well documented hands-on tutorials.

This is NOT the reference you are looking for.

---

Rating: - Better than the last book!
I bought Sakhrs version of this book for SQL Server 7. This is not just an upgrade but a look at the new functionlity found within SQL Server 2000.

This book is a dream if you are involved within Analysis and even looking at the new DTS Analysis functions has helped me.

Comparing this with other books, by far this is the one that is well written and doesnt just come out with the obvious.

---

Rating: - A Light in the Data Mining Tunnel
I found this book to be helpful in understanding how to utilize multidimensional database design. It was nice to see that Microsoft has some affordable alternatives one can turn to in the data mining and data warehousing market. Once again WROX has produced a helpful product for professionals in the computer industry.

---

Rating: - Step by Step is Better
Been a Wrox fan for some time. This is the worst book their team has produced. The material is cursory at best and totally theoretical. Very few practical examples. Never thought I would point to an MSPress Step-by-Step book, however it is far superior to this junk.