Delivering Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2008

by Brian Larson

Book Overview

Maximize the Business Intelligence Tools in Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Manage, analyze, and distribute enterprise data with help from this expert resource. Delivering Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 covers the entire BI lifecycle and explains how to build robust data integration, reporting, and analysis solutions. Real-world examples illustrate all of the powerful BI capabilities of SQL Server 2008. This...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071549447
• ISBN13: 9780071549448
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 792 Pages
• Weight: 2.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The best overall intro to the full breadth of SQL 2008 BI

Well-written book tackling an enormous topic. In addition to providing good conceptual overviews, actually goes into a fair bit of practical detail on each of the three main components (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS). Author uses his own database rather than the AdventureWorks sample used by most other books. This is a big plus, the database is very small and the number of tables/entities to contend with is easy to conceptualize. Plus it gets you more involved with the exercises - less chance of 'sleepwalking' through a topic because AdventureWorks sometimes makes things seem deceptively familiar. Maybe surprisingly, the SSAS section is the best part of the book - in particular, the MDX and Data Mining chapters. MDX is a quirky #if incredibly powerful# language, and the examples and diagrams in Chapters 11 and 12 are VERY well thought out and presented. You'll have to go to other sources to truly master either MDX or Data Mining, but this book contains a fine foundation. I dived straight into both these topics previously, using more 'advanced' books, and regretted it. The final section is around SSRS, to my mind the dullest, most vanilla, part of the MS BI stack. Ploughing through plumbing/security/drudgery is not something I ever find interesting, but even SSRS was made interesting here through examples consuming OLAP and DM. Finally, a cool little bonus hidden away in Chapter 18 showing an example of programming through [...]. I'd highly recommend the book - it's a comprehensive and practical overview.

New to SQL Server BI? Start here

This book is a perfect choice for people who are generally familiar with relational databases and business intelligence concepts who want to learn how to build them in MS SQL Server. The book covers the database engine, SSIS, SSAS, and SSRS. The outline of the book starts with setting up the environment then proceeds thru getting the data, analyzing it, and finally reporting it. This is the right order to cover these topics. There is not enough here to make you an expert on any topic, but there is a good introduction to the many topics in the area. The book is well written, edited, and illustrated. It includes complete coverage of "what SQL Server 2008 BI can do" but is short on "how to do it". There is a good mix of theory, examples, and practice with many "Learn-by-doing" exercises. These are very valuable. The book does include enough detail to answer most beginners' questions.

Great book for a newbie to SSIS and SSAS

Kudos to the author and his style of writing. He explains each and every step on SSIS and SSAS so eloquently that he makes the topic understanding a breeze. This is one of the very few books i have read that gets you hooked on to it and finish it as soon as possible with all the exploration you want to do in SSIS and SSAS. In short - an excellent book for starters.

W. Gorman

I am about halfway done this book and already can't say enough positive things about it. The author does a wonderful job of walking the reader through the ETL process, cubes, and eventually datamining as well. I am a beginner to Microsoft's BI tools and this book enabled me to jump right in. The author's 'Learn by Doing' sections are invaluable. He is incredibly thorough and precise with his instruction. Unlike a previous reviewer's encounter, I did not run into any issues finding the database sample link. The only minor issue I ran into was during one database sample load, an error occurred since I don't have the Enterprise SqlServer 2008 installed (I have the Basic version), but I was able to proceed by manually creating what I needed so it did not hold me up.

Great overview of a huge subject

This author sets out to walk you through a huge subject, which is Microsoft's BI stack, in a single volume and does an admiral job of introducing the key concepts and components that a Microsoft implementation requires. It should be considered a starting point from which much is to be gained. Experienced BI developers will learn about the new features in SQL 2008. He also spends an entire chapter on Transformers or Microsoft SSIS explaining each of the components and going into detail where required. His explanation of the Unified Data Model is quite good. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that you need the custom database that is free and is downloadable and that he refers to throughout the book. What's not to like about that? You cannot find any link on the publisher's site, the reference to the page in the book doesn't work and searching for the code on the publisher's site returns empty. I finally contacted customer service who sent me over to technical services that finally sent me the link. Not the author's problem but maybe technical books should come out of the technical press.