Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services- P1

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.
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-1995-8
ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-1996-5
Printed and bound in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with
every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an
editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the
trademark.

The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not
identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to
proprietary rights.
Publisher and President: Paul Manning
Lead Editor: Jonathan Gennick
Technical Reviewers: Dana Hoffman and Fabio Claudio Ferrachiatti
Editorial Board: Clay Andres, Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Jonathan
Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Duncan Parkes, Jeffrey Pepper,
Frank Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom
Welsh
Coordinating Editors: Candace English and Fran Parnell
Copy Editors: Sharon Wilkey and Mary Ann Fugate
Compositor: Bytheway Publishing Services
Indexer: John Collin
Artist: April Milne
Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko
Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233 Spring Street, 6th
Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, e-mail orders-ny@springer-
sbm.com, or visit www.springeronline.com.
For information on translations, please e-mail , or visit www.apress.com.
Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use.
eBook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special
Bulk Sales–eBook Licensing web page at www.apress.com/info/bulksales.
The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. Although every precaution
has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to
any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly
by the information contained in this work.
The source code for this book is available to readers at www.apress.com. You will need to answer questions
pertaining to this book in order to successfully download the code.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.

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.
 CONTENTS
ix
Deployment Methods............................................................................................................................ 198

Using the Deployment Wizard........................................................................................198
Running the Wizard .............................................................................................................................. 199

Input Files............................................................................................................................................. 201

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......................................................................................215
Summary .......................................................................................................................218
 Chapter 9: MDX...................................................................................................219
Why the Need?...............................................................................................................219
Tuples and Sets .............................................................................................................221
Notation ................................................................................................................................................ 222

Tuples................................................................................................................................................... 223

Sets ...................................................................................................................................................... 228

MDX Queries ..................................................................................................................228
SELECT ................................................................................................................................................. 229

WHERE.................................................................................................................................................. 232

MDX Functions...................................................................................................................................... 233

Categories of Functions........................................................................................................................ 239

Summary .......................................................................................................................249
 Chapter 10: Cube Features .................................................................................251
Business Intelligence.....................................................................................................251
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
 CONTENTS
x
Time Intelligence .................................................................................................................................. 252

Account Intelligence ............................................................................................................................. 254

Dimension Intelligence ......................................................................................................................... 255

Operators, Functions, and More ....................................................................................255
Unary Operators.................................................................................................................................... 255

Custom Member Formulas ................................................................................................................... 256

Attribute Ordering................................................................................................................................. 257

Currency Conversion ............................................................................................................................ 257

Calculations Tab ............................................................................................................258
Calculated Measures ............................................................................................................................ 259

Named Sets .......................................................................................................................................... 262

Other Cube Features......................................................................................................262
Key Performance Indicators ................................................................................................................. 263

Actions.................................................................................................................................................. 265

Perspectives ......................................................................................................................................... 270

Translations.......................................................................................................................................... 272

Summary .......................................................................................................................273
 Chapter 11: Data Mining .....................................................................................275
Why Mine Data?.............................................................................................................275
Using Data-Mining Algorithms.......................................................................................276
Microsoft Naïve Bayes.......................................................................................................................... 276

Microsoft Clustering ............................................................................................................................. 276

Microsoft Decision Trees...................................................................................................................... 277

Creating the Accessory Buyers Marketing Campaign....................................................277
Preparing the Data Warehouse......................................................................................278
Creating the Accessory Buyers Views in AdventureWorks................................................................... 278

Creating the Accessory Campaign Data Source View .......................................................................... 281

Finding Accessory Buyers by Using the AdventureWorks EDW.....................................282
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
 CONTENTS
xi
Using the Data Mining Model Designer .........................................................................289
The Mining Structure View ................................................................................................................... 290

The Mining Models View ...................................................................................................................... 291

The Mining Model Viewer View ............................................................................................................ 292

The Mining Accuracy Chart View.......................................................................................................... 297

The Mining Model Prediction View ....................................................................................................... 299

Finding Accessory Buyers by Using Data Mining Extensions (DMX)..............................303
Use the DMX Development Environment.............................................................................................. 303

Create the Accessory Buyers Mining Structure.................................................................................... 304

Add a Naïve Bayes Mining Model to the Accessory Buyers Campaign................................................. 305

Process the Accessory Buyers Campaign ............................................................................................ 305

View the Accessory Buyers Mining Model............................................................................................ 306

Predict Our Accessory Buyers .............................................................................................................. 308

Summary .......................................................................................................................310
 Chapter 12: PowerPivot ......................................................................................311
PowerPivot Support in SQL Server 2008 R2 ..................................................................311
Master Data Services ........................................................................................................................... 311

Excel Writeback.................................................................................................................................... 313

PowerPivot from Excel...................................................................................................320
PowerPivot with SharePoint Server 2010......................................................................326

Summary .......................................................................................................................331
 Chapter 13: Administration.................................................................................333
DBA Tasks......................................................................................................................333
Processing a Cube................................................................................................................................ 333

Processing Options............................................................................................................................... 335

Processing Architecture ....................................................................................................................... 336

Profiler.................................................................................................................................................. 337

Performance Monitor............................................................................................................................ 337

Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
 CONTENTS
xii
Automation ........................................................................................................................................... 339

XML for Analysis................................................................................................................................... 340

Analysis Management Objects ............................................................................................................. 340

PowerShell ........................................................................................................................................... 343

Scheduling............................................................................................................................................ 343

SQL Server Integration Services........................................................................................................... 345

Security..........................................................................................................................348
Authentication ...................................................................................................................................... 348

Authorization ........................................................................................................................................ 349

Performance ..................................................................................................................352
Design................................................................................................................................................... 352

Aggregations ........................................................................................................................................ 359

Scaling.................................................................................................................................................. 367

Virtualization......................................................................................................................................... 369

SharePoint Server 2010........................................................................................................................ 369

Summary .......................................................................................................................371
 Chapter 14: User Interfaces ................................................................................373
Excel 2007 .....................................................................................................................373
Data Source Connections ..................................................................................................................... 374

Pivot Tables .......................................................................................................................................... 379

Pivot Charts .......................................................................................................................................... 386

Visio 2007 ......................................................................................................................399
SQL Server Reporting Services......................................................................................401
Reports ................................................................................................................................................. 401

Tablix .................................................................................................................................................... 402

Charts ................................................................................................................................................... 410

Report Builder 2.0................................................................................................................................. 418

MOSS 2007 ....................................................................................................................420
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
 CONTENTS
xiii
KPI Lists................................................................................................................................................ 421

Excel Services ...................................................................................................................................... 423

PerformancePoint ..........................................................................................................423
 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.
xiv
About the Authors

Philo Janus is a senior technology specialist with Microsoft. Over the years he has presented
Microsoft Office InfoPath to thousands of users and developers, and assisted with enterprise
implementations of InfoPath solutions. With that background, he is particularly sensitive to the
difficulties users and developers have had with InfoPath.
He graduated from the US Naval Academy with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering in
1989 to face a challenging career in the US Navy. After driving an aircraft carrier around the Pacific
Ocean and a guided-missile frigate through both the Suez and Panama Canals, and serving in the US
Embassy in Cairo, a small altercation between his bicycle and an auto indicated a change of career
(some would say that landing on his head in that accident would explain many things).
Philo’s software development career started with building a training and budgeting application in
Access 2.0 in 1995. Since then he’s worked with Oracle, Visual Basic, SQL Server, and .NET, building

applications for federal agencies, commercial firms, and conglomerates. In 2003 he joined Microsoft as a
technology specialist, evangelizing Office as a development platform.


 Guy Fouché is a business intelligence and decision support system
consultant in the Dallas, Texas area. Guy spends his evenings playing
one of his eight trumpets and expanding his composition skills by
using the current generation of music technologies. On the weekend,
he puts as many miles as he can on his bright yellow Honda F4i sport
motorcycle. Guy and his wife Jodi enjoy taking nine-day trips in their
Jeep 4×4, taking photographs and writing travelogs along the way.
You can view their photography at .
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
xv
About the Technical Reviewers
 Fabio Claudio Ferrachiatti is a senior consultant and a senior analyst/developer of Microsoft
technologies. He works for Brain Force at its Italian branch (www.brainforce.it). He is a Microsoft
Certified Solution Developer for .NET, a Microsoft Certified Application Developer for .NET, and a
Microsoft Certified Professional, as well as a prolific author and technical reviewer. Over the past ten
years, he’s written articles for Italian and international magazines and coauthored more than ten books
on a variety of computer topics.


Born in Brooklyn, New York, Dana L. Hoffman often jokes that her name should have been Data. She
has always had a sharp eye for detail and an avid desire to create systems that are not just workable, but
intuitive and easy to use. She always tries to see things from the user’s point of view, and sees technical
reviewing as an excellent opportunity to put her nitpicking skills to good use. With a background in
programming and database development, Dana currently works as a data analyst. She lives in
Connecticut and is nearly finished raising two sons.

Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
 INTRODUCTION
xvi
Acknowledgments
I’d like to offer a huge thank-you to everyone at Apress who has had input into these pages!

Guy Fouché


Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
xvii
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).
Using the examples and exercises in this book, you will further your understanding of online
analytical processing (OLAP), BI, data mining, and SSAS itself. New SSAS features are also explained,
including the Management Data Warehouse (MDW), dynamic management views (DMVs), and
Aggregation Designer. Improvements to the Cube and Dimension Designers are also covered.
Chapters 1 and 2 introduce you to OLAP, and to the key concepts that are termed 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 deployed a cube, it is available for you and other analyists to query. It is partly through
queries that one examines and analyzes the data at one’s disposal. To that end, Chapter 9 is devoted to
Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), which is the query language underpinning Analysis Services
solutions.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are at the heart of every BI solution. In Chapter 10, you will learn

how to define, create, and use these metrics. Chapter 10 also introduces you to perspectives, actions,
and calculated members.
Data-mining algorithms enable you to sift through huge amounts of historical data, and create
predictions based on trends and patterns. Working through Chapter 11, you will learn how to use data
mining to create, execute, and validate a prediction model. Chapter 11 will also introduce you to
Microsoft’s Data Mining Extensions (DMX) language.
PowerPivot is an exciting set of technologies that provide powerful BI abilities to all business users.
By integrating with Office 2010, your users can perform complex analysis and data mining on their
workstations. Using SSAS language translation and automated currency conversions greatly enhances
the usability of your company’s data across the enterprise.
Finally, Chapter 13 offers important information for SSAS administrators. To effectively manage
SSAS at the server level, you need to understand processing tasks and options, the SQL Server Profiler,
the Performance Monitor, scheduling, and security.



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.