When used with the MDX query language, SQL Server Analysis Services allows developers to build full-scale database applications to support such business functions as budgeting, forecasting, and market analysis. Shows readers how to build data warehouses and multi-dimensional databases, query databases, and use Analysis Services and other components of SQL Server to provide end-to-end solutions Revised, updated, and enhanced, the book discusses new features such as improved integration with Office and Excel 2007; query performance enhancements; improvements to aggregation designer, dimension designer, cube and dimension wizards, and cell writeback; extensibility and personalization; data mining; and more

Every business has reams of business data locked away in databases, business systems, and spreadsheets. While you may be able to build some reports by pulling a few of these repositories together, actually performing any kind of analysis on the data that runs your business can range from problematic to impossible. Pro SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services will show you how to pull that data together and present it for reporting and analysis in a way that makes the data accessible to business users, instead of needing to rely on the IT department every time someone needs a different report. Accessible—With a single author's voice, this book conducts a guided tour through the technology that makes it easy to dive into. Solution–oriented—While technically deep, the goal is to focus on practical application of the technologies instead of acting as a technical manual. Comprehensive—This book covers every aspect of analysis services and ancillary technologies to enable you to make the most of SQL Server.

Service Broker is a key Microsoft product in support of message–based processing between applications. Pro SQL Server 2008 Service Broker helps you to take full advantage of this key Microsoft technology, beginning from the fundamentals, moving through installation and application development, and ultimately showing you how to develop highly available and scalable applications based upon the service–oriented architecture that is quickly gaining ground as the way forward in application development. Comprehensive approach to developing with Service Broker Strong focus on best practices and real–world scenarios Covers the key aspects of distributed application design

Teaches solution architects, designers, and developers how to use Microsoft's reporting platform to create reporting and business intelligence (BI) solutions Updated with new information about holistic BI solutions, comprehensive OLAP/Analysis Services reporting, and complete production deployment scenarios Includes programming examples focused on specific, scenario-based solutions Explains reporting services architecture and business intelligence, teaches the fundamentals of designing reports through the use of careful planning considerations, and covers advanced report design and filtering techniques

Pro SQL Server 2008 Analytics provides everything you need to know to develop sophisticated and visually appealing sales and marketing dashboards using SQL Server 2008 and to integrate those dashboards with SharePoint, PerformancePoint, and other key Microsoft technologies. The book begins by addressing the many misconceptions that surround the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) and giving a brief overview of the business intelligence (BI) and reporting tools that can be combined on the Microsoft platform to help you generate the results that you need. The focus of the book is to help you implement a successful business intelligence project of your own. The text discusses many of the required project planning components, provides overviews and examples associated with Microsoft's BI tools, and gives detailed examples of successful dashboard implementations.

Pro SQL Server 2008 Policy-Based Management is critical for database administrators seeking in-depth knowledge on administering servers using the new policy-based management features introduced in SQL Server 2008. This book will cover everything from a basic introduction to policy-based management to creating your own custom policies to enforce consistent rules across your organization. Provides in-depth treatment of policy-based management in a single source Provides practical usage scenarios for policy-based management Provides guidance to help meet growing regulatory compliance needs

This book is written for SQL Server 2008. However, it does maintain roots going back a few versions and looks out for backward compatibility issues with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000. These versions are old enough that there is little to no time spent on them except in passing. The book is oriented around developing on SQL server. Most of the concepts are agnostic to what client language you use although the examples that leverage a client language general do so in C#. For those who are migrating from early versions of SQL Server, some “gotchas” that exist any time a product has versions are discussed to the extent that they seem to be a genuinely relevant issue. This book assumes that you have some experience with SQL Server and are at an intermediate to advanced level. The orientation of the book is highly developer focused. While there is a quick reference-oriented appendix, there is very little coverage given to beginner level topics. It is assumed that you already have experience with data manipulation language (DML) statements and know the basics of the mainstream SQL Server objects (views, stored procedures, user defined functions, etc.). If you would like to brush up on your knowledge before diving into this book, the author recommends reading Beginning SQL Server 2008 Programming first. There is very little overlap between the Beginning and Professional books and they are designed to work as a pair.