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.

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.

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

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.

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

SQL Server 2005 is the largest leap forward for SQL Server since its inception. With this update comes new features that will challenge even the most experienced SQL Server DBAs. Written by a team of some of the best SQL Server experts in the industry, this comprehensive tutorial shows you how to navigate the vastly changed landscape of the SQL Server administration. Drawing on their own first-hand experiences to offer you best practices, unique tips and tricks, and useful workarounds, the authors help you handle even the most difficult SQL Server 2005 administration issues, including blocking and locking. You'll learn how to fine-tune queries you've already written, automate redundant monitoring and maintenance tasks, and use hidden tools so that you can quickly get over the learning curve of how to configure and administer SQL Server 2005. What you will learn from this book How to use some of the more advanced concepts of installation Techniques for properly administering development features such as SQL CLR Ways to secure your SQL Server from common threats How to choose the right hardware configuration Best practices for backing up and recovering your database Step-by-step guidelines for clustering your SQL Server Who this book is for This book is for experienced developers and database administrators who plan to administer or are already administering an SQL Server 2005 system and its business intelligence features. Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working technologists to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.