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IloveBusinessIntelligence.IloveBIbecauseitisallaboutbecomingbetter. BI is all about empowering us with knowledge and that knowledge is the power to realize our full potential. As Zorge the spy said, "knowledge is power", and who doesn't love to have the power to know, to understand and to make intelligent decision? I do. Since the dawn of the modern information system it was obvious that the information accumulated in the machine is wasted if there is no way to analyze it and learn from it. From as early as the 1950s, data analysis systems and, later, decision support systems were designed, developed anddeployedwiththatintent.However,onlyinthelastdecadehavethese systems become both reasonably affordable and mainstream and their business impact indisputable. The last decade has also seen the emergence of OLAP as the centerpiece of the BI technologies. The OLAP multidimensional databases combine incredible performance with unsurpassed analytical power and, in my opinion, are the foundation of the BI platform. While the performance differences between the multidimensional da- bases and the traditional relational databases are very significant, Moore's law, which states that the hardware computing power doubles every 18 months, renders this advantage of the OLAP databases temporary. Sooner or later, the raw computing power of the common server machines will be sufficient to provide the performance needed for sophisticated analysis even when the data is stored in a relational database.
List of contents
Readme.doc - definitions you need to know.- How MDX is used.- MDX queries.- MDX syntax.- MDX expressions.- Navigating the hierarchy.- Snapshot data analysis.- Moving averages.- Filters.- Setting the default member.- Member properties and dimension security.- Distinct Count.- Parent-Child dimensions.- Advanced data modeling - Custom Order, Custom Rollup, Custom Members.- Further advanced data modeling techniques.- Actions.- Server side color coding.- More about querying.
About the author
Dr. Mark Whitehorn has a boundless fascination for databases. He teaches relational database theory and practice at the University of Dundee, writes a monthly database column in 'Personal Computer World' and is a popular commentator on the computer industry. His enthusiasm, clarity of communication and devotion to real-world examples are much appreciated by students and readers alike. He is co-author of 'Inside Relational Databases - with examples in Access', also available from Springer-Verlag.
Summary
IloveBusinessIntelligence.IloveBIbecauseitisallaboutbecomingbetter. BI is all about empowering us with knowledge and that knowledge is the power to realize our full potential. As Zorge the spy said, “knowledge is power”, and who doesn’t love to have the power to know, to understand and to make intelligent decision? I do. Since the dawn of the modern information system it was obvious that the information accumulated in the machine is wasted if there is no way to analyze it and learn from it. From as early as the 1950s, data analysis systems and, later, decision support systems were designed, developed anddeployedwiththatintent.However,onlyinthelastdecadehavethese systems become both reasonably affordable and mainstream and their business impact indisputable. The last decade has also seen the emergence of OLAP as the centerpiece of the BI technologies. The OLAP multidimensional databases combine incredible performance with unsurpassed analytical power and, in my opinion, are the foundation of the BI platform. While the performance differences between the multidimensional da- bases and the traditional relational databases are very significant, Moore’s law, which states that the hardware computing power doubles every 18 months, renders this advantage of the OLAP databases temporary. Sooner or later, the raw computing power of the common server machines will be sufficient to provide the performance needed for sophisticated analysis even when the data is stored in a relational database.
