This is the first book to provide in-depth coverage of star schema aggregates used in dimensional modeling-from selection and design, to loading and usage, to specific tasks and deliverables for implementation projects Covers the principles of aggregate schema design and the pros and cons of various types of commercial solutions for navigating and building aggregates Discusses how to include aggregates in data warehouse development projects that focus on incremental development, iterative builds, and early data loads

A cutting-edge response to Ralph Kimball's challenge to thedata warehouse community that answers some tough questions aboutthe effectiveness of the relational approach to datawarehousing Written by one of the best-known exponents of the Bill Inmonapproach to data warehousing Addresses head-on the tough issues raised by Kimball andexplains how to choose the best modeling technique for solvingcommon data warehouse design problems Weighs the pros and cons of relational vs. dimensional modelingtechniques Focuses on tough modeling problems, including creating andmaintaining keys and modeling calendars, hierarchies, transactions,and data quality

A cutting-edge response to Ralph Kimball's challenge to the data warehouse community that answers some tough questions about the effectiveness of the relational approach to data warehousing Written by one of the best-known exponents of the Bill Inmon approach to data warehousing Addresses head-on the tough issues raised by Kimball and explains how to choose the best modeling technique for solving common data warehouse design problems Weighs the pros and cons of relational vs. dimensional modeling techniques Focuses on tough modeling problems, including creating and maintaining keys and modeling calendars, hierarchies, transactions, and data quality

Geared to IT professionals eager to get into the all-importantfield of data warehousing, this book explores all topics needed bythose who design and implement data warehouses. Readers will learnabout planning requirements, architecture, infrastructure, datapreparation, information delivery, implementation, and maintenance.They'll also find a wealth of industry examples garnered from theauthor's 25 years of experience in designing and implementingdatabases and data warehouse applications for majorcorporations. Market: IT Professionals, Consultants.

"Each chapter is... a practice run for the way we all ought to design our data marts and hence our data warehouses."-Ralph Kimball, from the Foreword. Let the experts show you how to customize data warehouse designs for real business needs in Data Warehouse Design Solutions. To effectively design a data warehouse, you have to understand its many business uses. This guidebook shows you how business managers in different corporate functions actually use data warehouses to make decisions. You'll get a rich set of data warehouse designs that flow from realistic business cases. Two top experts show you how to customize your data warehouse designs for real-life business needs including: * Sales and marketing * Production and inventory management * Budgeting and financial reporting * Quality control * Product delivery and fulfillment * Strategic business analysis such as determining market share, rates of return on investment, and other key analytic ratios. CD-ROM includes All sample data warehouse designs with accompanying preformatted reports in HTML for specific business uses such as marketing, sales, and financial analysis.

Cowritten by Ralph Kimball, the world's leading data warehousing authority, whose previous books have sold more than 150,000 copies Delivers real-world solutions for the most time- and labor-intensive portion of data warehousing-data staging, or the extract, transform, load (ETL) process Delineates best practices for extracting data from scattered sources, removing redundant and inaccurate data, transforming the remaining data into correctly formatted data structures, and then loading the end product into the data warehouse Offers proven time-saving ETL techniques, comprehensive guidance on building dimensional structures, and crucial advice on ensuring data quality

The final edition of the incomparable data warehousing and business intelligence reference, updated and expanded The Kimball Group Reader, Remastered Collection is the essential reference for data warehouse and business intelligence design, packed with best practices, design tips, and valuable insight from industry pioneer Ralph Kimball and the Kimball Group. This Remastered Collection represents decades of expert advice and mentoring in data warehousing and business intelligence, and is the final work to be published by the Kimball Group. Organized for quick navigation and easy reference, this book contains nearly 20 years of experience on more than 300 topics, all fully up-to-date and expanded with 65 new articles. The discussion covers the complete data warehouse/business intelligence lifecycle, including project planning, requirements gathering, system architecture, dimensional modeling, ETL, and business intelligence analytics, with each group of articles prefaced by original commentaries explaining their role in the overall Kimball Group methodology. Data warehousing/business intelligence industry's current multi-billion dollar value is due in no small part to the contributions of Ralph Kimball and the Kimball Group. Their publications are the standards on which the industry is built, and nearly all data warehouse hardware and software vendors have adopted their methods in one form or another. This book is a compendium of Kimball Group expertise, and an essential reference for anyone in the field. Learn data warehousing and business intelligence from the field's pioneers Get up to date on best practices and essential design tips Gain valuable knowledge on every stage of the project lifecycle Dig into the Kimball Group methodology with hands-on guidance Ralph Kimball and the Kimball Group have continued to refine their methods and techniques based on thousands of hours of consulting and training. This Remastered Collection of The Kimball Group Reader represents their final body of knowledge, and is nothing less than a vital reference for anyone involved in the field.