Putting the "I" Back into BI
This is Part 2 of a 3-part series where I make the case that pre-aggregated OLAP is essential in this era of AI. The intent of this post is to describe just enough of how a pre-aggregated OLAP engine works for those who are unfamiliar with this technology: Those who have joined the business intelligence … Continue reading The Ghost of OLAP Aggregations – Part 2 – Aggregation Manager
Previously, on The Ghost of MDX ... This post is Part 2 of my prior post, The Ghost of MDX (Multi Dimensional eXpressions), where I discussed the value of pre-aggregated OLAP, such as SQL Server Analysis Services and Kyvos SmartOLAP, in the modern Cloud world. Before continuing, I need to clarify that by "SQL Server … Continue reading An MDX Primer
Squeezing More Value Out of SSAS It's been a bit over ten years since I began software development based on a set of ideas I eventually named Map Rock. Since it was such a big part of my life for a few years, I thought I'd commemorate its 10th anniversary with a blog. That is, … Continue reading Map Rock – 10th Anniversary and Some Data Mesh Talk
Practically every customer over my 20+ years working with SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) has told me "MDX is hard to learn". As cliche as this is to say, I think the source of difficulty is mostly that the MDX language is misunderstood. I believe that in large part, it's because SQL and MDX are … Continue reading The Ghost of MDX
Someone told me yesterday that "OLAP is dead". "Everyone is choosing tabular/in-memory." I know it's not dead, maybe at least sick. But did I underestimate the time of the tipping point, the curve in the hockey stick, where the vast majority of users will "sensibly choose" the tabular/in-memory option over OLAP? I realize some, including me, think this … Continue reading Is OLAP Terminally Ill?
I’ve encountered many situations where some set of complications in a cube model were eased by using an aggregation table derived from some base fact table as the fact table. The complications leading to that choice usually include expensive on-the-fly calculations, distinct count measures, or even many to many relationships. The main idea is that … Continue reading Thoughts Around “Aggregate Fact Tables”
Huge strides in the value proposition of BI will come by jumping the chasm from simply reporting on data provided by the integrated view of our enterprise to discovering novel and perhaps counter-intuitive relationships hidden in that data. With the discovery of such relationships, we can burst outside of the box with novel strategies for growth and novel resolutions of problems. … Continue reading Find and Measure Relationships in Your OLAP Cubes
Originally published on http://eugenea.spaces.live.com/blog on January 30, 2009. Since the very fun days when I worked in the Analysis Services product team (1998), I was fascinated by what was then a brand-new project named "Aurum". Aurum is latin for gold, and the root of gold's chemical symbol, Au. The result of project Aurum is known since 2000 as … Continue reading Analysis Services Data Mining Mental Blocks
Analysis Services is a difficult subject that at first glance can appear to be a relatively simple subject. After all, most people can learn within an hour or two how to create Pivot Tables in Excel and slice and dice through it like a pro. However, as one's requirements become more sophisticated, one eventually runs … Continue reading Sample of my SSAS/MDX Workshop
Soft Coded Logic 