Today, I am going to start a series of blogs on one of my favorite topics Data Warehousing with SQL Server.  I will start by defining a data warehouse.  I will then give some business cases that explain the benefits of a data warehouse.  Finally, I will start writing about the built in tools SQL Server provides to implement a data warehouse with SQL Server.

What is a Data Warehouse?

In its simplest form a Data Warehouse is a way to store data information and facts in an format that is informational.  Hopefully, you were able to pull this information from the photos above.   Personally, I like to think of a Data Warehouse as a tool used by decision makers to improve decision‐making.

Business cases for a Data Warehouse

The following are several reasons business cases that explain how “insert company name here” can benefit from a data warehouse.

• A Data Warehouse is fast to query. After the initial setup is complete, queries can run up to 1000% faster in an OLAP database than in an OLTP database.
• A Data Warehouses improves ROI by allowing end users to make more efficient use of enterprise information so many companies have all the information they need.
• A Data Warehouse is a good solution for application’s that are great for data entry but lacks in depth reporting and drilldown capabilities.
• A Data Warehouse could be used to bring several applications and/or data sources together.
• If you are a service company a data warehouse could be used to analyze work completed to estimate future flat fee engagements. (I can go on and on on these examples…)
• If you already own SQL Server you can implement a data warehouse solution with the built in tools.  This means no additional cost for software is needed.

What tools are needed to Build a Data Warehouse?

Both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 include three tools that are very helpful towards implementing a Data Warehouse. These three tools allow you to create an killer data warehouse.

• Analysis Services (SSAS)
• Integration Services (SSIS)
• Reporting Services (SSRS).

We will go over these tools in great detail in future posts.  For now, let’s just think of SSAS as the tool that provides storage for the data used in cubes for your data warehouse. SSIS is the tool we will use to extract, transform and load (ETL) data into our data warehouse.  SSRS is a tool used to view the data in our data warehouse.

Next post : Introduction to Data Warehouse Dimensions

I wanted to give a quick update and thank everyone who has responded to my initial posting about bringing SQL Saturday to Wheeling, WV.    I have spoken to a couple technology groups and several individuals and everyone is very supportive of this event.

The following are upcoming work items:

1. Establish a budget
2. Build a support team that will help with organizing the event.
3. Find a location and pinpoint a date (tentatively First Quarter 2010.)

I look forward to blogging the status of these work items.

On another note, It looks like I will be presenting the following topic “Building a Data Warehouse with SQL Server” twice in November.  I will present first at the Greater Wheeling Chapter of AITP meeting on November 11th.  I will also give the same presentation at the Pittsburgh SQL Server User Group Meeting on November 16th.

You will soon see a series of blog post that go over building a data warehouse.  You can find the first one here.

This past week I took a trip over to my local Best Buy and decided to purchase a portable hard drive.  I noticed that one of my mentors was using a similar device for hosting Virtual PCs so I thought I would give it a try.  The following are my initial reasons for purchase:

1. Consolidate Virtual PC’s and Demos
2. Need to Synchronize documents on multiple computers
3. Good disk I/O for portable drive

Consolidate Virtual PC’s and Demos

From time to time I do quite a few demos at work, AITP, code camp etc.  I want to consolidate all my presentations, sample code, virtual drives etc. so I could repeat a presentation on the go as needed.  This device works great for this purpose.  A benefit of the WD My Passport is that the device is so small it fits in my pockets.  I now take the portable drive almost everywhere I go. 

Synchronize Documents

I have many files going all the way back to college on several computers.  I want to be able store and/or modify versions of these files on a single device without having to worry about manual synchronization.  Basically, If I make a modification to a document on the portable device I want to be able to synchronize these changes when I connect the portable hard drive back to the computer that hosts the original version of the file.

The WD Sync application that comes with the WD Passport accomplishes this task.  This application allows you to create profiles for computers and allows you to sync documents, photos, videos, email and more.  I was easily able to modify documents from different computers and sync them back with the original pc.  I am very impressed with WD Sync.  It takes a few minutes to understand the functionality but its a great free tool.

Test Disk I/O

Using SQLIO and perfmon I was able to create a quick test to put this portable hard drive to the test.  From the following screen shot below you can see an average disk transfers/sec is 102.093.  This result isn’t great but I believe its workable for a portable hard drive.

Conclusion

For only spending $90 I believe this is a good device.  Are you currently using portable hard drives? If so, which model are you are using? What are your favorite features?

Being an IT professional with a focus on the legal industry I am glad to say that I have a place on the web.  With Justin Siebert and Ted Cromwell pleading WordPress I am joining the dark side and leaving the Microsoft stack for this blog.  I am primarly a ASP.NET developer and a SQL Server guru. I look forward to communicating with several IT professionals through this site.