Database Reference
In-Depth Information
All of this and more can be found on the Apress website:
www.apress.com
.
See the catalog page for this topic
In addition, there is even more content available on each of the author's websites:
http://NorthwestTech.
org/ProBISolutions
and
www.keystrokepublications.com
.
Here you will find things that just could not fit
within this one book such as articles, demos, templates, and videos!
Our Example Scenarios
We work on two BI solution scenarios in this topic. Each scenario is based on a sample database created by
Microsoft for demonstration purposes. The databases are as follows:
The Publications BI solution
: The Pubs database was created in the 1980s for both
Sybase's and Microsoft's SQL Server demonstrations. Pubs has a number of flaws in its
design, naming conventions, and datatyping. This provides an opportunity to remedy
the flaws during the creation of the data warehouse and the ETL process, just as you
would find in a real-world scenario. This database also has a number of archetypal
data structures useful for highlighting advanced dimensional structures. Another
advantage to the Pubs database is that it is the simplest Microsoft demonstration
database available. Because of all of these features, we use it as the focal point for the
in-chapter practice exercises.
The Northwind Foods BI solution
: Made in the early 1990s, the Northwind database
is larger and slightly more complex than the Pubs database. It was also created for
demonstrations by Microsoft and has numerous design flaws that are discussed and
addressed in our data warehouse and ETL processes. This database is used to frame
the “Learn by Doing” exercises for each chapter.
All of these databases are readily available and have been used as examples in hundreds of books. Because
of this, you may already be familiar with these databases, and you can easily find additional information and
code samples to enhance your understanding.
Setup Instructions
Although we have tried to keep the setup requirements as light as possible, there are still a number of complex
tasks that need to be performed before you can get the full benet of this topic. You need the following items:
•
A full install of SQL Server 2012 developer edition, with all of its supporting servers (SSIS,
SSAS, and SSRS)
•
The Pubs and Northwind databases
•
Administrator-level access to SQL Server and its supporting servers (SSIS, SSAS, and
SSRS)
We included setup instructions, files, and videos in a single folder called
_SetupFiles
that is included
as part of the downloadable content from the Apress website,
www.apress.com
.
Therefore, you have only one
downloadable file to worry about. This folder is inside the same zip file as the exercises.
Of course, you have to unzip the file before you can use it. We include detailed instructions on how to copy it
to the root of your C:\ drive in Chapter 2, but you can unzip the downloadable content anywhere you want until
then. On a Windows 7 PC, the typical location would be the
Downloads
folder.
