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What our customer's say!

"Very complete", I bought this book for a class. It is very complete. I am an IT person who need this sense of Business Size of BI while I am updating my SQL Server skills. I recommend this book.

"Essential Reading for Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2005", Having spent more time doing data warehousing than reading about it, I didn't realize what a phenomenon the Kimball Method had become. I was interviewing with a company that mentioned Kimball and wanted to use his methods to build a data warehouse on SQL Server 2005, so I turned to Amazon, found this book, used my Amazon Prime to get the tome and got the job. So how was the book? Honestly, it covers the Kimball Method well and most experienced analysts will not find much new other than the jargon. The practical advice from Mundy and Thornthwaite is valuable and will help you make some practical decisions on implementation, if not spell out all the steps. My feeling was that if you are comfortable with implementing data marts or data warehouses, this book will give you the advice you need for setting up a SQL Server 2005 data warehouse and implementing Analysis Services. For a more in depth look at how to implement Analysis Services, I recommend Melomed's book as a follow on.

The only complaint I have with this book is it over sells SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) as an ETL tool. That is probably Mundy's Microsoft viewpoint speaking rather than actual experience with the tool. After using SSIS, I look at it as Data Transformation Services (DTS) with a nice face on it, but really its just lipstick on the same pig. I have picked up several books on SSIS to try find out how to do all the wonderful things it promises, but they pretty much echo the documentatiion, so I can't really recommend any of them.

Overall, this is book well worth reading. After spending the last year on an Oracle/Teradata project, its refreshing to get back to SQL Server 2005 and Analysis Services. If you are just making the jump to data warehousing on SQL Server 2005, this is a must read. If you are already familiar with Kimball, you will skip a lot but get some good implementation advice and that makes it worth the price. If you want to know more about MDX or SSIS, this isn't what you are looking for.



"More an academic discussion, than hands-on", I found this a frustrating book. Eventually I skipped this first 43 pages of introduction plus 120 first pages of the book proper. I felt the authors were more interested in using esoteric language than actually showing how to use the product. If you're trying to baffle someone with tech-speak, this is the book for you. If you have a deadline, and are trying to actually accomplish something, I would suggest looking elsewhere. Disappointed.

"Very approachable but authoritative source on DW", Having inherited a mature DW, I was weak on the Theory behind what I was supporting. I needed to be able to be confident of not breaking the current system, but still be able to take this vital system forward with the business. I am also under the Time pressure that we all work with. This book gave thorough but clear explanations of the concepts that underlie DW/BI solutions and then went on to particularise these explanations with details based on SQL Server. I am still working through it, but it is a pleasure rather than a chore.

Thanks for the great work that you and the editorial team put into this book. JK.


"Not for Beginners?", Mundy and Thornthwaite provide the knowledgeable SQL Server technician with many of the soft and hard tools required to deliver a successful BI project. And even if most beginners might miss most of the authors' finer points and hard earned wisdom, they'll still be further ahead on a steep learning curve.

Only wish the Kimball team had written the same book for Analysis Server 2000. It'd have saved me much time! ;-)

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Most Excellent", Let me say, this is an absolutely WONDERFUL book. I originally bought Teo Lachev's book. It is technically very good and I will keep it around, but The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit is absolutely outstanding in the way it takes you by the hand and walks you step-by-step through all the initial stages of a DW/BI project -- an area in which Lachev's book is somewhat lacking. Since we are doing a new, first time DW/BI effort at my company, this book - and indeed several of the Kimball books - will be invaluable.

"Outstanding, Practical, Honest -- A Must Have", The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit is a comprehensive overview of this technology that will surely be ubiquitous. It is refreshingly honest about the wonders and warts, and chock full of practical guidance about how to really make a project succeed using Microsoft tools. This book is a worthy addition to the outstanding Kimball Toolkit series. It is essential reading for anyone evaluating or implementing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for business intelligence applications.

"Good Overview", I have read a 100 pages thus far, and I will read the rest. The book continues to refer the reader to read "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" (Second Edition), by Ralph Kimball. I recommend purchasing the latter book. I have read it, and it is more helpful than this book.
TC

"Good book for beginner to pick up and start working...", This is the first book I bought alongside with Data Mining with SQL Server 2005 for my first ever data BI project.

Having spent a few years designing and architecturing conventional database application, it has long puzzled me is there a framework available for people to build BI solutions? Or are there any process out there to build BI solutions? I also question whether the conventional wisdom in building OLTP DB apps apply to building BI applications.

With the Kimball Group name heard a few times when I was browsing thru datawarehousing books, I believe this group of people are the authority in building Enterprise grade data warehouse. True enough I learnt about Business Dimension Lifecycle that was production proven and how it is practically implemented with Microsoft SQL Server 2005. It is also one of the few books which introduce me to how to define a metadata model.

Last but not the least, the book presented an end to end overview on operation and maintenance of a datawarehouse. If you are a PM, architect, or developer who is try to get a kick on building BI solution on MS platform, this is the book you should read before anything else.

"Another Home Run From the Kimball Group", Perhaps, like me, you consider yourself a data warehousing professional with some hard-won expertise? Perhaps you too have stockpiled a number of assumptions about "what works" and "what doesn't" when it comes to building large, grown-up data warehouses? Candidly - for me - the "what doesn't" category - for some years now - has included the Microsoft SQL Server DBMS. This perception was shaped by some bad experiences - 100 years ago - with early SQL Server products. Beautiful interfaces and literature promising administration-lite databasing did little to instill confidence back then, and (in my unscientific survey) the products failed way too frequently (and sometimes in spectacular fashion) when dealing with data volumes larger than a breadbox. But, in typical Microsoft fashion, the shortcomings of these early releases get addressed - slowly yet relentlessly - over time. And I've known for awhile that I'm seriously remiss in having a second serious look at Microsoft's data warehousing suite.

Enter Warren Thornthwaite and Joy Mundy's terrific new book: "The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit":

The clearly written and lint-free text describes the now-mature suite of Microsoft data warehousing technologies and tools in the context of the super-powerful Ralph Kimball design techniques that are now fully recognized as best practice in the field. Warren & Joy provide expert advice in how to leverage these tools to build industrial-strength, contemporary, end-to-end business intelligence solutions.

This is another home run from the Kimball Group.

None of the tough design challenges in the Kimball Toolkit series have been glossed over, and the authors are refreshingly candid in their advice on how best to exploit the MS tools' strengths - with pragmatic advice on how best to dodge their weaknesses.

The power of Ralph's design techniques, in concert with the undeniably compelling price/performance of the MS product line, is going to be very disruptive to the data warehousing status quo. I believe that we specialists in the field have a choice: embrace this new reality, or quietly fade away. Sadly, I'm in no position to retire yet, so I choose the former. The "Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit" has actually got me excited about building my first end-to-end Microsoft data warehouse. Given my historical biases - believe me - there can be no stronger endorsement!

Congratulations to the authors for a wonderful contribution to the field.

Jim Stagnitto
Data Warehouse Architect
Llumino, Inc. (www.llumino.com)