Microsoft Data Warehousing
- SQL Server 7.0 -
State of the Technology Presentation by
Sujata Angara
Nakul Johri
Sang Ho Park
Microsoft’s Data Warehousing
Strategies
Reducing complexity
 Reducing costs
 Increasing scalability
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Reducing Complexity
Released Two Technical Specifications
 OLE DB for OLAP provides a common
interface for front-end analysis tools to
access OLAP engines
 Open Information Model (OIM) - a metadata
classification and organization standard
Reducing Costs
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Bundled OLAP Services and supporting
technologies (DTS and an English Query frontend interface) free with SQL Server 7.0.
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Cheaper than most standalone OLAP servers
Addressing Scalability
Database that can scale upwards to
up to 3TB
 Scale downwards into the small and
midsize business (SMB) market
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Microsoft Data Warehousing
Products
Two products that address the server
and client
 SQL Server 7.0 and
 Office 2000 (Excel 2000 in particular)
Data Warehousing
Requirements
Access to diverse information sources
 Integrating and consolidating
information from heterogeneous data
sources
 Data warehouses
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SQL Server 7.0 Features
Scalable Business Solutions
 Powerful Data Warehousing
 Integration with Microsoft Office 2000
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Scalable Business Solutions
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Terabyte-sized database support
Scalability
Easy to Build, Manage, and Deploy
Designed for Mobile Computing
An Ideal Platform for Commerce
Powerful Data Warehousing
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Database with Integrated OLAP and Data
Transformation Services (DTS)
Integration with the Microsoft Repository
Advanced query processor
Visual Data Tools
Integration with Microsoft
Office 2000
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New Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE)
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New PivotTable® Service
SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services
Overview:
 Very low data retrieval performance
 Data sources can include any OLE DB
 Client-slide cache
 Calculation engine- PivotTable®
Service
SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services
Salient features:
 Ease of Use
 Flexible data model
 Elimination of the Data Explosion
Syndrome
 Intelligent client/server data
management
SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services
Salient features:
 Highly scalable architecture
 Extensibility
 Wide availability of desktop
application clients
 Low cost of ownership
Microsoft Data Warehousing
Framework
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Easily integrated with and extended by
third-party vendors
Import, export, validation, and cleansing
services
Integrated metadata for data warehouse
design
Core management services
Microsoft Data Warehousing
Framework
Data Warehousing Framework
Components
Two enabling technologies
 The integrated metadata repository
 The data transport layer (OLE DB)
Industry Standards and
Other Vendors: SAS Systems Inc
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ERP Solutions
Enterprise Miner S/W
SAP AG’s R/3
HR Vision
Native compatibility is not a ready feature
Rapid Warehousing Methodology
Measurable business benefits within a 90day project cycle
Industry Standards and
Other Vendors: Sybase
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Adaptive Server IQ
Column based indexing
Performance optimized algorithms
Case Study: Shoney’s Restaurants
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Background
Platforms
Issue Description
Product Functionality
Strengths
Weaknesses
Technical Support
Case Study: Shoney’s Restaurants
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Performance Evaluation
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Initial load of two to three years of historical
data
Nightly incremental updates that exceeded
120,000 rows per day
Modified several Microsoft Access-based sales
analysis applications
Analyze and report a variety of sales result
Microsoft Limitations
A complete range of knowledgemanagement systems requires other
tools, notably ETT tools
 Even the enhanced spreadsheet
applications with Excel 2000 will still
provide only rudimentary analysis
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Microsoft Limitations
Scalability of SQL Server 7.0 not yet
proven
 These competitive claims were
crystallized in "Oracle Million Dollar
Challenge" Microsoft does not have a
satisfactory answer to this
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Microsoft’s Answer
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Partnered with NCR to integrate its
high-end Teradata server with SQL
Server 7.0
Questions?
THANK YOU