Professional SQL Server™ Analysis Services 2005 with MDX

2.3. Using the Business Intelligence Development Studio

The Business Intelligence Development Studio is the development platform for designing your Analysis Services databases. To start Business Intelligence Development Studio, click the windows Start button and go to Programs Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio. If you're familiar with Visual Studio you might be thinking that the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) looks a lot like the Visual Studio environment. You're right; in Analysis Services 2005 you create Analysis Services projects in an environment that is essentially an augmented Visual Studio project environment. Working in the Visual Studio environment offers many benefits, such as easy access to source control and having many projects within the same Visual Studio solution (a solution within Visual Studio is a collection of projects such as Analysis Services project, C# project, Integration Services project or Reporting Services project).

2.3.1. Creating a Project in the Business Intelligence Development Studio

To design your Analysis Services database you need to create a project using BIDS. Typically you will design your database within BIDS, make appropriate design changes, and finally send the designed databases to your Analysis ...