SQL Server 2017 Developer's Guide

Analytical queries in SQL Server

Supporting analytical applications in SQL Server differs quite a lot from supporting transactional applications. The typical schema for reporting queries is the star schema. In a star schema, there is one central table called a fact table and multiple surrounding tables called dimensions. The fact table is always on the many side of every relationship with every dimension. A database that supports analytical queries and uses the star schema design is called Data Warehouse (DW). Dealing with data warehousing design in detail is beyond the scope of this book. Nevertheless, there is a lot of literature available. For a quick start, you can read the data warehouse concepts MSDN blog at https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/syedab/2010/06/01/data-warehouse-concepts/ ...