Chapter 3. The Toolset
"But lo! Men have become the tools of their tools."
In this chapter, we describe the architecture and product selection for the Microsoft data warehouse/business intelligence (DW/BI) system. It may seem pointless to talk about architecture alternatives and product selection for a Microsoft system, but Microsoft offers enough software components that there's a significant element of product selection.
Figure 3-1 repeats the familiar Kimball Lifecycle diagram, highlighting the Architecture and Product Selection boxes that are the focus of this chapter. In this version of the diagram, we've included a mapping between the Lifecycle boxes and the Microsoft products and components you may use during your development and management processes.
The first part of this chapter walks through the overall architecture of a Microsoft-based DW/BI system and the rationale behind the major components. We next discuss the specific product editions and components that make up Microsoft's DW/BI related offerings.
This chapter continues with a description of the two main tools that you'll use to develop and operate your DW/BI system. You'll use a single integrated environment called the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) to develop most of your DW/BI system, and a second environment called the SQL Server Management Studio to manage it. We introduce the two tools here and provide an overview of the elements that are the same no matter what ...
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