Business intelligence development books
The Data Warehouse
Lifecycle Toolkit, 2nd Edition, Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross, Warren Thornthwaite, Joy Mundy, and
Bob Becker (Wiley, 2008): An updated edition of a classic text, this book gave me a lot of food for
thought and points for practical action concerning specifying and developing data warehouses and
business intelligence applications—a must read.
Smart
Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Lynn Langit, Kevin S. Goff, Davide
Mauri, Sahil Malik, and John Welch (Microsoft Press, 2009): Any text that can successfully combine both a
wide breadth of introductory material with tips that inform even experienced developers is worth a read,
and this book indeed fits that characterization.
Building a Data Warehouse: With Examples in SQL
Server, Vincent Rainardi (Apress, 2007): A thorough introduction to data warehousing, this book
takes the reader through business processes analysis, data warehouse modeling, ETL development, reporting,
business intelligence activities, testing, and maintenance.
Professional
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Brian Knight, Erik Veerman, Grant Dickinson,
Douglas Hinson, and Darren Herbold (Wrox, 2008): Along with thorough coverage of all the features of Microsoft's
ETL platform, this book distinguishes itself by providing information about how to move beyond basic
knowledge of navigating through the GUI-based development environment and into a deeper understanding of
such topics as expressions and variables, .NET scripting, and a variety of best practices. This is one of
my very favorite books that sit on my technical reference shelf.
Professional
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 with MDX, Sivakumar Harinath, Robert Zare,
Sethu Meenakshisundaram, Matt Carroll, Denny Guang-Yeu Lee (Wrox, 2009): Focusing on the OLAP features of SSAS,
these authors provide coverage of the new enhancements that Microsoft introduced in the 2008 version
of this platform and ways to avoid common pitfalls into which one may fall. Along with their concise yet thorough
discussion of MDX querying, I found their treatment of Microsoft's increased emphasis on dimension hierarchies to
be especially helpful.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 MDX
Step by Step, Bryan C. Smith and C. Ryan Clay (Microsoft Press, 2009): Don't be put off by the
phrase step by step in the title—this book is far from an elementary tutorial on MDX
querying. Rather, this book penetrates into advanced OLAP topics that may at times seem unintuitive to
SQL developers used to working in the relational world. It's a great launching point for further
growth in this quite different area of data analysis.
Data Mining with
Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Jamie MacLennan, ZhaoHui Tang, and Bogdan Crivat (Wiley, 2009): I
must confess that data mining was somewhat of a mystery to me before I encountered this book. Considering
that Jamie MacLennan and Bogdan Crivat work at Microsoft on developing SQL Server's data mining features,
one cannot hope for a better set of guides through this extremely fascinating part of business intelligence
development.
Applied Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting
Services, Teo Lachev (Prologika, 2008): A dense, exhaustive text on the third iteration of Microsoft's
enterprise reporting platform, Lachev's work reveals especially useful insight into integrating SSRS reports
into a .NET-based presentation layer.
Microsoft SQL Server
2005 Reporting Services, Brian Larson (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2005): A supurb companion for any
developer working with SSRS, one that is unsurpassed both as a step-by-step guide to this technology and
as a reference for more advanced work. Also check out
Mr. Larson's book on
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services.
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Database development books
Inside Microsoft SQL Server: T-SQL Querying and
T-SQL Programming, Itzik Ben-Gan (Microsoft Press, 2006): Available for both the 2005 and
2008 versions of SQL Server, these two-volume sets ought to be within easy reach at every serious
T-SQL developer's desk.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Unleashed, Ray Rankins, Paul Bertucci, Chris Gallelli, Alex T. Silverstein, Tudor Trufinescu,
and John Kane (Sams, 2007): Although this book focuses more on administration, developers will benefit
from the excellent coverage of performance tuning that these authors provide. An
updated edition for SQL Server 2008 R2
is also available.
The Guru's Guide to
Transact-SQL, Ken Henderson (Addison-Wesley, 2000): A penetrating and nuanced book on T-SQL
programming. Still valuable even though it's coverage is limited to SQL Server 2000.
Murach's SQL Server 2008 for Developers,
Bryan Syverson and Joel Murach (Mike Murach and Associates, 2008): If you are just getting started with
coding for SQL Server, there is no better place to begin. The edition of this book for SQL Server 2000
was one of my first database development books, and I still reach for it on occasion for reference.
User groups
Portland SQL Server User Group
Oregon SQL Developers (OSQL-d)
Websites
SQLServerCentral.com: My number-one favorite, this
website has engaging articles for professionals of all skill levels.
SearchSQLServer.com
Simple-Talk.com
SQLServerPerformance.com
MSSQLTips.com
DevX - Database Dev Zone
Database Journal—SQL Server
SQLskills.com
Builder AU—SQL Server
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