Tom Chester and Associates

These are public classes offered through SQLSoft:

 June 12  Seattle, WA

 July 24   Seattle, WA

 July 31, Portland, OR

To arrange for private deliveries, contact me here. 

The status of the latest Reporting Services beta is explained here by Brian Welker from Microsoft.

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We're pleased to announce that our MDX course is now available as a public delivery via our training partner SQLSoft+.

Somehow it has come to be that most of the popular off-the-shelf OLAP clients are fundamentally crippled compared to their relational brethren. And this despite the fact that OLAP is supposed to be enabling technology.

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I've been recommending Tableau Software to clients for several years now. It's an outstanding tool that front-ends both OLAP and relational. The improvements in version 3 are substantial.

I used to think of Tableau as a highly specialized front-end, but that's no longer the case. Because of the broadened display capabilities, it should be widely applicable. 

Two shortcomings remain: lack of programmability and inability to deliver via web interface.

I receive a lot of technical questions via email, often involving complex topics. Unless your question is general in nature, it's unlikely I can provide useful feedback unless you frame the question in AdventureWorks context, especially if it involves MDX.

I'm glad to field questions, but please be patient if I don't reply right away. 

Add June 1, 2007: This 2003 article is still pertinent with Analysis Services 2005.
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Rare is the OLAP cube that does not include a so-called Time dimension – a dimension that allows data to be analyzed over time. Though often named simply Time, the typical Time dimension is actually a date dimension, with a hierarchy consisting of Year-Quarter-Month-Day or the like. Despite the unique ever-presence of Time, this is the one dimension that developers who are new to SQL Server Analysis Services often get wrong. This article will explain the correct way to implement Time dimensions in Analysis Services, and the benefits thereof.

The full article is available at SQLJunkies.com.

This is a cube documentation utility for Analysis Services 2000, developed in Excel.

I have received many requests to update this tool for Analysis Services 2005. I hope to find time for this task some time soon.