In the last years I spent most of my time working on BI solutions based on the SQL Server platform. I had experiences with other architectures but I mostly used Kimball’s methodology to design relational databases feeding SSAS cubes. However, Kimball only describes the relational side of a BI solution and gives you a basic model (the star schema) that is the pillar of all the SSAS projects I made. The Kimball’s model is product-agnostic and leveraging the modeling capabilities of SSAS requires you to make some decisions about how to model data, where to put some definitions and calculations and so on.
I and Alberto Ferrari worked together on several projects and we realized that today we use a methodology that is the result of years of experience and selection. We want to share our knowledge looking for flaws, comments and suggestions. I will start with some post with “Methodology” tag and very soon we will publish some whitepapers on SQLBI site. Please feel free to contact me for any feedback!