SQL Server 2005 is the first proper, full-function data warehousing and business intelligence platform that will be offered at a price that will make data warehousing and business intelligence available to a broad set of organizations. Building a data warehousing and business intelligence system is a complex business and engineering effort. Although there are significant technical challenges to overcome in successfully running a data warehouse, the authors found that the most common reason for data warehouse project failure is enough focus on business users and business problems. In an effort to help people gain success, this book takes proven Business Dimensional Lifecycle approach first described in best-selling Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit and applies to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 set of tools. Beginning with a thorough description of how to gather business requirements, this book then works through the details of creating the target dimensional model, setting up a data warehouse infrastructure, creating the relational atomic database, creating the analysis services databases, designing and building standard report set, implementing security, dealing with metadata, managing the maintenance and growing the DW / BI system. Intended Audience The target group for this book is the IT department or service providers (consultants) who are: Planning a data warehouse project of small to mid-range; Evaluating or planning to use Microsoft technology as the primary or exclusive technology warehouse data server; Familiar with the general concept of data warehousing and business intelligence. This book will be directed primarily at the project leader and warehouse developers, although everyone involved with a data warehouse project will find the book useful. This book focuses on the mass market, where the volume of data in one application or data mart is less than 500 GB of raw data. About the Author JOY Mundy has focused on data warehousing and business intelligence since the early 1990s, specializing in business requirements analysis, dimensional modeling, and business intelligence systems architecture. Joy founded InfoDynamics LLC, a data warehouse consulting firm, then joined Microsoft WebTV to develop a closed-loop analytic applications and packaged data warehouse. Before returning to consulting with the Kimball Group in 2004, Joy worked in Microsoft SQL Server product development, managing a team that developed the best practices for building business intelligence systems on Microsoft platforms. RALPH Kimball, Ph.D., has been a leading visionary in the data warehouse industry since 1982 and is one of the most internationally famous writers today, speakers, consultants, and teachers on data warehousing.