A must read for anybody involved in Olap design

A book which gives you a comprehensive theoretical foundation together with useful, pratical techniques to design Olap solutions.
In the first half of the book the author explains you all you need to think clearly in N dimensions, in the second half he guides you through the design of a rather complex application, stepping into the purchasing process, the material inventory analysis, sales & marketing, and activity-based management. He teaches you using maieutics, Socrates' way of teaching, via a dialogue between two designers. This way, a lot of questions that usually arise during real-life development are examined and solved.
Whilst the examples in the first edition of this book were based on TM1, in this second edition they are written using a vendor-independent language, called LC (Located contents), which provides you with a solid, logically based foundation to multidimensional design.
The vendor languages, like those used by Microsoft Analysis Services (MDX), Applix TM1, Oracle Express and Hyperion Essbase, are kind of Plato's shadows in the cavern of this ideal language (which is sort of a tautology for MS Plato...), so if you start thinking in LC, you'll be able to work with all of these products.
Ideal complements to this book, if you use Microsoft Analysis Server, are "MDX Solutions" by George Spofford, and "Microsoft Olap Solutions", by Thomsen (again!), Spofford and Chase.

Other Reviews

• Unclear and wordy
• Time is valuable. This book is not worth a developers time.
• Fundamental Olap principles
• Good OLAP Methodology
• A must read for anybody involved in Olap design