The Microsoft® Data Warehouse Toolkit: With SQL Server™ 2005 and the Microsoft® Business Intelligence Toolset

Foreword

I've known Joy Mundy and Warren Thornthwaite for a number of years. I won't speak for them, but I've reached the age where I don't want to remember how long I've known people!

My respect and admiration for Joy began from the day we met at WebTV. Microsoft had recently acquired WebTV, so the SQL Server BI team went to take a look at their data warehouse. We quickly learned how much we didn't know. I met Warren slightly later at WebTV, where he impressed us deeply as well. Both Joy and Warren were clearly fine practitioners in the art of data warehousing.

After several years, Joy became a principal member of the SQL Server BI Practices team. While he was working independently, Warren's ongoing feedback and commentary on our SQL Server 2005 product efforts frequently led to changes in our thinking or implementation. Both authors have affected the direction of our product. We deeply appreciate their contributions.

In time, Joy joined Warren at the Kimball Group. We miss her still. On the other hand, we have always enjoyed a great relationship with the Kimball Group. Ralph Kimball's pioneering work in data warehousing has fundamentally influenced the SQL Server BI toolset in numerous ways. There are many Kimball Group Toolkits on my team's bookshelves.

Now, let me discuss the book you have in your hands. I love this book. When you build software, the thing you hope for most is that customers will use it in some way to improve their business, as in our case, or maybe even their ...