Rating: 
Summary: A really great book
Review: A really great book for someone wanting to come to grips with the SQL Server OLAP or Analysis Services. The book takes one through the processes of creating cubes and reporting from them, in a step by step, orderly manner. The book was recommended by several attendees at the recent PASS conference in San Francisco. I bought the book and installed the analysis services on an NT server and have been working with it for the past 10 days. The reading is easy and helps one come up to speed in an efficient and effective manner. For a beginner or someone with some OLAP product training, the book is really great.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Intro to OLAP using SQL Server 2000/Analysis Services
Review: After digging thru most SQL Server DBA books without finding much if any coverage of how to build an OLAP solution for Data Warehousing I found this text to be perfect for my transition to building my MOLAP data warehouse with SQL Server 2000 from Oracle data warehousing. Granted the book is not perfect but where else can you learn how Analysis Services 2000 and building an OLAP solution on MS SQL Server? The only other texts that even cover it are the MS SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit (also quite good book too with great tools on CDROM) and the MS SQL Server 2000 Reference Library (another must have for hardcore DBAs like me). You will be up and running a starter OLAP solution in no time flat.
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't useful - save your money
Review: I bought the book hoping to get a good start on learning Analysis Services. Chapter one gives a decent overview of terms and definitions for a beginner - but I know there are probably alternate places on the web to find this same information. Then I reached chapter two and couldn't believe what I saw. It was the same exact tutorial I had just done in SQL Server Analysis Services. Yes, when you install Analysis Services there is a tutorial section in the application. I had only completed the first tutorial section and then went to buy this book. I can only imagine the rest of the chapters in the book are the remaining tutorials in the application. Even the description on the back of the book almost matches the titles in the application tutorial. Of course, I won't waste my time checking, but I feel pretty confident the tutorial and the book are pretty identical. Just from flipping through that 2nd chapter I could see they used the same exact screen shots, the same instructions, etc. I plan to return the book and just go through the remaining tutorials.
Rating:
Summary: An okay starting book on Analysis Services
Review: I recently bought this book and have read about 7 chapters. The book is useful to get hands-on experience on how the Analysis Manager works. How can you use it to make basic cubes, dimensions etc. Also, there is a couple of chapters on MDX and the MDX sample application that comes with Analysis Services. In general I found the book useful because it made me familiar with the UI of Analysis Manager, but reading the book was hard. True to its name "Step by Step" the book focuses on "How to do things" (like click here , click there, heres the screen shot you should expect to see) without explaining in ANY detail about why you are doing what you are doing. There is no gradual build-up of concepts. If a chapter says it will take you 2.5 hours to complete, it will take that much time because of the step-by-step nature. I personally find this approach hard to follow. I would have liked if the book devoted a few pages in the beginnign of the chapter explaining the concepts and then went on to show you how to do this with the analysis manager.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book
Review: I recommend this book because the author distinguishes multidimensional concepts and the OLAP tool.
Gab.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic introduction
Review: I was trying to sum it up for myself. I am in agreement with other reviewers, and borrow some of their words. This book is very basic, and functions as a complete beginner's introduction. It is easy to read, the examples on the cd work fine, and the tutorials provide a good overview of how to create your own cubes. Then again, so do the product tutorials. It's pretty thin and after reading through the first few chapters I found myself putting it down. I already had dealt with the first version of the product, maybe that makes me not a good reviewer. But I don't think it will make a beginner more than a well-informed beginner. If you read it once or twice, you may never read it again. It is not a good reference book. In fact, it occasionally presents simplifications that are inaccurate. MDX is VERY thin, and since you can teach the basics to yourself, a reference/primer book on MDX may suit you better.
Rating:
Summary: Some examples doesn't work...
Review: I will say this breifly: 1. You are not going to learn more from this book than from the books on line included with sql server 2000.
2. The fact that the example of writing a cube from Excel didn't work makes me feel complete frustration. It was the reason why i bought this book. However the book is not bad if you are new to olap technics. It is a good introduction. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Rajesh Agadi
Review: I would recomend this book to any one who wants to learn quickly about Analysis Services. Has a very clear and simple lessons teaching you all the advanced techniques of OLAP.
Rating:
Summary: Good for getting start OLAP
Review: It a great book for OLAP. According to Microsoft Analysis Services, it should include Data Mining. It would be perfect and I would give five stars if it includes the content of data mining.
Rating:
Summary: Delivers well written and concise basics
Review: Not only is this book useful, it has the added advantage of being well written. I picked it up after spending a few days wandering around in Books On Line and reading Erik Thomsen's book for some theoretical background. This book was a great help to bringing all the various aspect of OLAP objects together in the specific context of MS Analysis Services. After I purchased the book I noticed the one-star reviews given by two readers. They did not do anyone any favors with those reviews. One reviewer admits he did not read beyond the first chapter, and the other complains that custom rollups and unary operators are never mentioned in the book. Apparently he never got to page 105, where both are discussed. I think you are safe to ignore those jokers. Enjoy 'Step by Step' for what it is. If you want more on MDX, be prepared to buy another book - I recommend Spofford.
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