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While SQL Server Management Studio is used to develop relational database projects
and administer and configure existing objects in SQL Server 2005, the new Business
Intelligence (BI) Development Studio is used to create Business Intelligence solutions.
Unlike the SQL Server Management Studio, the BI Development Studio is not really
designed to be an administrative tool. You use the BI Development Studio to work
with Analysis Services projects, to develop and deploy Reporting Services reports, and
to design Integration Services (SSIS) packages.
The BI Development Studio is accessed using the Start | Programs | Microsoft
SQL Server | Business Intelligence Development Studio menu option.
The BI Development Studio, like the SQL Server Management Studio, is built on
the Visual Studio 2005 IDE. It provides a solution-oriented development environment
and contains one or more projects in a solution. BI Development Studio enhances the
development of business intelligence applications by allowing project development in
a source-controlled, multiuser environment without requiring an active connection to
a server. Each of the project types will contain the specific object definitions for those
projects. For example, a Reporting Services project will contain Report definitions,
while an SSIS project will contain SSIS package objects. Like the SQL Server
Management Studio, the BI Development Studio doesn’t allow you to compile
VB.NET, C#, J#, or VC++. Instead, the BI Development Studio is designed expressly
for working with BI projects like SSIS and Reporting Services. The BI Development
Studio is also integrated with Visual SourceSafe for source code version control.
The Business Intelligence Development Studio User Interface
The Business Intelligence Development Studio user interface is an excellent
environment for developing business intelligence solutions, including cubes, data
sources, data views, reports, and data transformation packages.
BI Development Studio User Interface Windows
This section gives you an overview of the BI Development Studio user interface
main windows, including:
The Designer window
The Solutions Explorer window
The Properties window
The Toolbox window
The Output window
The Designer Window
The Designer window provides a graphical view of an object and is the central
window in the BI Development Studio. A different designer type inhabits the
designer window in response to the current BI Development Studio object type. For
example, if you are developing an SSIS package, the Designer window provides the
design surface to drag and drop objects from the Control Flow toolbox to the project,
while the Report Designer provides the design surface to create and preview reports.
Solution Explorer
Like the SQL Server Development Studio, the BI Development Studio has a Solution
Explorer window. The Solution Explorer is shown in the upper right-hand corner of the
screen. The Solution Explorer provides a hierarchical tree view
of the projects and files that compose a BI Development Studio solution. The top item
in the Solution Explorer hierarchy is the solution name. The solution can have one or
more project items under it. The BI Development Studio Solution Explorer provides
project templates, including: Analysis Services Project, Integration Services Project,
Import Analysis Services 9.0 Database, Report Project, Report Project Wizard, and
Report Model Project. As in the SQL Server Management Studio, BI Development
Studio solutions are not restricted to one project. You can create solutions that are
made up of any of the supported project types. You can see the Business Intelligence
Development Studio’s New Project dialog.
A. Analysis Services Project Analysis Services projects contain the definitions for the
objects in an Analysis Services database. These include designing and creating
Analysis Services databases, data source views, cubes, and dimensions, as well as
working with the data mining features.
A.1. - Analysis Services database An Analysis Services database created using
BI Development Studio includes the XML de. nitions for the database and its
objects for later deployment to a speci. c instance of Analysis Services. To
create an Analysis Services database, you select the File | New | Project option
from the main BI Development Studio menu. Then from the dialog displayed,
select the Analysis Services Project template from the Business Intelligence
project type.
A.2. - Data source views A data source view is a document that describes the schema
of an underlying data source. Such a view contains names and descriptions of
selected database objects, such as tables, views, and relationships, that online
analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining objects in Analysis Services
reference. These objects can be organized and con. gured to provide a complete
schema. You can develop an Analysis Services project without having to have
an active connection to the data source, because the data source view caches the
metadata from the data source it is built upon. Using a data source view, you can
de. ne a subset of data from a larger data warehouse.
A.3. - Cube Wizard A cube is a multidimensional structure that contains dimensions
and measures; where dimensions de. ne the structure of the cube, and measures
provide the numerical values that the end user is interested in. The Cube Wizard
is a visual tool that you can use to quickly create OLAP cubes. It is started by
double-clicking the Cube node shown under an Analysis Services project or by
right-clicking the Cube node and selecting View Designer.
A.4. - Dimension Wizard A dimension is a collection of objects that describe the
data that is provided by the tables in a data source view. You can organize
these dimensions into hierarchies that allow you to navigate paths to the
data in a cube. Typically, users will base their analyses on the description
attributes contained in the dimensions, such as time, customers, or products.
A Dimension Wizard is provided in the BI Development Studio to guide you
through the steps for specifying the structure of a dimension.
A.5. - Data Mining Designer A Data Mining Designer is provided as a primary
environment, which allows you to work with mining models in Analysis
Services. You can access the Data Mining Designer by selecting an existing item
in a mining structure project, or you can use the Data Mining Wizard to create a
new item. Using the Data Mining Designer, you can modify a mining structure,
create new mining models, compare models, or create prediction queries.
B. Integration Services Project Integration Services projects contain folders and files
that allow you to manage the object definitions of data sources, data source views,
and packages for SSIS solutions. Data sources are defined as project-level, which
means you can have multiple projects in your solution that reference a single data
source object. Data source views can be referenced by sources, transformations, and
destinations in your project, and packages contain a collection of connections, control
flow elements, data flow elements, event handlers, variables, and configurations.
C. SSIS Designer The BI Development Studio contains an SSIS Designer, which is
a graphical tool for creating packages. It has four tabs, one each for building the four
elements of the SSIS project, including: the package control flow, the data flows, the
event handlers, and one tab for viewing the contents of a package. A fifth tab that
appears at run time allows you to view the execution progress of a package. After the
package completes its run, the execution results can be viewed.
Separate design surfaces exist for building the control flow, data flows, and event
handler elements in packages. Dialog boxes and windows, such as the variable
window and the breakpoint window, are also included to help you add and configure
variables and to troubleshoot your project. Wizards are included to add functionality
and advanced features.
D. Import Analysis Services 9.0 Database The Import Analysis Service 9.0 Database
project enables you to create a new SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services project by
importing the definitions for an existing SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services or SQL
Server 7 OLAP Server database.
E. Report Project, Report Project Wizard, and Report Model Project The BI Development
Studio contains the Report Project template, the Report Project Wizard template,
and the Report Model Project template to create Reporting Services projects. These
reporting templates are used to design reports and control their deployment. Reporting
Services project templates start the Reporting Services Designer, where you can select
data sources and visually lay out reports.
The Properties window
Like the Properties window in SQL Server Management Studio, the BI Development
Studio Properties window allows you to view the properties of files, projects, or
solutions. The Properties window is used at design time to set the properties of the objects selected in the Solution
Explorer. If the Properties window is not already displayed, you can show it by
selecting the View | Properties Window option from the BI Development Studio
menu. The Properties window displays different types of editing fields, depending on
the type of object selected.
The Toolbox window
The Toolbox window in the BI Development Studio is shown on the left side of the
screen. The Toolbox is used by the SSIS Designer and the Reporting
Services Designer to drag and drop components onto their respective design surfaces.
The Output Window
The Output window displays the results when a solution is built. | 
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