A step-by-step demo on BIDS of how to build an SSAS cube (DB) from an operational system (normalized database) such as Operational Data Store (ODS) or directly from the transactional business system, without building a star/snowflake schema Data Warehouse/Mart first.

Learn how the Analysis Services cache works, and how you can pre-load it with data to ensure optimal query performance.

So you heard about the new spatial functionality in SQL Server 2008, rushed back to your database and added geography and geometry columns to all your tables, eager to create the next Google Earth-beating application. You then click the Execute button and wait. And wait. And wait some more. (You get the idea). Spatial data is a rather unique beast, and designing efficient spatial queries requires specific techniques when compared to other, more traditional types of data. In this session, we look at how the SQL Server database engine satisfies spatial queries, the theory behind spatial indexes, demonstrate the effects of altering the bounding box, use the spatial system DMVs and stored procedures to your spatial database

Allowing the query optimiser do its job of simplification is an important feature if any database design. In this session, Rob takes us through ways that a database design can leverage features of the query optimiser such as redundant joins and end up with a system the provides a much simpler querying environment.

SQL 2008 Development Features

In this session we will cover 3 new enhancements to the Database Engine. Application and Multi-Server Management introduces new capabilities for managing, monitoring and exploiting your SQL Server Infrastructure through the new SQL Server Control Point and enhancements to SSMS and Policy Based Management and Data-tier application packages. SQL Connection Plans allow you to logically refer to an application in connection strings rather than servers making migration of database applications across your SQL Server infrastructure much easier. Unicode compression in R2 enhances the native data compression capabilities introduced in SQL 2008 for Unicode data using SCSU (Simple Compression Scheme for Unicode Data)