A number of other bloggers out there have already mentioned this, but I thought I’d post the link just in case anyone missed it: the Patterns and Practices group at Microsoft have just released the final draft of the ‘Business Intelligence Architecture and Design Guide’. You can download it here:
I’ve skimmed through the section on OLAP and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. There are some interesting points made but nothing new; it tends to degenerate into "use <insert feature name> to be able to do <insert what feature is used for>", which, to be honest, is not the level of detail I want in a guide like this. I’m holding out for the 2005 version of the Analysis Services Performanc Guide which I understand is in the works – that should contain some really useful information…
The final community release (Aug 21 2007) can be downloaded from
http://www.codeplex.com/BIArchAndDesignGuide/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=6572