To become a good data warehouse expert with MS SQL server 2008, we need to first understand the roles and responsibilities of a person in this job. That too, when it comes to Microsoft SQL server suite, we need to first understand the various set of tools that come under the scope of MS BI. The basic features required for implementing business intelligence are the SQL server database engine, MS SSIS, MS SSAS, and MS SSRS.
A data warehouse (DWH) is a collection of data, structured and designed for further querying, decision making, data mining and knowledge discovery ko cuce. A DWH consists of one or more data marts, the data in data marts is brought from online analytical transaction system or any legacy based comma separated files or any other flat files, the data is first brought from the source system to staging environment (this is called extraction) where the data is cleansed, like brought into a format that is standard across the DWH (this is called transformation), then the data from the staging area to the mart area.
The users can either directly query the data from the data mart using a suitable reporting environment or the data from the data marts can be brought into online analytical processing cubes and from there read through either the Microsoft excel or using the ms SQL server reporting services or using pro clarity dashboard services.
It would be really helpful for a DWH expert to learn more about the database administration and also some basic concepts of system administration.
A successful DWH professional would be able to gather requirements, design, develop and deploy a business intelligence solution.