I was fortunate to be a technical reviewer for a new book, SQL Server 2014 Business Intelligence Development by Reza Rad. Below is the abstract. It’s a great book for those of you trying to learn about all the various … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my two sessions at SQLSaturday in Houston (more info). Here are the abstracts and PowerPoint links: Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions If your company is planning to build a data warehouse or BI solution, you … Continue reading →
When I am tasked to do a business intelligence or data warehouse assessment, the steps I take to do that depend on the amount of time and the number of people I have. The result of the assessment will be … Continue reading →
I have seen many times at clients where the terms business intelligence and data warehousing are used interchangeably. In reality, these are two separate disciplines. This is especially true for enterprise data warehouses due to an EDW’s scope, complexity, and large volumes … Continue reading →
If your company is planning to build a data warehouse or BI solution (see Why you need Business Intelligence), you need to be aware that BI projects have high failure rates. Gartner says between 70% to 80% of corporate business intelligence … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my session “Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions” for Pragmatic Works. The abstract for my session is below and the recording will be available soon here. I hope I provided some good info for you. Here … Continue reading →
I will be presenting a brand new session entitled “Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions” tomorrow, August 6th, at 11am EST for Pragmatic Works. You can register here. The abstract for my session is below. I hope you can make … Continue reading →
Introduction You likely have heard about data warehousing, but are unsure exactly what it is and if your company needs one. I will attempt to help you to fully understand what a data warehouse can do and the reasons to … Continue reading →
Do you ever wonder how your business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) environment compares to other companies and what steps you should be taking to progress your analytics platform? One of the first steps in any BI project is … Continue reading →
If you are involved in Business Intelligence, then the books by Ralph Kimball are required reading: The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Building Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Systems, Second Edition, 2008, 636 pages (Amazon). Subject: Implementation guide. Primary … Continue reading →
There are three fundamental steps in building a data warehouse for a BI solution (see Why you need Business Intelligence): Identify the data the users interact with, or would like to interact with, via interviews. Make sure to determine the … Continue reading →
I don’t know if I would consider myself an industry expert, but hey, it says it on the Internet, so it just be true (because you can’t put anything on the Internet that’s not true). An interview I did to … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions “What exactly is Business Intelligence?” and “Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture” at the PASS SQL Saturday in Chicago. Here are the PowerPoint presentation: What exactly is Business Intelligence? and Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture. What … Continue reading →
My first article in SQL Server Pro magazine has been published, in the April 2013 issue. It is entitled “SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence Enhancements” and can be found here (web) or here (mag). I hope you enjoy it!
Continue reading →Using SQL Server views throughout a Business Intelligence (BI) solution can provide a tremendous amount of benefits. Here is a list of such benefits, taken in large part from the excellent video SQLBI Methodology by Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari: Benefit … Continue reading →
First lets define what Business Intelligence (BI) is. My favorite definitions: Forrester Research: “Business Intelligence is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information used to enable more effective strategic, tactical, … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my session “Top BI Enhancements for SQL Server 2012” at the Houston Area SQL Server User Group Monthly Meeting. Here is the PowerPoint presentation: Top BI Enhancements for SQL Server 2012 Top BI Enhancements for SQL Server 2012 What are … Continue reading →
Next Tuesday, March 12th at 1:15pm CST, I will be presenting the session “Top BI Enhancements for SQL Server 2012” at the Houston Area SQL Server User Group Monthly Meeting. Below is the abstract. I will be presenting in person but you … Continue reading →
My most popular blog has been Visual Studio 2012 does not support BI. In short, this means VS 2012 does not support SSAS, SSIS, or SSRS. Well, not anymore! Just released is Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence for … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation “DBA: Transitioning to a BI Role” at the PASS Professional Development Virtual Chapter. The recording of the session is available here. Here is the PowerPoint presentation: DBA: Transitioning to a BI Role I had some excellent questions … Continue reading →