Tag: Business Intelligence

Introduction to DW/BI–My Newest Old Course at Pluralsight

Way back in November of 2010, I published my second course with Pluralsight, Introduction to Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. Over that time a lot has transpired. While the basic fundamentals haven’t changed, a lot of technology has. In addition, Microsoft’s WideWorldImporters sample provides a great platform for demonstrating many of the concepts.

Additionally, I have to admit that after eight years the slides and accompanying graphics have started to look a bit dated. As a result, Pluralsight asked me to update the course.

I’m happy to announce the new and improved version of Introduction to Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence is now live at Pluralsight!

In case the title didn’t give it away, in this course I cover all the basics of data warehousing and business intelligence. What are facts and dimensions, and what do they actually look like in the database? How should you design a data warehouse?

All new to this course, you’ll see the various tools  from Microsoft to do DW/BI, using the all new Wide World Importers sample database as our platform. You’ll see how to design a database using SSDT, and see how the concepts of DW/BI were implemented.

You’ll also see how SSIS was used to achieve ETL, as well as SSAS to create an analytic cube to do BI. Multiple tools are then explored for reporting; SSRS, Mobile Report Publisher, Excel, and PowerBI.

So, who is this course for?

As a DBA, you’ll be asked to implement new data warehouse projects. The design of a data warehouse is very different from a traditional database, and it’s important to understand these differences. In addition, you’ll be asked to install and configure the data warehouse tools. We’ll talk about the tools included with SQL Server, such as SQL Server Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services.

If you are a database designer or developer, you’ll be asked to design these data warehouses. As we said, the design is VERY different from a traditional database. You need to understand these differences in order to implement a data warehouse.

Software developers are interacting with data warehouses on an increasing basis, in order to get additional data for their programs. In the past developers had to create custom interfaces to other systems in order to get additional information needed for their applications. In today’s world developers are being told to get that required data from the central repository of the data warehouse.

Finally, this course is valuable for project managers and business users who seek to understand the systems they can pull data from in order to do self service reporting. By the end of the course users will understand what terms like facts and dimensions mean, and how to effectively use them in your reporting.

If you aren’t already a Pluralsight customer, but are interested, just shoot me an email: free @ arcanetc.com. I can hook you up with a code which will give you 30 days of access to their site, during which you can watch my courses, or any of the courses on Pluralsight. S

I’m Speaking! SQL Saturday Nashville and PowerShell Saturday Atlanta

Just wanted to let folks know I’ll be doing presentations at two upcoming events.

The first is SQL Saturday #145 in Nashville. That’s this weekend, October 13th. I’ll be giving my “Introduction to Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence” presentation. Here is the slide deck I’ll be using: introtodatawarehousing.pdf

My second presentation will be October 27 in Atlanta at PowerShell Saturday #003. Yep, the PowerShell guys are taking the Saturday concept and kicking off a series of PowerShell Saturdays. This is only the third, but I see many more coming in the future.

At PowerShell Saturday I’ll be presenting “Make SQL Server Pop with PowerShell”. I’ll cover both the SMO and SQL Provider during this session.

Looks like it’ll be a busy October, but I’d hurry as both events are filling up so don’t wait and get registered now!

Intro to DW/BI at SQL Saturday #167 Columbus GA

Today, September 8th 2012, I’m presenting at SQL Saturday #167 in Columbus, GA. My slides for this presentation can be found at:

https://arcanecode.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/introtodatawarehousing.pdf

The shortcuts from the slides are:

 

Thanks for attending!

devLink 2012–Intro to Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence

Today I’m presenting at devLink 2012. My slides for this presentation can be found at:

https://arcanecode.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/introtodatawarehousing.pdf

The shortcuts from the slides are:

SharePoint BI (Business Intelligence) Training Resources

SharePoint is a huge topic unto itself, so I wanted to provide some links that focus on learning how to use SharePoint in the context of Business Intelligence. 

A quick disclaimer, some of the links below are by co-workers or other people I have an affiliation with, financial or otherwise. That’s because I’m lucky enough to work with some of the best people in the field. Also, in the case of the books I’ve linked to the Kindle version where possible, mostly because I’m a Kindle junkie. There are paper versions of the books, and you are free to buy from your favorite retailer.

Books

SharePoint 2010 Business Intelligence 24 hour Trainer – This is a really cool book, in that it’s not just a book. It comes with a DVD loaded with video lessons on how to use the various tools in SharePoint for doing BI. This is the first book to buy if you are new to doing BI in SharePoint.

Business Intelligence in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 – This is a great book which provides an introduction to all of the BI Services available within SharePoint 2010.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Business Intelligence Unleashed – Like most of the books in the “Unleashed” series, this takes a much deeper dive into the tools than the previous two books. A good choice once you are ready to move beyond the beginner stage.

Blogs

There aren’t many blogs that focus solely on SharePoint for BI, so I’ve picked out two sites that have a lot of SharePoint for BI content on them.

Data Inspirations -  This blog focuses on all aspects of BI, one of the lead bloggers is Stacia Misner, co-author of the BI in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 book listed above.

BIDN – Many experts in the BI field, myself included, contribute to the Business Intelligence Developer Network. Here you’ll find a wide variety of topics in the BI field, including many on SharePoint BI.

Videos

Pragmatic Works Webinars – On our website we have a big catalog of past webinars (all of which are free to watch), many of which focus on PowerPivot.

Pluralsight – Pluralsight has an extensive catalog of other courses you can pick from. It’s subscription bases so there is a modest fee (starts at $29 US per month last I checked) but well worth it for the training you can get. There’s also a free trial.

For a quick link direct to this post, you can use http://bit.ly/arcanespbi

SharePoint Saturday Huntsville

It’s another Saturday, must be time for another speaking engagement. Today I’m in Huntsville Alabama speaking at their SharePoint Saturday. Now you may wonder what a SQL BI guy is doing at a SharePoint event. There are two kinds of BI professionals in the world, those who are currently working with SharePoint and those who will be working with SharePoint. I believe the converse could also be said for SharePoint people. There those who are currently hosting BI solutions, and those who will be hosting BI solutions. It’s important then, that SharePoint professionals have a clear understanding of what business intelligence is, including all the terms that get used in the BI world. In addition SharePoint 2010 contains features to support a new tool called PowerPivot. Understanding what a PowerPivot workbook is, and how their customers will be using it will give SharePoint professionals better understanding of how to host PowerPivot content.

My first session of the day is entitled “Off and Running With PowerPivot for Excel 2010”. In this session I’ll be giving an overview of PowerPivot, then we’ll be looking at how to import and manipulate data within Excel. This presentation is demo heavy but there are a few slides which can be downloaded from this link.

In my second presentation we’ll dig into the guts of data warehousing and business intelligence. Business Intelligence has its own vocabulary, during the session the audience will learn all the buzzwords around BI and dig into the data warehouse to see how these terms are implemented. This particular presentation is a slide heavy deck, unlike my previous session there is little in the way of demonstrations. We’ll briefly touch on SharePoint, understand though that this presentation centered largely around understanding what BI is so you’ll understand what your SharePoint system is being used for. The slides are available from this link.

If you are reading this after the fact, then let me thank you for coming to my presentations. I hope you found them useful, please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Live Streaming from SQL Saturday 41

One of the sponsors for tomorrow’s SQL Saturday in Atlanta Georgia, a company named Set Focus, is going to be live streaming three presentations from the event. I just got the word that my session, "Introduction to Data Warehousing/Business Intelligence" was selected as one of the sessions. My session kicks off the event at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Information and a link to the stream site can be found on Set Focus’s blog:

http://blogs.setfocus.com/radar/2010/04/22/streaming-sqlsaturday/

SQL Saturday 41 was sold out some time ago, and there is even quite a waiting list, so if you’re unable to attend then at least you can sit in on three of the sessions via the live stream. The other two sessions to be streamed are "SQL Server Memory Deep Dive" by Kevin Boles and "Database Design Patterns" by Louis Davidson. Both are fellow Microsoft MVPs and excellent presenters, I know you’ll enjoy their presentations as well.

Live streaming technology really excites me. While I feel that you can get the best experience and education from being live at the event, I also understand that this is not always possible for everyone. Work conflicts, distance, family obligations, or the event simply being sold out, as this one is, can limit a person’s ability to attend in person. Live streaming events such as SQL Saturday really helps us to extend our reach into the community and to help serve those who for whatever reason cannot be with us at the event. I want to give a great big thanks to the folks over at Set Focus for making this happen.