Practical Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2005, Addison-Wesley
Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio
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Contents |
C# Online.NET Book Review
No! Business intelligence (BI) is not an oxymoron. Not anymore anyway. Simply, the point of business intelligence is to turn those disparate mountains of data accumulated by your organization into useful information and—perhaps—business knowledge. This information can then be used to help enterprise decision makers do a better job.
But, it's not easy. Turning data into information involves several technical disciplines—e.g., data analyzing, integrating, mining, reporting, warehousing. The new SQL Server 2005 has many features to support business intelligence activities.
This book was written to give technical managers and developers an overview of SQL Server subsystems——with the focus on making them contribute to business intelligence. In the process, the reader becomes acquainted with the major issues, problems, and solutions involved in creating information.
The philosophy of the book is "Roll up your sleeves. Let's supercharge your business information system!" Not "Sit back. Let's study business intelligence!" This no-nonsense book is tightly focused on exploiting SQL Server 2005 to address specific business needs with down-to-earth, practical, specific concepts, procecdures, and technologies.
The book opens with two chapters introducing Business Intelligence and SQL Server 2005. Subsequent chapters isolate a specific business intelligence activity or functional area:
- Building a Data Warehouse
- Building a Data Interation Process
- Building an Analysis Services Database
- Reporting
- Data Quality
- Managing Changing Data
- Scorecards
- Data Mining
- Very Large Data Warehouses
- Real-Time Business Intelligence
From there. The book uses a number of literary devices to communicate effectively with readers. One is that each chapter is organized into the following subtopics:
- Business Problem - with a Problem Statement.
- Solution Overview - including business requirements, architecture, benefits
- Data Model
- Technical Solution
- Managing the Solution - operations, deployment, maintenance, security
- Next Steps - where and how to go from there
- Summary
Another device is the "Quick Start" which assigns a BI objective—e.g. recommend products based on past purchases— which will involve sitting hands-on at the computer and working with a SQL Server functionality—e.g. Prediction Query Builder.
Our information-savy authors display their expertise at every turn with insightful analyses and practical scenarios. They are both BI consultants. These guys know SQL Server 2005; they know business intelligence; and, they know how to communicate them.
Bottom line
Practical Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2005 has practical ideas and powerful techniques to transform your business information system to compete in the second millenium.
From the back cover
Design, Build, and Manage High-Value BI Solutions with SQL Server 2005
In this book, two of Microsoft’s leading consultants illustrate how to use SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence (BI) technologies to solve real-world problems in markets ranging from retail and finance to healthcare. Drawing on extensive personal experience with Microsoft’s strategic customers, John C. Hancock and Roger Toren offer unprecedented insight into BI systems design and step-by-step best practices for implementation, deployment, and management.
Hancock and Toren introduce practical BI concepts and terminology and provide a concise primer on the Microsoft BI platform. Next, they turn to the heart of the book—constructing solutions. Each chapter-length case study begins with the customer’s business goals, and then guides you through detailed data modeling. The case studies show how to avoid the pitfalls that derail many BI projects. You’ll translate each model into a working system and learn how to deploy it into production, maintenance, and efficient operation.
Whether you’re a decision-maker, architect, developer, or DBA, this book brings together all the knowledge you’ll need to derive maximum business value from any BI project.
- Leverage SQL Server 2005 databases, Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services
- Build data warehouses and extend them to support very large databases
- Design effective Analysis Services databases
- Ensure the superior data quality your BI system needs
- Construct advanced enterprise scorecard applications
- Use data mining to segment customers, cross-sell, and increase the value of each transaction
- Design real-time BI applications
- Get hands-on practice with SQL Server 2005’s BI toolset
About the author(s)
John C. Hancock is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services in Toronto, Canada, specializing in Business Intelligence technologies. He has worked with some of Microsoft’s largest and most strategic clients, and his consulting experience has included architectural consulting, project team lead positions, performance optimization, and development of customized training courses and materials. Prior to Microsoft he worked as an independent consultant in the United Kingdom and South Africa. He holds a B.Sc. Hons in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Roger Toren is a Principal Consultant with MCS based in Vancouver, and is the most senior Business Intelligence MCS consultant in Canada. He has extensive experience in the field, and recently was the lead author on the SQL Server 2000 High Availability guide. He has over 35 years of experience in IT, covering a wide variety of industries, including banking, insurance, retail, education, health care, geo-spatial analysis, and nuclear research. He holds a B.Sc. in Physics and an M.Sc. in Computing Science. Prior to joining Microsoft, he has taught undergraduate courses in Computing Science, worked as an independent consultant, and as Associate Director in the technology practice of a major global consulting firm.
