stldodn - Intro to Microsoft Business Intelligence

Dean Furness gave an excellent presentation on Microsoft Business Intelligence.

Excel Services allows dashboarding even without PerformancePoint

Excel Services allows multiple people to simultaneously edit Excel spreadsheet, without having Excel client installed on individual desktop

SQLServer
mdf primary data file Program Files ... MSSQL ... DATA
accompanying ldf file
load data, it allocates space, ...

Use SQL Server Management Studio to access data, don't access data files directly

cube is installed in (view it in Windows Explorer) Microsoft SQL Server ... / OLAP / Data
cube data has "*.dim" files ...
cube - different architecture for same data
when denormalize data for performance, changing structure ... similar for cubes ...

with SQL Server Management Studio pivot tables, drag and drop quickly to create slices of data
cube data architected for high speed performance reporting
use Excel (not MDX, no TRANSACT-SQL) ...
cube, structured differently, gives opportunity for drag-n-drop ...
trusted data built for high performance and reporting ...

Excel "Data" tab ...
ODC office data connection file ... stored in SharePoint ...
From Other Sources
from Analysis Services cube ...
instead of "From Other Sources" use "Existing Connections" to get from SharePoint site
bring into pivot table env in Excel ...

Excel as a report authoring tool ...

cube set of information that connects to data that's already out there

create a view on cube ... with Visual Studio and BIDS

save Excel to SharePoint ... saving can kick off a workflow to get ppl to approve it before it gets published ..
get ppl to stop attaching docs to emails

Excel Services - example
1) creates Excel with Excel 2010 on his desktop (thick client)
then thin client:
2) I go to SharePoint to open it ... I don't have Excel installed ... opens directly in my browser within SharePoint
view only mode ... office web applicaton, so "Edit in Browser" ... basic ribbon ...

status bar "1 person editing" ... last one to make a change wins

cube is data platform .... security ... multiple apps can access it

slicers ...Excel dashboard ... remove pivot table floating window... built on multiple pivot tables ...

every time click, running a query against cube ...

one axis months; categories;

Options ... Slicer

instead of 'IT, build me a report, show me where the data connection (and cube) is, and I'm empowered to do it..."

mixed mode SharePoint ... 5000 users use free SharePoint, buy 250 for ppl who need dashboards

office web apps, edit in browser is new in SharePoint 2010


PerformancePoint Services
healthcare demo

Balanced Scorecard

Financial Dashboard -- drill down, click and run another query ...


cube is development effort

first:
business and use case identification and translation
interface and navigation design when click, what shows up ... what shows up next ...
second:
technology
MDX (akin to Transact-SQL), t-sql, .NET


Book "Informaton Dashboard Design" The Effective Visual Communication of Data Stephen Few @OReillymedia
logo does not go in top left corner
top left corner is most important

lines, bars, grids ... try to get users to not scroll ...


SQL SERver 2008 Analysis Services Step by Step Scott Cameron

SQL Server 2008 MDX Step by Step ... Bryan C Smith

microsoft.com/bi -- tons of videos ...

get IT folks to add value to business community ... bus comm to be self-serving ...

StL Microsoft BI users Group ... Wed Aug 25 12:30 - 4PM ...