DBCF

OK, folks, BI & DBCF fans, one last 2008 post ... Here are 5 things that I intend to focus on in 2009 as part of my new year's resolution around database, BI & migration projects. Happy New Year & may 2009 be a better one! [ in no particular...

It has been a year of change for my role in product management, Microsoft Enterprise Cube and, well, pretty much the entire world, I suppose. For my traditional end-of-year post this year, I will keep things text and reflective. So there may not be much...

1. Can we use Essbase with SQL Server BI? Yes. Here is a good whitepaper on Essbase with SSRS: http:// download.microsoft.com/download/4/7/a/47a548b9-249e-484c-abd7- 29f31282b04d/UsingSSRSand ESSbase .doc Essbase does have an XML/A adapter. XML/A or...

Here is a link to the final Microsoft BI slide presentation that I used at the NJ October SQL Server user group meeting: http://cid-e780c16f79d3848d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/njsqlug%7C_001.pptx Thank you to all who made it out for this...

Perhaps more than ever, in these days of tightened budgets and questionable ROI, squeezing every dollar possible out of your IT projects is essential. Business intelligence provides you with some unique helpful techniques to measure your project success...

Just a brief blog this time around, folks. As I have been settling into a new job, I have run across an often-repeated common set of practices in implemented a business intelligence solution for your business. Many, many times I have encountered an IT...

While we typically focus on vertical business industry BI solutions here, let's talk today about product information and some examples of how to build and maintain an effective product hierarchy in your Microsoft BI solution. As I wanted to keep this...

This blog space is dedicated to Microsoft BI enabling business to optimize their business through business performance management. In the Microsoft product portfolio, this is accomplished with SQL Server, MOSS & PerformancePoint Server (PPS). Readers...

A lot of discussion has been kicking-up lately about BI and SOA as combined forces in the IT enterprise. Much of the discussion has been around similar, or dissimilar skill sets and strategies of these architectures. Not to mention, is BI or is SOA a...

There is a basic first-step process that must occur in early phases of your business intelligence solution build-out. Make sure that you have business & system analysts interview, document and review with your key business stakeholders and business...

Regularly, in this blog space, you read often about "vertical" business intelligence solutions, or "industry" BI solutions. Usually, I will frame this around our Microsoft Services and partner offering called Microsoft Enterprise Cube or MEC. That is...

Clearly, there are a lot of reasons why business intelligence makes sense in the context of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). After all, both of these applications typically provide deep insights into customers. BI can give you the analysis and...

Welcome back, lovers of business intelligence and solutions for business optimization!! Today, I thought I would touch on the topic of driving business performance and optimizing processes and keeping your employees focused on your key business metrics...

You hear me talk alot about business intelligence as a solution not a tool here in this blog. And in fact I am more than just an advocate of BI and demonstrating the value of BI to business, but I live and breathe it every day! To me, it seems that a...

I wanted to take just a few minutes out this month to post up some of my favorite, more interesting data visualization examples using Microsoft products (SQL, PPS, SSRS, Proclarity, MOSS & Silverlight) as a way to demonstrate making data analysis...

What is the truth? How do I find the truth? Just the truth, the real truth. This is a common demand of police detectives, lawyers, relationships, or every day life. But let us now forget that those of us working in the BI community demand the the singular...

Happy new year everyone! As we enter into 2008 I thought I would start us off on a few musings that I have around data quality in relation to business intelligence and data warehouse projects. A few recent projects that I have worked on and witnessed...

Is dimensional modeling too difficult? I do hear this question when debating sources for cube data in business intelligence solutions. At Microsoft, our OLAP engine and data warehouse tools are all wrapped up into SQL Server and its components: SQL Server...

A very common scenario that we have run across from our customers when speaking with them about BI projects, is "Where do I start"? Many IT professional and business professionals have an understanding of business intelligence systems and the power that...

If we are to look at the time it takes to bring a successful, complete Business Intelligence solution on the Microsoft platform to production in your environment, what components of building this solution would need to be accounted for in such a project...

Seems like there has always been a question that Microsoft has received from the data warehouse, business intelligence and business community: Does Microsoft really *get* BI? In other words, I think that means are we serious about the technology, the...

For those that read the DBCF database blogs which I post here from time to time, you will notice my move into business intelligence solutions full time since the beginning of this year (2007) under the BIDIS Microsoft alias ( bidis@microsoft.com ). I...

In the Microsoft Industry Solutions Group, we are developing pre-built BI solutions for vertical business needs. Each of these solutions solve specific problems within a vertical business such as Churn Management for Telcos, patient segmentation for healthcare...

What are some of the most common problems encountered when integrating data from multiple sources to retrieve the data points necessary for business analytics? Very frequently asked questions that we hear when starting business intelligence projects include...

As we wrap-up our first ever BI conference at Microsoft here at the Washington State Convention Center, I just wanted to take a few minutes to type in a few blog notes. Our team was here representing the Microsoft Services Industry Solutions Group...