Many people reach out to me asking for advice in helping them evaluate various BI platforms for their companies. In my mind I am obviously the wrong guy to ask as I am not shy to admit my fairly heavy bias towards Microsoft. However, over the course of the last twenty years, I have been exposed … Continue reading How to think strategic about Business Intelligence
Category: Self Service BI
Forrester Releases “Self-Service Business Intelligence Platforms” report, Microsoft identified as leader
Well, a leader and not the leader, although Microsoft BI stack is definitely ranked very high by Forrester. Please follow this link to read the report. This is probably a little bit of old news, since the report was release in June and updated in the middle of July, but I figured it be a … Continue reading Forrester Releases “Self-Service Business Intelligence Platforms” report, Microsoft identified as leader
Choosing a Tabular or Multidimensional model in SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services
Many great discussions are taking place about the future of the Multidimensional mode for the Analysis Services. It is very clear where the majority of the investment went for the 2012 version (hint... think rows and columns and not multidimensional). At the same time, one might argue that the traditional or Multidimensional set of features is already … Continue reading Choosing a Tabular or Multidimensional model in SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services
Choosing between PerformancePoint, PowerView, Excel Services and Reporting Services for your data visualizations
Even though PowerView is the only Microsoft Data Visualization tool that is new on that list, it appears that there is some confusion as to how these four options compare with each other. The topic is pretty big, so it will probably take me a few tries to get it done right, but here is the first … Continue reading Choosing between PerformancePoint, PowerView, Excel Services and Reporting Services for your data visualizations
Microsoft Data Explorer
Microsoft is working on another tool called Data Explorer. According to the this page, the tool is supposed to assist in finding data as well as combining data from different and potentially incompatible sources. It comes in both desktop and cloud versions. I have been playing with the desktop version a little bit and I … Continue reading Microsoft Data Explorer
Free technical book “Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012” is available for download
The book can be downloaded in PDF , mobi (Kindle) or epub (sony reader) formats... The book does a really good job introducing such new features of Microsoft SQL Server as Data Quality Services, Master Data Services, PowerView and BI Semantic Model.. and it's free, definitely a good idea to make it part of your technical library. If this sounds like too good of a … Continue reading Free technical book “Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012” is available for download
Breakthrough Insights using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 – Analysis Services
Not sure if anybody is using Microsoft Virtual Academy.. if you are not - you should... What's the compelling event? Well, 7 freshly minted modules have just been posted for our perusal: Developing and Managing a BI Semantic Model Configuring and Securing Complex BI Applications in SharePoint Enriching your BI Semantic Models with Data Analysis … Continue reading Breakthrough Insights using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 – Analysis Services
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Virtual Labs
Microsoft has posted 16 virtual labs online. The labs cover three major areas: Business Intelligence Mission Critical Operations Database Management Those of us who are trying to jump start Self Service BI in our organizations should checkout the following three: Creating a PowerPivot Model and Report in the Excel Client Defining DAX Calculations with Microsoft … Continue reading Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Virtual Labs
Parent Child in PowerPivot
EDIT: I recorded a detailed video on how to work with Parent Child hierarchies in Power BI: https://businessintelligist.com/?p=2603 Kasper de Jonge posted a great article about building PowerPivot hierarchies against dimension tables that implement parent/child relatioship... Basically, a new PATH() DAX function is used to build a string that contains a path from the leaf … Continue reading Parent Child in PowerPivot
business intelligist 