Foundations of SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence

Product Description

Just as every business needs to effectively employ Business Intelligence (BI) to stay competitive, every IT professional needs to master BI to stay employed in this fastest-growing segment of Information Technology. Foundations of SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence is the quickest path to understanding BI, and it is essential reading for all who work with SQL Server 2005. It is written from a practical perspective, perfect for anyone who uses the tools in SQL Server 2005s extraordinarily rich BI product suite.

This book explains how best to use Analysis Services, SQL Server Integration Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and SQL Server Data Mining. It also describes best practices for implementing end-to-end BI solutions in small, medium, and large business environments. And it provides important information about integrating BI with various client tools, including Excel, Business Scorecards, Proclarity, and SharePoint Portal Server. Developers, end users, and even managers will find this an enlightening guide to the power and promise of SQL Server 2005 BI. Highlights include the following:

* Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of the SQL Server 2005 BI tool suite
* Concise, yet thorough, so you can use all BI tools effectively
* Special focus on features to useand avoidto cleanly scale BI solutions
* Full of sound, practical guidance on real-world best practices
* Essential reading for developers and users with any level of BI experience

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #65850 in Books
* Published on: 2007-04-24
* Released on: 2008-09-18
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 396 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Lynn Langit is the founder and lead architect of WebFluent, which for the past six years has trained users and developers in building BI solutions. A holder of numerous Microsoft certifications, including MCT, MCITP, MCDBA, MCSD.NET, MCSE, and MSF, she also has ten years' experience in business management. This unique background makes her particularly qualified to share her expertise in developing successful real-world BI solutions using SQL Server 2005.
Customer Reviews

Lucid, relevant and AdventureWorksDW illustrated5
Notes:

After I went through this book I realized that this is not a hands-on, tutorial type of book. It's more a comprehensive overview of all the aspects of using SQL Serve 2005 to do BI. This book alone is not sufficient for building up a working knowledge of doing BI using SQL Server 2005. But it's still a good overview. It mentioned a lot of concepts and techniques without going into detail. You need to take those "words" and google for the details when you really need to make them work for you.




I wish I had read this book earlier! I have been reading almost all the SQL Server related BI books and this one stands out as the best yet.

1. It uses the AdventureWorksDW to illustrate the whole process.
2. It covers all aspects of BI using SQL Server 2005
3. Very practical.

From the get-go, it introduced Excel Pivottable and PivotChart to explore Adventure works cube. This is the only book if I remember it correctly to mention and illustrate the use of Pivottable for OLAP.

Everything is explained lucidly. It resolved almost all my confusion about BI using SQL server analysis services.

It shines and far better than any other books out there, partly probably because it's the latest publication on this topic.

I would also highly recommend another book, "Fast Track to MDX" if you want to enjoy working with BI. I don't recommend you to read "MDX solutions" if you are a beginner for MDX. I mistakenly started my journey on MDX from "MDX solutions" and it almost ruined my ambition to work in the BI fields because that book is just making learning MDX a nightmare. On the other hand, "Fast Track to MDX" is a joy to read.

Great starting point for SQL BI5
Lynn definitely knows the material. I have had the occasion to sit in on a couple of live presentations from her on this subject and she truly knows the topic from a real-world perspective. Although BI is a deep and complex subject, Lynn gets right to business to help you start building your reports and dataviews in a practical and productive manner.

This is a great starting point for people wishing to get up to speed on BI using the Microsoft tools as well as a good review for those already comfortable in these waters.

Verry good explanation of BI and SQL Sever 2005 BI toolset5
I am new to BI. I needed a book to explain BI and the toolset in the SQL Server 2005. As I have been developing applciations for the last 8 years using Microsoft only technologies therefore I wanted to use SQL Server 2005 for BI path. I found this book very valuable for a new commer to BI like me.

I have gone through only some of the chapters but it has started to make sense. The explanation is very clear and it shows that the writer knows the subject very well. Good arrangement of chapters. Not a boring book. I think after reading this book and going through all the excercises one would have a very good understanding of the subject and how to use to SQL server 2005 BI toolset.

I would say this book puts you above the intermediate level from where you can understand the more complex books. Essential for someone wanting to choose BI as career path. Top work Lynn.