Business-Intelligence

Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP) Resources

pperfeito — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:14:00 PDT

Finally I got some time to write something more about CBIP certification.

First off all, don’t think this certification is the ticket for your next job. It’s just a motivation to let you learn more and improve your skills. Naturally that if you improve your skills, you have more conditions and recognition to get your BI job, but don’t think a certification by itself do it for you. Relating to this certification, it’s a way to TDWI makes money like all other certifications that exists around the world. But at least in this case, it seems more credible and more recognized than for example Microsoft certifications. Why? Just because there are a lot of “brain dumps” spread in the internet with exactly some questions of the real Microsoft exams. TDWI do a very good job on this field… although having a big number of question not aligned with the certification subject (like for example in ETL module) they are good and unique! The TDWI staff in Germany is also amazing and very kindly with you! See my experience there in 2009!

Now let’s go to the main reason to write this post! I’ve promised to the dozens of people that contacted me (almost since the post I wrote about CBIP experience in 2009) for help them on getting material guidance. For that reason here am I with the promised post! (Sorry for the late reply).

To make these exams, you should have minimal real-world, or at least huge academic experience, on the exam specialty that you’re thinking to get. If you have this pre-requisite then I think you should consider the suggestions I’m writing below.

Suggestion 01 – Examinations Guide

You MUST buy and read the CBIP Examinations Guide. This guide contains detailed exam outlines, reference reading lists, sample exam questions, and answer explanations for each exam included in the CBIP program. Testing software and practice timed exams are included with the guide. Taking the sample exams will identify areas where additional study and/or work experience may be necessary prior to testing. If you don’t have this examinations guide you will probably feel lost during the exam… And don’t forget that you don’t have too much time to think! The testing software is for sure crucial!

Suggestion 02 – Mandatory Books

You MUST buy and read the “Performance Dashboard” and “Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App” books! Why? The first, in addition to being a very interesting book, was written by the TDWI director at that time: Wayne Eckerson! And the second is a book that resumes the concept of BI in a simple and objective way. These two books are an investment that you should have! (And buy it… do not try to find illegal copies of this book on the internet… because doing so, you’ll not encourage authors to write more amazing contents like these ones). I should add that on these books, you will find several answers to some exam questions.

Now let’s go to remaining materials that although not mandatory, should be read at least some of the topics where exist some doubts. You probably don’t have time to read more books, but I also suggest several others in a previous post. Try also to get some information in the internet about the following topics: Dimensional Modeling (Techniques like Slowly Changing Dimension, Junk Dimension, Mini-Dimension, Outrigger, Role-Play Dimension… Fact table types: Transactional, Cumulative Snapshot, Periodic Snapshot, Factless and Factless Coverage), Data Warehousing architectures (Bus model, Hub and Spoke, Federated and Independent Data Marts), OLAP Architectures (MOLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP), Data Warehousing Methodologies (Both Kimball and Larissa Moss methodologies), Data Mining and make some research on terms like BPM, CRM, OLAP, ETL, BAM…I hope this post helps you!

Any NASCAR Fans out there? I’ve got some Microsoft Power View Analytics for you.

phusting — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:45:01 PDT

Here is the next Microsoft SQL 2012 Power View example we are doing that is in the theme of NASCAR! Yeah, go figure, we did analytics for NASCAR. Actually, it is a pretty amazing looking SharePoint 2010 portal with Power View analytics enabling Twitter along with Team and Driver Analytics. Check out the screenshots below. Looks great!

Yes these are REAL solutions built with Microsoft business intelligence technologies with the Extended Results highly branding UI/UX touches. We easily refresh the data in our PowerPivot model hosted in Excel and Excel Services in SharePoint. It is scheduled for refresh in SharePoint weekly and then all that data is available live within the SQL 2012 Power View reports. Pretty slick.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!!!

Enjoy,

Patrick

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Insights for Windows 8–Enterprise Business Intelligence

phusting — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:05:00 PDT

Extended Results now has a Windows 8 beta of Insights Social Performance Management solution. Insights brings a social experience to your business intelligence data within your enterprise.

Tap the Insights tile

Insights Hub Page
When you first enter Insights, you are greeted with a background theme that is customizable kind of like Bing backgrounds. We show you your Favorite KPIs along with Movers. Movers are KPIS that are trending up/down at a higher percentage than other KPIs. You also get a quick glance at active comments on KPIs too.

Hub Page – swipe from the right
Quickly we get you to your favorite KPI’s which are color coded based on your targets.

Detail Page
Tap into a KPI and immediately see the trends and comments. Comment back on the KPI status or you are one tap away from calling the KPI owner via Microsoft Lync.

Detail Page – swipe to the right
Immediately you will see the related reports to the KPI so you can drill into the details if you need too.

Report Viewer
Tap on the related report and quickly drill into any URL based report. One more tap and we’ll take it full screen. And, swipe down the Charms in Windows 8 are shared with associates.

Section Pages
Want to get access to all the KPIs and Reports you have access to? Swipe down from the top and Tap KPIs.

Section Pages – swipe
As you swipe, you can see all your KPI categories

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LogiXML Wants You

kchow — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:19:12 PDT

When people seek out employment opportunities, some of the things they consider are the health and growth of a company, the ability to advance within a company, and the possibility of not only being a part of something special, but having a lasting impact on it. If you’re looking for an opportunity such as this, then LogiXML wants to hear from you.

This is an exciting time for LogiXML. The close of 2011 marked another record year for the company, which grew its sales by 80 percent year over year, as well as its customer base by more than 60 percent. Additionally, LogiXML received a $10 million growth equity investment in late Q4, and in February, 2012 was positioned for the second straight year in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for BI platforms.

This year, LogiXML plans to double its staff, presenting a myriad of opportunities to jump on board with a company that’s heading to new altitudes. We’ll be posting new openings here regularly and on LogiXML’s Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook pages. LogiXML is currently looking for talented individuals for the following openings:

Software Developer – Click Here
Software Engineer – Click Here
Solutions Architect – Click Here
OEM Sale Manager – Click Here
IT Systems Engineer – Click Here
UI/UX Designer – Click Here
QA Engineer – Click Here
OEM Sale Executive – Click Here
Business Development Representative – Click Here
Sales Engineer – Click Here

For a complete listing of job openings at LogiXML, visiting our careers page here. We’re looking forward to our future with you.

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Dashboard User Experience Resources

hubertlee — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:41:25 PDT

Some more great resources for my Dashboard Spy readers

Today, we’re focusing on making sure that our sites and applications actually give our users what they need. Long time Dashboard Spy readers know that my whole focus is on the user experience, particularly that of dashboard design. How can we be sure that the users are getting what they need? It’s actually NOT by listening to what they say they want in their requirements documents. It’s NOT even in the mockups and page layout wireframes that they help produce. It’s only by iterative testing of actual screens that they express how they feel when they interact with a system design. (Yes, I’m a big fan of quick iterations to actual prototypes!)

This is a direct link to a fantastic PDF titled “Intro to A/B Split Testing for Marketing Optimization”. It’s a great read for everyone but absolutely critical for anyone working with the marketing department.

Split Testing (direct PDF download)

Next, here is an ebook from IBM called “The Interactive Marketing eBook: It’s All About the Journey”. It’s about how to engage website visitors in an interactive dialogue.

IBM Interactive Marketing eBook

Finally, this is another free resource for your UI team. It’s a UI Kit with graphic components delivered as a PSD file.

Aresio UI Kit

Keep on keeping on!

Hubert Lee

The Dashboard Spy

PS. Some readers have been writing me asking again for my powerpoint dashboard mockup template. Here you go:

http://www.enterprise-dashboard.com/powerpoint-dashboard-mockup

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Microsoft TechEd 2012 Content Catalog – Our Report Catalog is Part of the Show

phusting — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:14:00 PDT

Our Report Catalog (www.reportcatalog.com) solution will be showcased at the Microsoft TechEd conference. If you are going and are experiencing “Report Overload”, make sure you attend this session. The speaker is Sanjay Soni and is fun to hear him speak about BI. He is very passionate about the subject.

Source: http://northamerica.msteched.com/contentcatalog?wt.mc_id=TEInsidersVol3&CR_CC=200081481#fbid=-2ccXeItCIS

Filter on Database & Business Intelligence

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INFOGRAPHIC: How Employees Are Staying Fueled At Work

phusting — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 09:05:00 PDT

Great infographic

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-how-employees-are-staying-fueled-at-work-2012-3

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When Dashboards Are Not Enough

hubertlee — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:09:00 PDT

As much as digital dashboards rock my world, I have to keep in mind that business intelligence is much more than a dashboard. In terms of that old tired metaphor, if a dashboard shows me the metrics of my vehicle in a small location right in front of me, then business intelligence is everything else that I need to know – the view around the car, the view out the windshield, the sound of the engine, etc. In this example, the dashboard alone is not sufficient for me to drive the car. I need the additional input of the world around me to get to my destination.

Wait a minute, you say, pilots can fly by instrumentation alone. Ha! Take that, you Dashboard Spy you! I would reply that a pilot has a full cockpit. If you were to apply that analogy to a business dashboard, then you have to go beyond a simple one page, read-only dashboard and include business intelligence application functionality that can provide control and feedback. Your enhanced business cockpit would include what-if analytics, modeling etc.

I bring this up today because of a very interesting post from the UK. Data Monkey is a marketing analyst fond of bananas and dashboards. See photo:

Data Monkey’s post on Why a Dashboard Won’t Solve All of Your Problems is a good read that reminds us not to be seduced by all that data out there:

Business Intelligence (BI) has come of age. Assuming your IT department knows roughly what they’re doing and you can afford it, you can have your latest sales, market share, media spend, Google conversion rates and any other metrics you care to mention on your screen on a Monday morning.

More information is incredibly seductive. If you had your sales and media spend histories at your fingertips, you could show the effectiveness of your current advertising campaign. Surely? Couldn’t you?

Well actually, no you couldn’t. Marketing analysts have had this data for ages and it takes them a couple of months (and a degree in statistics) to work it out.

His bottom line is that a dashboard can only show basic information:

As analysts, we’re often the ones selling dashboards, so lets be honest about what they do well. They show data. So to be useful, you have to be someone who needs to see that data – and I mean really needs to see it. Just the number. Not why the number, or where it came from, or what you might want to do about it.

Anything that goes beyond looking at a number isn’t a dashboard, it’s insight and analysis.

Be sure to read his post for more.

I’ve added Data Monkey’s blog, Wallpapering Fog: An analyst’s thoughts on the marketing industry to the information visualization section of The Dashboard Spy’s List of Experts.

What do you think?

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If IT Departments Were TV Shows

kchow — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:18:55 PST

We deal with a lot of IT departments and their leaders. Most of them seem earnest, sincere, and mostly under-funded.

If their lives were a TV series, I think it would look something like this:

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SQL SQL 2012 Launch and Power View Samples–U.S. Government Budget vs. Spend

phusting — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:15:00 PST

The report below is from a data set we pulled from the U.S. Government for the 1976-2016 time frame. We pulled budget vs. actual spend data which we found to be absolutely amazing! WHY? Because we had no idea what and where our government spends money until now! Power View really enables some interesting analytics capabilities. In the report below, across the top you have the different departments you can slice against which then shows you the budget vs. spend for that department. Also, shows the children of that department on the left hand side of the report. Truly amazing the type of analytical Power View can enable. We’ll have some other views coming out soon showcasing other great scenarios of government spend animated over time using Power View. Should be a lot of fun.

Should you have any questions in regards to using, upgrading and deploying Microsoft SQL Server 2012, please visit our SQL SQL 2012 Readiness page on our web site.

Enjoy

Patrick

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