Ken Withee Learn to: • Apply the latest Microsoft technologies and use them together • Create an effective strategy to solve business problems • Work with the SQL Server ® product suite • Use the new SharePoint ® Business Intelligence tools Microsoft ® Business Intelligence Making Everything Easier! ™ Open the book and find: • BI tools that are already hiding in your software • How to manage the data life cycle • Tips for evaluating and choosing technologies • What you can do with Dashboards and Scorecards • Nearly a dozen data mining algorithms • Ways to display and analyze data • Advice on testing and rolling out your BI strategy • Keys to making BI successful Ken Withee is a Microsoft SharePoint and Business Intelligence consultant and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist. He is certified in SharePoint, SQL Server, and .NET. Among his many published works are a book on SSRS 2008 and a featured article on Self-Serve Business Intelligence in The Architecture Journal. $34.99 US / $41.99 CN / £24.99 UK ISBN 978-0-470-52693-4 Computers/Data Processing Go to Dummies.com ® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop! The book that beats the buzzwords! At last, understand BI and what it can do for your business Buzzwords, begone! This book looks beyond the jargon at real business problems and common-sense solutions. Data is the lifeblood of your business. Microsoft BI tools help you collect that data; sort, store, and analyze it; find it when you need it; and use it to make decisions. You’ll understand terms like “OLAP cube” and “data mart” — at last! • It’s all about the right tools — learn which BI technologies can solve specific issues for your business • Realistic expectations — get a clear understanding of what you expect to achieve with BI • Meet the parts — see how the SQL Server technologies, presentation technologies, and development/customization technologies work together • The right edge — support decision-making by using BI to get the right data to the right person at the right time • Storing this stuff — understand how data warehouses and data marts make it easier to manage and retrieve data • The tool on your desktop — discover how to use Excel ® for data analysis and data mining • Making it work — create a logical plan for BI implementation, know what you need and what you don’t, and get stakeholders on board Microsoft ® Business Intelligence Withee spine=.86” www.it-ebooks.info spine=.86” Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? Sign up for Newsletters on • Digital Photography • Microsoft Windows & Office • Personal Finance & Investing • Health & Wellness • Computing, iPods & Cell Phones • eBay • Internet • Food, Home & Garden Find out “HOW” at Dummies.com *Sweepstakes not currently available in all countries; visit Dummies.com for official rules. Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/microsoftbusinessintelligence www.it-ebooks.info Microsoft ® Business Intelligence FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_526934-ffirs.indd i01_526934-ffirs.indd i 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info 01_526934-ffirs.indd ii01_526934-ffirs.indd ii 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info by Ken Withee Microsoft ® Business Intelligence FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_526934-ffirs.indd iii01_526934-ffirs.indd iii 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info Microsoft ® Business Intelligence For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its af liates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH- OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA- TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2010922562 ISBN: 978-0-470-52693-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_526934-ffirs.indd iv01_526934-ffirs.indd iv 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info About the Author Ken Withee is a consultant specializing in Microsoft technologies. He lives with his wife Rosemarie in Seattle, Washington. He is coauthor of Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services (Wiley Publishing) with Paul Turley, Thiago Silva, and Bryan C. Smith. Ken earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Science studying under Dr. Edward Lank at San Francisco State University. Their work has been published in the LNCS journals and was the focus of a presentation at the IASTED conference in Phoenix. Their work has also been presented at various other Human Computer Interaction conferences throughout the world. Ken has more than 10 years of professional computer and management experience working with a vast range of technologies. He is a Microsoft Certi ed Technology Specialist and is certi ed in SharePoint, SQL Server, and .NET. 01_526934-ffirs.indd v01_526934-ffirs.indd v 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info 01_526934-ffirs.indd vi01_526934-ffirs.indd vi 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info Dedication I dedicate this book to my wife and best friend, Rosemarie Withee, who encouraged me daily throughout this time-intensive process. I owe her nearly a year’s worth of late nights and weekends and hope to make it up to her during our long future together. I love you! Author’s Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge my grandma, Tiny Withee, who turns 96 this year and is still going strong. I would also like to acknowledge my wife Rosemarie Withee, mother Maggie Blair, father Ken Withee, sister Kate Henneinke, and parents-in-law Alfonso and Lourdes Supetran and family. I would like to acknowledge my colleagues at Hitachi Consulting. I would like to send a special thank you to Paul Turley, Reed Jacobson, Aaron Daisley- Harrison, and Todd Folsom for putting up with my endless questions about the experiences they have had over their very successful careers. I would like to thank Denny Lee and Thierry D’Hers for their support on the Microsoft side and the discussions about the Microsoft Business Intelligence technologies. Thanks to Katie Mohr, Tiffany Ma, Blair Pottenger, Barry Childs-Helton, and the rest of the For Dummies team for providing more support than I ever thought possible. It is truly amazing how much work goes into a single book. Thanks also to my technical reviewer Chris Leiter for his insights and guidance. 01_526934-ffirs.indd vii01_526934-ffirs.indd vii 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions and Editorial Project Editor: Blair J. Pottenger Acquisitions Editors: Katie Mohr, Tiffany Ma Senior Copy Editor: Barry Childs-Helton Technical Editor: Chris Leiter Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Composition Services Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery Layout and Graphics: Ashley Chamberlain Proofreaders: Lindsay Littrell, Toni Settle Indexer: Ty Koontz Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 01_526934-ffirs.indd viii01_526934-ffirs.indd viii 2/26/10 9:07 AM2/26/10 9:07 AM www.it-ebooks.info [...]... Part I: Embracing a Microsoft Business Intelligence Solution 7 Chapter 1: Surveying Microsoft Business Intelligence from 50,000 Feet 9 Chapter 2: Blazing a Trail through the Data Jungle 23 Chapter 3: Adopting Microsoft Business Intelligence 39 Part II: Wrapping Your Head Around Business Intelligence Concepts 57 Chapter 4: Using Data to Inform and Drive Business Activities... the fundamentals of Microsoft Business Intelligence and help you forge the way to creating a successful BI system www.it-ebooks.info 04_526934-pp01.indd 8 2/26/10 9:09 AM Chapter 1 Surveying Microsoft Business Intelligence from 50,000 Feet In This Chapter ▶ Getting a handle on Microsoft Business Intelligence ▶ Looking at the components of the Microsoft BI core platform ▶ Identifying Microsoft BI tools... 9:09 AM 2 Microsoft Business Intelligence For Dummies that brought business intelligence into existence remains: How do you turn raw data into a usable, reliable, timely information resource? Well, I believe you can make a solid move in that direction by getting to know and use Microsoft Business Intelligence — a set of tools offered by those famous folks in Redmond to help you create that information... SharePoint — the other main component of Microsoft BI — and its potential to transform an organization’s way of doing business Finally, Chapter 11 takes you on a tour of the tools available for developing and customizing the capabilities of Microsoft Business Intelligence to fit your business needs Part IV: Incorporating Microsoft Business Intelligence into Your Business Environment Part IV of this book... 2 How This Book Is Organized 3 Part I: Embracing a Microsoft Business Intelligence Solution 3 Part II: Wrapping Your Head Around Business Intelligence Concepts 3 Part III: Introducing the Microsoft Business Intelligence Technologies 4 Part IV: Incorporating Microsoft Business Intelligence into Your Business Environment 4 Part V: The Part of Tens 4... 132 Knowing the Microsoft Data-Mining Tools 133 Integrating with Microsoft Office 133 Visual Studio 135 SQL Server Management Studio 139 Using Microsoft Data Mining Algorithms 140 www.it-ebooks.info 02_526934-ftoc.indd xiii 2/26/10 9:09 AM xiv Microsoft Business Intelligence For Dummies Part III: Introducing the Microsoft Business Intelligence Technologies... Started! 6 Part I: Embracing a Microsoft Business Intelligence Solution 7 Chapter 1: Surveying Microsoft Business Intelligence from 50,000 Feet .9 Introducing Microsoft Business Intelligence 9 Knowing the components of Microsoft BI 10 Tracing the terminology 11 Getting to the Core of Microsoft BI 12 Date warehousing... 15 Microsoft BI Data Presentation 15 Microsoft Office Excel 16 Microsoft Office Visio 16 Microsoft SharePoint 16 Microsoft BI Development Tools 18 Visual Studio 19 Report Builder 20 Silverlight 20 Microsoft NET 21 www.it-ebooks.info 02_526934-ftoc.indd xi 2/26/10 9:09 AM xii Microsoft Business Intelligence For. .. watch out for when you implement Microsoft Business Intelligence Chapter 17 lists the ten keys to BI success that every implementation should follow Most importantly, Chapter 18 discusses ten ways you can use a Microsoft Business Intelligence system to boost your bottom line Icons Used In This Book The familiar For Dummies icons offer visual clues about the material contained within this book Look for the... data for the nuggets of information that will keep your business ahead of other businesses in an ever-changing economic environment? You need a fundamental understanding of Microsoft Business Intelligence, including its terminology, concepts, products, and capabilities You need to pull back the curtains and discover how the concepts can deliver on the promise of business intelligence and how Microsoft . specifically for this book, go to www .dummies. com/cheatsheet/microsoftbusinessintelligence www.it-ebooks.info Microsoft ® Business Intelligence FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_526934-ffirs.indd. AM2/26/10 9:09 AM www.it-ebooks.info Microsoft Business Intelligence For Dummies xiv Part III: Introducing the Microsoft Business Intelligence Technologies 145 Chapter