BI is the “Gathering of data from multiple sources to present it in a way that allows executives to make better business decisions”. I will describe in more detail exactly what BI is, what encompasses the Microsoft BI stack, why it is so popular, and why a BI career pays so much. I will review specific examples from previous projects of mine that show the benefits of BI and its huge return-on-investment. I'll go into detail on the components of a BI solution, and I will discuss key concepts for successfully implementing BI in your organization.

1. James Serra – Business Intelligence Consultant
JamesSerra3@gmail.com
JamesSerra.com

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3. Agenda
 What is Business Intelligence?
 BI Concepts
 Why use a Data Warehouse?
 Why use Business Intelligence?
 What is the Microsoft BI stack?
 Why BI is a lucrative career
 Benefits of a BI career

4. Or more briefly:
Help with: “I have all this data, what should I do with it?”
“Knowledge is power!”. BI is a core business function that
allows companies to be more competitive and reduce costs.

6. BI allows you to present the data in many different formats

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• Master Data Management – Processes, policies and tools that
define and manage master data
• Star Schema – Fact table referencing any number of
dimension tables
• Cube – Built from Star Schema. Summarization of data to
quickly slice and dice. User does not need to create table
relationships/joins

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9. Legacy applications + databases = chaos Enterprise data warehouse = order
Production Finance Continuity
Control Consolidation
MRP Marketing Control
Compliance
Inventory
Control Sales Collaboration
Parts Accounting
Management
Single version
Logistics Management of the truth
Reporting
Shipping Enterprise Data
Engineering
Warehouse
Raw Goods Actuarial
Order Control Human
Resources
Purchasing Every question = decision
A data warehouse is the foundation of a business intelligence solution.
75% of the effort in an end-to-end BI solution is building the DW

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12. Tangible Benefits:
− Enable critical data and analysis tools as identified for
multiple business groups
− Provide data integrity, simplification and standardization for
the business areas
− Provide dynamic and interactive reporting
− Reports create simplicity and reduce Business Technology
dependence for report creation and updates
− Cost savings by reducing the business users effort to create
these reports and validate the data
− Rapid access to data from all sources
− Standard KPI and dashboard reports
− Allow for data mining and predictive analytics

13. Intangible Benefits:
− Improve efficiency and accuracy of decision support system
for management and executive decision making
− Reduce manual consolidation efforts thereby improving
productivity
− Provide transparency

14. • Is excessive overtime a reason for employee turnover?
• How are the sales territories performing?
• How are the sales people performing?
• Which customers are likely to buy from us?
• What products do our customers buy together?
• Do we have suppliers in the same region that we can
consolidate?
• Is a decrease in sales due to the weather?
BI will stimulate questions and give you answers
that you never had before!

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16. BI Bible: The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit by Kimball

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• SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) – OLAP cubes containing
summarized data
• SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) – Server-based report
generation software
• Visual Studio 2008 BIDS, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
• Report Builder – Light weight version of SSRS
• PerformancePoint – Dashboard creation in SharePoint
• PowerPivot – Excel add-in to query data
• Power View – Fun, visual, drag-and-drop report builder

18. • Data Mining – Analyze data to find hidden patterns
• Master Data Services (MDS) – Centralized data source for
Master Data Management
• Data Quality Services (DQS) – Manage the integrity and
quality of data
• SharePoint – Landing zone for most Microsoft BI tools.
Most reports are viewed on SharePoint
• Excel & Excel Services – Excel is the common front-end for
most Microsoft BI tools. Excel Services enables you to
display workbooks on SharePoint

20. Why BI is a lucrative career
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23. James Serra – Business Intelligence Consultant
JamesSerra3@gmail.com
JamesSerra.com

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