I am seeing more call for Time Dimensions. By that I mean Time-of-Day Dimensions. So now I have to retrain myself to call Date Dimensions “Date” and Time Dimensions “Time”.As a follow up to this post, here’s some DDL and a quick routine to generate a time of day table. The resolution is to the… Continue reading Time (Not Date) Dimension Table SQL code
Adventures with Virtualization
Those of us needing to run BI software in virtual environments are well familiar with the challenges of getting things running smoothly, especially if you are using a laptop as your lab or demo environment. We have a new set of challenges with Windows 7, and with SharePoint 2010. Challenge #1 – SharePoint 2010 requires 64… Continue reading Adventures with Virtualization
Brilliantly stupid MDX debugging technique
Whenever I do something really stupid, rather than keep it to myself, I prefer to blog about it for the entire world to see. Even better – I came up with a debugging technique to save myself from my own, er, stupidity.The scenario is this: I am developing some SQL Server Analysis Services Date Calculations… Continue reading Brilliantly stupid MDX debugging technique
Devils and Angels of BI Architecture
Devil: You don’t need to set up a separate star schema databaseAngel: Yes you do. We don’t want to interfere with the operational systemsDevil: It’s sooo much workAngel: We want to create a simplified schema to benefit our end usersDevil: Phooeh. ETL is BORINGDevil: Just query the source system directlyDevil: What could be better than… Continue reading Devils and Angels of BI Architecture
The “Million Dollar” BI Architecture Diagram
Anyone who has worked with me or taken training from me has seen some variant of this diagram. It’s not an original concept, although this version has been refined to include my personal experience with many Business Intelligence implementations, as well as my bias towards both the Kimball Business Dimensional methodology and using Microsoft SQL… Continue reading The “Million Dollar” BI Architecture Diagram
Example Code to build and populate a Date Dimension
OK, I’ve found myself searching for this code a half dozen times over as many weeks. That tells me that I : a) Need to keep better track of my source code b) Need to share it on my blog Caveats & Comments: This is “warts and all” utility code. It could be optimized, but… Continue reading Example Code to build and populate a Date Dimension
Is Business Intelligence your company’s “Tree of Souls” ?
(Minor Avatar spoilers below – in case you’re one of the 3 people who hasn’t seen it yet)I was driving to a clients this past week and just free-associating, listening to an NPR segment about the movie Avatar and also thinking about this upcoming Business Intelligence implementation.In the movie, “Avatar”, the “Tree of Souls” is… Continue reading Is Business Intelligence your company’s “Tree of Souls” ?
Windows 7’s ‘GodMode’
Weird but cool – nice way to shortcut steps in W7: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10423985-56.html?tag=rtcol;pop or video http://cnettv.cnet.com/enable-godmode-windows-7/9742-1_53-50081662.html?tag=mncol
Dec 8th, 2009 ITA BI Roundtable Presentation
On Dec 8th, I was fortunate to present an overview of SQL Server 2008 Integration Services to the Illinois Technology Association’s Business Intelligence Roundtable. The actively-involved participants had many questions. Here are links to all of the prerequisite, supplemental, and follow-on resources we discussed: Dimension Design (aka Star Schema) Methodology: The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The… Continue reading Dec 8th, 2009 ITA BI Roundtable Presentation
Creating great courseware
I was recently surveyed by Microsoft about the Microsoft Learning: Microsoft Certified Trainer program. One of the questions was about the Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC). I’ve been using MOC in one form or another for about 15 years. Although I was only answering a question in the moment, I grabbed my comment about how to create courseware into a text file, and it seemed… Continue reading Creating great courseware