Category: Business Intelligence

DAX Duration Measure in Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds

Credit where credit is due. This is an enhancement of the technique originally posted here by @konstantinos and @smoupre. A client needed a duration expressed in this format: 2 days, 05:03:52 In other words, Whenever the duration exceeds 86,400 seconds, express that portion in days, then build the remainder in hh:mm:ss format. This is the… Continue reading DAX Duration Measure in Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds

I am positive that measure is not negative – Weird Analysis Services Cube Behavior

I ran into a situation recently that had me stumped for a bit, and there didn’t seem to be any other posts about this when I searched. I was working with a cube containing a very straightforward measure. This was an integer column and used an AggregationType of SUM. No other calculations were involved. When… Continue reading I am positive that measure is not negative – Weird Analysis Services Cube Behavior

Simple way to test connectivity or compose OLEDB connection strings

This tip has been around a while, but I still run into developers who don’t know it, so it’s worth a post. If you ever need to test connectivity or compose a valid OLEDB connection string, try this: Create an empty text file. Rename the extension from TXT to UDL Double click this file. The Data… Continue reading Simple way to test connectivity or compose OLEDB connection strings

Agile and Business Intelligence

I had a client ask me about some of the techniques we are currently using, “Tom, Can you send me authors, book titles and/or links outlining agile development (Story conferences, sprints, scrums, etc…).” This was my response: Here is the site that “started it all”: http://agilemanifesto.org/ I used this book: http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Data-Warehousing-World-Class-Intelligence/dp/0595471676 to acquire some of… Continue reading Agile and Business Intelligence

Join me for a Webinar: “Ad-hoc Scenario Analysis Using Existing Infrastructure”

Tom Huguelet Please join me Tuesday for “Ad-hoc Scenario Analysis Using Existing Infrastructure” April 19, 2011 12:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 a.m. PT http://bit.ly/gpyXpr Hosted by SQL Server Magazine, sponsored by Tableau Software. I really had fun creating this webinar. Gave me an opportunity to organize and clarify a lot of previous experience from Business Intelligence… Continue reading Join me for a Webinar: “Ad-hoc Scenario Analysis Using Existing Infrastructure”

Creating Dashboards WITHOUT SharePoint

As a business intelligence consultant, a frequent request I receive is to “create a dashboard”. One of the first things I do is verify that I understand what the client is actually asking for. Many times by “dashboard”, what they mean is “lots of stuff all at once”. That’s when I pull out the tried… Continue reading Creating Dashboards WITHOUT SharePoint

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Update for Developers Training Course “Dependency Check Exception” “AuthorizationManager check failed”

Like many of us, it’s a constant struggle, er, — opportunity — for me to keep up-to-date on the latest and greatest techniques. One of the things that Microsoft and its partner ecosystem do particularly well is make plenty of materials available for self-directed study and skills renewal. If you haven’t already, check out the… Continue reading Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Update for Developers Training Course “Dependency Check Exception” “AuthorizationManager check failed”