Duane Schafer

As a follow up to the EIM Awareness with SQL Server blog post I previously created, I’d like to dig into the potential impact of the “…increasing EIM maturity level…” I referenced. Whether you manage a consulting practice or a BICC, you’re always struggling with providing the right balance of value to your clients. In […]

As the virtual launch of SQL Server 2012 draws near, I receive more and more requests for demos. This doesn’t really surprise me however considering the new enhancements really do show well. So in an effort to spread the mindshare here is a nice overview of the ad-hoc reporting capabilities of PowerPivot and Power View. […]

As the date of the SQL Server 2012 virtual release draws near, I’m getting more and more requests for client demos. And this should be no surprise as the new platform does show very well! So in an effort to spread the mindshare, here’s a link to a nice overview of PowerPivot and Power View […]

I just finished reading the results of an interview I gave earlier this week to technology webzine www.CRN.com regarding the pending release of SQL Server. I was interested to know which parts of my 30 minute discussion with the technical writer would make it into the article. I was happy to see that the writer […]

So I just read the recently published BI magic quadrant analysis from Gartner and noticed a slight adjustment in the bubbles. The Microsoft BI platform continues to increase along the ‘Completeness of Vision’ axis (X), but the ‘Ability to Execute’ measure (Y-axis) slipped a notch and I wanted to know why. After reading the ‘Strengths’ […]

I was demoing the Microsoft BI stack to a client the other day and although PerformancePoint, PowerPivot and Power View showed well as always, I was amazed that the Q&A session gravitated back to the same old questions that I always hear. “Well what about Oracle?” “Have the BI tools made it out of the […]

Written by Andrew Holowaty – National Microsoft BI Practice

I just finished watching a webinar from The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) on the top BI trends for 2012 and thought I’d match those trends to the Microsoft stack for comparison.  According to TDWI, the top 7 trends are as follows:   Self-service BI – Enabling business users to perform their own modeling and analysis […]

It’s been a few months since my last post and a lot has changed on the Business Intelligence front. ‘Big Data’ considerations are working their way into strategy discussions; DW appliances are being considered for BI proposals; and Self-service analytics continues to be one of the top demands of organizations. In response to these changes, […]

I just read an interesting article last week that highlighted the importance of a topic that I have not seen any comments on before.  The following article http://tinyurl.com/5u59934 highlights a growing lack of faith from CFO’s in their CIO counterparts. Why is this relevant to a BI blog?  It highlights the importance of several related […]

OK, let’s explore one of the fundamental reasons why different user groups in our organization need different tools from the SharePoint BI stack.  It boils down to the ‘degree’ of self-service functionality they are comfortable/capable of using.  Several years ago the promise of ‘pervasive BI’ meant the information worker would not only have all core […]

This blog is dedicated to disseminating Business Intelligence tips, tricks, best practices and general insights.  Contributions to this blog come from many of the company’s partners, including Perficient’s National Microsoft Business Intelligence practice, and cover a full range of disciplines including Strategic Planning, BI Program Management and Governance, as well as Tactical Implementation. The intended […]