Duane Schafer

In previous posts we’ve discussed how to introduce advanced analytics into your BI platform and along the way we introduced several new technologies. These technologies range from self-service query tools to cloud-based visualizations. Even though the previous scenario was based on the Healthcare industry, the concepts and technologies can be applied across all industries. But […]

I’ve been speaking to a lot of clients lately about the visualization capabilities of the Microsoft BI platform and want to clarify a point of confusion. When building an enterprise analytics platform you will be faced with several decisions around architecture as well as delivery. The architectural options will be vetted by your IT department, […]

Over the months we have released a lot of information on building analytic platforms in healthcare. Several members of my team have played key architectural roles in not only implementing the Cogito platform and performing readmission analysis with it, but also expanding the platform to include customer satisfaction data from Press Ganey. These functions were […]

I have to say, I was very excited today as I listened to Satya Nadella describe the capabilities of the new SQL 2014 Data Platform during the Accelerate your Insights event. My excitement wasn’t tweaked by the mechanical wizardry of working with a new DB platform, nor was it driven by a need to be […]

Sentiment analysis is arguably one of the fastest growing concepts in the analytics space and is poised to become a major source of information to enterprise BI programs in the very near future. The idea of receiving instant feedback from a consumer base, enabling near real-time follow-up or correction holds an incalculable ROI. Unfortunately the […]

While returning from a client presentation and reflecting on the meeting conversations I was struck by a similarity that seems to be creeping into the minds of our clients. While discussing our approach to performing a strategy assessment for this new client we were reviewing an example architectural diagram and a question was raised. One […]

You can find the previous posts to this topic here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 2.5 So how do we reduce the amount of anxiety related to a BI project (thus making them less painful)? To start, the project team needs to be keenly aware of the following: They must consistently over communicate that some […]

..so I hadn’t planned on exploring the next piece of the puzzle so soon, but this article jumped out at me. I just finished reading “Achieving Greater Agility with Business Intelligence” from the TDWI and found several interesting comments. The article was based around ‘faster decision cycles and competitive pressures’ but it had a few […]

In a previous post (here) I posed the question regarding the difficulty we experience when implementing a BI project, and promised to address mitigating the pain that our project teams and clients typically experience. But before we can do that, we need to explore where the pain and difficulty comes from. Difficulties: – Unfamiliar technologies, […]

I’m not really asking the question, I’m setting the stage for a topic that has been on my mind recently. For background, I grew up through the data architecture ranks so the problems I see our project teams experiencing seem natural to me (if not basic). In my mind it’s always been this difficult, but […]

While attending the SharePoint conference a couple of weeks ago I noted the three major technology trends being presented, namely: Social, Cloud and Mobile. While not being surprised that these three where at the top of the list, I did wonder if the sentiment was the same across the industry and what that would mean […]

I’m attending the SharePoint conference in Las Vegas and man are there some sights to see. Sleek and inviting, everything you would want in a BI platform of course! I work extensively with all of the technologies from the Microsoft BI stack, but have realized already this week that the changes coming in the SharePoint and […]