Posts Tagged ‘Business Intelligence’

In the last post in this series, we looked at why Azure Machines are the most likely candidate for workable SQL Server-based cloud BI implementations.   Today, we talk turkey about actual limitations and things you need to know as you look at a potential solution in this environment. The first thing to know is that Azure […]

In my last post in this series, I described the basics of Data Services within Microsoft’s Windows Azure public cloud platform.   Basically, we were able to somewhat exclude the majority of PaaS offerings in Azure and home in on the IaaS offering:  Azure Virtual Machines. Azure VM’s are effectively the only real path to full-fledged […]

The healthcare industry pressures and technology maturity are starting to converge, and as they do the organizations that are equipped to capture data, integrate and analyze it from multiple systems will be able to generate greater insights that will drive a shift from volume-based to value-driven healthcare that improves consumer engagement and care delivery. IBM […]

I know that this isn’t a healthcare blog, but I think it’s important to provide some context on the healthcare industry in order to make connections between it and financial institutions.  Last week I started the discussion around health reform and I’d encourage you to revisit my previous blog post.  Healthcare reform is really health […]

This is part two in a series of extending SSIS for the enterprise with complementary Microsoft products. Specifically, we are going to look at how we can extend an SSIS solution to go through DMZs and firewalls across the Internet to reach and capture data regardless of the SQL Server schema type. In this scenario, […]

In my first post in this series, I talked a little about the basics of cloud BI and Microsoft’s Windows Azure public cloud platform.  I gave a brief glimpse of what services Azure offers for BI.   So to begin with, let’s recap the Azure data services offerings in terms of the cloud computing models available.  Azure’s […]

This article was pointed out to me by a colleague, and I found it a pretty compelling read:  How Microsoft helped this bar figure out that vodka was costing it a fortune. Of particular interest to me is the Natural Q&A feature, which is mentioned prominently. Now, my time in the data warehousing trenches tempers my […]

As with “All Things Cloud” for the last year or so, Cloud BI is a subject of much buzz. But if you look around, aside from a few niche vendors that have developed Software as a Service (SaaS)  and Platform as a Service (PaaS) BI packages, there’s not a lot of clear information or even thinking. Something close […]

Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of working with some of the world’s largest companies in a variety of industries. One thing in common with all of these engagements was using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) as the tool of migrating data for the companies’ business intelligence collateral. I have developed […]

So, have you heard about Power BI yet?  The whiz-bang new cloud-centric BI front end tool from Microsoft?  Well, this video from the 2013 WPC breaks down the story — in a very entertaining manner…  So, having watched, let’s assume we all remember Mariah’s chart-toppers and instead review the greatest hits of the Power BI […]

Healthcare providers are getting pretty good at creating budgets and comparing financial results vs. budgets but just how realistic are these budgets in the first place? Too often enterprise budgets are created with limited insight into the operational data needed to create an accurate picture of the business drivers that affect the financials.   This is […]

Introduction If you follow the SQL Server community at all, you’ve probably heard a lot of buzz around PDW (Parallel Data Warehouse).  This is the first in a series of blogs I am going to be writing about PDW.  In this series, I am going to cover everything from PDW nuts and bolts to how […]