Checklists of Essential Skills for Microsoft Business Intelligence -
How You Can Leverage Integration Services and Analysis Services in Your Organization

by Tim Peterson

I have at times been asked to put together a 5-day class covering the use of Microsoft's Business Intelligence tools. As I have designed these classes, I have had the chance to consider what really is important for organizations that want to succeed in using Microsoft Business Intelligence.

The Challenge of Business Intelligence

I have devoted most of my efforts in the last years to helping organizations use Microsoft's Business Intelligence tools. I was the lead author of a book on the use of OLAP Services (Microsoft OLAP Unleashed) and the author of a book on DTS (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Data Transformation Services (DTS). I have had the opportunity to help a number of organizations use these tools to build effective Business Intelligence systems. I have worked with Microsoft Business Intelligence as a developer, a consultant, a mentor, and a teacher.

I believe Microsoft's Business Intelligence tools are powerful and easy to use. I also believe these tools are greatly under-utilized - both by organizations that are attempting to use them and by organizations that haven't yet considered the opportunities they provide.

Are you able to effectively use these tools? Do you know their capabilities? Do you understand how Business Intelligence can transform your organization?

I have four checklists to help you determine if you are ready to be effective with Microsoft's Business Intelligence tools:

1. Imagining the possibilities of Business Intelligence
2. Learning multidimensional (star) schema data modeling.
3. Using Integration Services.
4. Using Analysis Services

The primary challenge in using Business Intelligence is to recognize what you need to know. You need to know how to use the tools - but you need to know a lot more than that! The first two checklists focus on what you need to know before you can start using the tools effectively. The third and fourth checklists focus on skills for using the tools.

The tools are easy to use, but there is still a lot to learn. You may have a lot of database experience, but you might still be unfamiliar with most of the material in these checklists. The rewards of Business Intelligence are worth the effort. I encourage you to devote the time and resources to learn how to effectively use Microsoft Business Intelligence.

I recommend the following books:

For multidimensional modeling -
The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit by Ralph Kimball, Laura Reeves, Margy Ross, Warren Thornthwaite (Wiley, 1998).

For an introduction to Analysis Services -
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services Step By Step by Reed Jacobson and Stacia Misner (SAMS Publishing, 2007).

For a more in-depth view of Analysis Services-
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services by Edward Melomed, Irina Gorbach, Alexander Berger, and Py Bateman (Microsoft Press, 2006).

For more advanced MDX, the querying language for OLAP -
MDX Solutions With Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 and Hyperion Essbase by George Spofford, Sivakumar Harinath, Christopher Webb, Dylan Hai Huang, and Francesco Civardi (Wiley, 2006).

I recommend the following web sites:

The Local Cube Information Center at www.cubeslice.com - My site with all the information you need about local cube files. The site also includes a data warehousing glossary and links to other SQL Server information sites.

http://cwebbbi.spaces.live.com/blog/ - Chris Webb's BI blog.

http://www.mosha.com/msolap/ - Mosha Pasumansky's Microsoft Analysis Services Web Site.

http://www.sqlis.com/ - "The Integration Services resource on the web."

www.sql-server-performance.com - SQL Server performance information.

www.sqlpass.org - Professional Association for SQL Server