* Create an entire BI application in less than a day
* Design dynamic and interactive dashboards in just a few minutes
* Access reports in Microsoft® Office and on your mobile device
* Interact with reports and dashboards using our easy-to-use Web interface to pivot, drill, and add new KPIs
* Build reports that bring in data from multiple different sources
* Set personalized alerts so you receive reports only when you need them
* Improve user self-service within your BI application
* Use BI applications to drive strategy and operational efficiency

Find out what the MicroStrategy buzz is all about during this exciting one-day introductory course in Toronto, ON on March 17, 2010. This complimentary hands on course, designed for individuals without MicroStrategy experience, introduces MicroStrategy from the perspective of people who use, develop and manage enterprise BI applications.

We will provide attendees with lunch, as well as useful courseware and class handouts. There is limited seating, so hurry and apply online today—this complimentary class fills up quickly!

Pivot table

The data below is original data imported from MS Access database;

Sometimes data in OLTP may not have a full time connection and hence needed to be exported into Data Mart for further utilized by Business Intelligence via UDM. In some cases data from OLTP is exported via ftp, In our case we have been getting data via FTP which is stored into our data mart and afterwards  transformed as per requirements utilizing Data transformation services / Integration services and stored into our data mart. After that this data is sent to Business Intelligence Systems.

In case of dirty data as mentioned above sometime data have to be cleaned from errors so it can be utilized into the Business intelligence, again data mart would be required. Here we would like to add an example we are getting data feeds of worldwide business contacts  from somewhere via ftp. This data is then transformed and cleaned from errors stored in our data mart/Data war house, and then regularly uploaded into a system where people can utilize that. We are presenting a link for your information  http://worldonline.biz/ and www.cheaprent.org.

The reason for giving this example is because of the need of data mart, In addition to that we are doing more work on stored data, as per people’s needs, to produce high value information.

In addion to our hands on experience, We are thankfull to Brian Larson for writing such a great book “Delivering business intelligence with  SQL Server 2005″. We regularly consult this book for our projects.

At the end we would like also to add that data projects are not always similar and may require some tools in some situation and some other tools in other situations and the goal is always to accomplish the task.

Source: Data mining concepts and techniques by Jiawei Han and Micheline Kamber

Pulling data into unbound conrols

1- Fill the combo box; create a query (or use an existing table) that contains the data you want to present, plus any other fields you want filled in automatically once the user makes a choice. Later steps will be simpler if you make sure the value to be displayed in the combo box is the first field in the table or query, but doing so is’nt umperative.

2-Prepare the combo box; set the column widths property so that the correct column is visible and the othe columns are invisible. If the first column you want displayed and you have 5 columns total, your column widths setting would be :0:0;0;0

This value tells Access to use the default width for the first column and 0 width (hidden) for the next 4 columns.

3-Prepare the other controls: Set the controlsource property for each of the controls into which you want data pulled. In each case, set the control source property to

YourCombo.column(n)

where yourcombo is the control name property of the combo and n is the column number(Starting at 0) you want pulled into the control.

Once you set up the form Access take care of the rest. Anytime the Combo Box changes, the other controls on the form will recalculate and pull the value they need from combo box. It takes absolutely no programming.

Pushing Data into bound controls

If you need to fill in controls that are bound, their control source property is not empty; therefore, you can’t use the pull method described in the previous section. Instead you’ need to push data into controls you’ve madea choice from the combo or list box. That is also simple but would require very little programming. The steps are same as above but you need to leave the controlsource property of the text bound to data fields. To apply push method, you attach code to the afterupdate eventof the Combo or list box, which will fill the appropriate controls. In the example form,frm push text, the code just loop through all the columns and send out data to each of the four conveniently named text boxes;

dim intI as integer

for intI = 1to 4

Me.controls(“txtbox”&intI)=1st.column(intI)

HR Professionals are involved in recruiting, to benefits management, to employee attitudes they can Track employee recruitment and attrition, Monitor benefits costs, Evaluate employee morale
 
Employees can get feedback about performance in a great way and keep themselves informed with corporate goals. They can adjust performance to meet goals, feel a sense of accountability, be aware of attendance patterns.

Management, Managers and supervisors can track employee progress, comparing individuals to their peers and the various teams of the organization. Some examples of metrics that can be tracked are:Performance management,Assessment of training issues,Attendance patterns

1- Enable business users to create their own reports and explore corporate data by using Microsoft Report Builder 2.0, an intuitive and familiar Microsoft Office-optimized authoring environment. Report Builder 2.0 enables users to go directly against relevant data sources to create reports with tech help. Highly valuable and will enhance informed decision making.

2- Reports can be based on datasources from Sql Server, Oracle, DB2, SAP Net Weaver, Hypersion ESS Base, and more. Good feature.

3- Export Reports in variety of formats depending on the Business users needs i.e HTML, PDF, CSV, XML, Tiff, Word and Excel. Very useful and will save time.

4- Deploy and manage your reports by using Reporting Services configuration manager.

Data from RDBMS is usually exported to flat files i.e text files or Spread sheets for transformation and manipulate fields, print or display formatted information and exchange information with others, through email and over the Internet. With flat files, you may add information, as you deem necessary.

Microstrategy had addressed these issues as follows;

The biggest hurdle with typical BI installations is staging the data so that users can begin assemble reports and dashboards. Data staging requires significant effort and entails designing the business intelligence data model, finding data sources, reconciling data discrepancies, and building the extract, load (ETL) routines that periodically refresh the business intelligence database with the latest information. Data staging takes time and requires engineering expertise that rarely exists within departments or work groups.

The Microstrategy’s solution;

Micro strategy addresses 9 addresses these issue as follows;

Multi-source ROLAP:

With Micro strategy 9, organizations can access and combine data from data marts, operational systems, and excel spreadsheets using new capabilities called “ Multi Source ROLAP”. Multi Source ROLAP eliminates the requirements to move data from multiple source databases into purpose built data ware house or data mart. Instead Multi source ROLAP allows companies to access the data directly from where it resides, with no special data engineering or data movement. This radically reduces the time to set up the BI environment and lowers the technical expertise required.

IN Memory ROLAP:

In-memory ROLAP includes a database that can serve data to reports, dashboards and OLAP analyses. In memory ROLAP requires no special set up or data modeling. Micro Strategy automatically designs and configures database based on the relationship between attributes and metrics specified by business users. The in memory database technology operates, in the computer server’s main memory for high speed performance, but is also stored on disk for greater performance and offers the ability to swap in and out  of memory based on usage.

Simplified extract and load capability

Micro strategy 9 supports a simplified extract and load capability to periodical repopulate the in memory database with latest information from source system database. Using Microsoft out of box query engines and scheduling  systems, departments can schedule extractions from RDBMS, Excel spread sheet, flat files and Multidimensional databases, including Microsoft analyses and Hyperion / Oracle Essbase. When combine with the Micro strategy 9 Multi-source ROLAP capability, the query system can even join data across multiple databases and Excel to populate in-memory database.

Rapid Meta data creation

Micro strategy 9 offers multiple features that enable the rapid creation of metadata. Micro strategy’s new graphical architect makes it possible for non-IT people to select one or more source databases, identify the tables and columns desired, load them into the BI System , and transform them into business oriented definitions that business people can understand and use assemble into reports and dashboards. Graphical Architect also includes a series of smart assistants to help streamline the process, including auto-recognizing attributes and metrics and auto recognizing the same data in multiple databases.

My poin of view;

I found this feature a promising one as it attempts to remove the main hurdle of  understanding gap between Business user’s needs which are critical for  survival of the business and tech personal’s non familiarity with business process.