Customer Reviews

Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide (The Savvy Manager's Guides)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a must read for any business or information technology (IT) professional who is involved in data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) projects. As Director of Education for The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) I'm intimately involved in the learning needs and processes of BI professionals. I firmly believe that the future of BI depends on better integration of technology with business at a human level. Business leaders must become more IT-savvy, and IT leaders must become more business-savvy. David Loshin's book is a fine start for both groups. You'll gain an understanding of business intelligence, business management disciplines, data warehousing, and how all of the pieces work together.

As a speaker at conferences and seminars I frequently challenge IT people to become more business savvy. My recommendation -- read David Loshin's "Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide" first. Then read a BPM book, a CRM book, a supply chain book, and so on. If you're working in IT and have data warehouse or BI responsibilities, I make the same recommendation to you.

The proof, however, is in the practice. At a recent TDWI conference (San Diego, November 2003) this book sold out within the first few days of the event -- before Loshin had even arrived at the conference to teach a class. The Savvy Manager's Guide was among the top-selling books at this event and the first the be sold out.

Read this book. You'll be glad that you did!

The book does a fantastic job of providing a managerial level overview of the business intelligence area and the various topics it includes (ETL, Data Cleansing, Metadata, Data Werehousing, ....).

To me its easily the first book one should start with in understanding these areas. After which you can choose to dig into areas of interest - data mining, ....

I direct a group of product managers in one of the leading business intelligence/ETL companies in this arena and I have made this required reading for all my product managers.

I highly recommend this book. Simply buy it - read it.

This book does a very good job of providing an overview and insight into the concepts of business intelligence without getting bogged down in the details of technology. The book covers a wide range of topics from the value of business intellligence (BI) to the issues of data quality and information compliance. Additionally, the book includes a quick reference guide at the end of the book which is an executive summary of the topics presented and at the end of many chapters includes a section titled "To Learn More" which provides links and references to further explore the topic.

I am an IT professional familiar with BI, charged with designing and implementing a BI stretgy for my organization. This book did not add significantly to my knowledge, however as a tool for those unfamiliar with the concepts and challenges of BI this is a very good read and reference tool.

This book provides a great introduction to the technical aspects of building a business intelligence program. The book is aimed at both technical and business client managers, and provides enough insight without getting too bogged down in the technical details. I would suggest that anyone undertaking a BI project should use this book as a guidebook.

I've been doing database design and social service program evaluation on a shoestring budget for almost a decade. I bought this book to get a broader understanding of the world of business intelligence and develop a definitional knowledge of the trade lexicon. This book served its purpose well. Though this reads like an encyclopedia, it's possible for someone with data management experience to get through this from cover to cover and come out with an improved ability to understand current best practices as well as devise and justify credible strategies for turning raw data into useful knowledge. Of course, it would take a lifetime to master the technical aspects of implementing a business intelligence system, but this book should facilitate dialogue between technical specialists and managers, with particular emphasis on the business value of technologies such as data warehousing, data mining, appropriate emphasis on data quality, etc.

Though budget limitations would prevent implementation of anything but a primitive business intelligence program at my organization, I found this book to be enlightening and relevant on many levels. Some insights include:
-The 80/20 rule for prioritizing IT projects- i.e., 80% of the functionality can be developed with 20% of the work
-Need to cultivate believability and avoid overpromising
-Business rules approach- abstracting and separating business logic from implementation
-Realistic emphasis on data quality
-70% of effort in data warehousing = data preparation (data integration, data quality)
-Useful overview of publicly available data sources (e.g. census records and other government info)
-Critical need for improved partnership between business and IT leaders; IT needs to learn business process modeling, business managers need to understand applications

I have been in the BI world since 1994 and I have read lots of white papers, articles, and books on Business Intelligence; today, the Savvy Manager's Guide on BI is my reference.
I would certainly recommend it to every person in charge of a BI project, but, most importantly, to any executive who is not sure what BI really is and above all what BI can bring to their company.
BI is a serious matter, and today, although executives start becoming BI-aware, there still are too many of them for whom BI is "just another expensive IT project". David Loshin did such a great work at explaining the impact of supporting the implementation of a Business Intelligence Strategy at the corporate level!

This book is a great primer for BI. If you only plan to read one book on the subject, this would be a good choice.

Bought this book to review for our company as a suggested reading to other members of management. David wrote a very good book and kept the language to a level understandable to business people without technology experience. This is an excellent overview of BI and can also be used as a good refresher for those who have been out of the BI world for some time.

I would buy this book again and I do recommend this book to people who want more understanding of BI.

I have recommend this book on LinkedIn many times, to people who ask how to get into the Business Intelligence field. It is the book that spends the least time on my bookshelf at work - people keep borrowing it! From BI-neophyte to seasoned tool experts.

If you ask me, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to bridge the gap between BI and the business, for all the layers in the BI cake. In the years I have owned it, whilst remaining a Microstrategy expert, I can talk techno-geek and business-babble on all facets and act as the 'broker' between business and technology.

Very thorough and informative book. Too monotonous at times, which makes it a bit hard to read. Overall, a good reading for anyone involved or interested in BI, Data Warehousing and Data Mining.