Customer Reviews

Microsoft® SQL Server 2008 R2 Analytics & Data Visualization

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

 

 

Good book was anxious to use the examples however like others found it was a dead link, It would be nice if the publisher's website would have the downloads and sample code but nothing there as well. I am hoping one of the authors reads this and gets the code up somewhere as it is essential to follow some of the examples.

UPDATE: Per the publisher and authors on the site - they have seen the reviews about the dead links and " We have committed to getting the samples up and downloadable by next week." This was dated 1/26/11 on OfficeBICentral.com

This book opened with a quick introduction to selecting appropriate ways to effectively communicate data relationships. Then an excellent deep dive into creating advanced, interactive data visualizations and thematic maps with SQL Server Reporting Services was covered. Several other chapters contained higher level overviews and tutorials of additional Microsoft business intelligence technologies including Azure, PowerPivot, SharePoint and the Excel Data Mining Add-In.

If you are an experienced Reporting Services developer looking for guidance on advanced visualizations, this would be a great resource for you. I picked up some tips on using the new mapping layers and shared axis charting! Although the book did touch upon dashboard design, I definitely wished that topic would have been expanded. If you have never worked with Azure, PowerPivot, SharePoint and the Excel Data Mining Add-In, the quick walk-throughs are nice for gaining a fast, basic understanding of those tools capabilities.

This book starts out well with an introduction to Visualization. It looks like its going to be a great "stey by step" resource but the examples fall flat (too many leaps and gaps) and examples use samples from sources not well linked... (couldn't you have just stuck with Adventure Works?). Really, I think the this is just a step better than the SQL Server out of the box tutorials.

I found this to be a unique book that provided invaluable knowledge of charts, graphs, etc. However, the code samples were not to be found and a web site mentioned in the book ([...]) has nothing to do with the book.

This book presents a unique view of how to combine Microsoft Reporting Services and SharePoint. Good examples.
Very helpful

Claudia Imhoff said the Business Intelligence world is divided between "innies" and "outies": innies are more interested in back-end databases, and outies more interested in reporting. I'm an innie by nature, but when serving as a data architect or project manager I have to understand the reporting and analysis side in order to design and deliver a comprehensive solution.
I find this book a very useful catalog of the reporting possibilities provided by SQL Server 2008 R2, Excel 2010, and related Microsoft technologies. It uniquely presents a broad selection of the many presentation and analysis options available in the most recent Microsoft analytical toolset. The fancy gauges, charts, and maps are all there, but beyond those interesting new report components, chapters five through eight address powerful new capabilities that expand the knowledge worker's toolkit: cloud-based reporting with MS Azure, data mining, Microsoft PowerPivot, and working with SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) through SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports.
My use of the book as a catalog reference probably doesn't match that of most purchasers. I also found the unfortunate broken links, but the examples and instructions that I worked through were we'll laid out and correct.
To me it is a valuable one stop shop for Microsoft reporting and analysis options.

This book really sets the stage for Microsoft's new generation of Business Intelligence and Mapping tools. Amazing examples - these authors really get it!