Can any one recommend any good primer books / resources on business intelligence and reporting using the Microsoft stack?
As a business we currently use crude static Crystal Reports for our reporting needs but looking to overhaul it with a proper scalable BI stack that allows internal and customer facing reporting, analytics and KPIs. If anyone has started a project like this, I welcome your views, experiences and gotchas as well. Thanks.
Have a look at the books in Joel's "Fog Creek Software Management Training Program".
There's several there that should help.
You might also consider having a look at GNU Enterprise, a suite of open source enterprise resource planning tools.
HTH
cheers,
Rob
I don't have any answers about references or the Microsoft BI stack, but I will say that your success depends entirely on your data and the dimensional model you come up with.
If the data comes from many sources and can't be cleansed, you'll have a problem.
If there are conflicting views in the business of what "key performance indicators" really means, you'll have a problem.
If customers can't even agree on what a particular dimensional term means, you'll have a problem.
If the business really isn't interested in self-service and ad hoc reporting, because that would mean putting in some work, you'll have a problem.
All the tools in the world won't fix those.
In follow up to my question, I've found these two books on Amazon - has anyone read either one and do they provide a good introduction?
Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App
There are several good BI Virtual Labs that you should check out. Kimball writes the definitive books on MS BI.
You can use the services of Expert MS BI Training An exclusive tutor can always be better than a book or blog.