• Prologika Training Classes Dec 2010-Jan 2011

    November 22, 2010 / No Comments »

    Our online Microsoft BI classes for December 2010 and January 2011: Class Mentor Date Price   Applied SSRS 2008 Teo Lachev 12/14-12/16 12:00-5:00 EDT $799 Register Applied SSAS 2008 Teo Lachev 1/11-1/13 12:00-5:00 EDT $799 Register Applied PowerPivot Teo Lachev 1/25-1/26 12:00-4:00 EDT $599 Register Visit our training page to register and more details.

  • VertiPaq Column Store

    November 16, 2010 / No Comments »

    In SQL 11, the VertiPaq column store that will power the new Business intelligence Semantic Model (BISM) will be delivered in three ways: 1. PowerPivot – in-process DLL with Excel 2010. 2. A second storage mode of Analysis Services that you will get by installing SSAS in VertiPaq mode. 3. A new column stored index in the SQL RDBMS. The third option picked up my interest. I wanted to know if a custom application will be able to take advantage of these indexes outside VertiPaq. For example, this could be useful for standard reports that query directly the database. It turns out that this will be possible. The following paper discusses columnstore in more details. In a nutshell, SQL 11 will run the VertiPaq engine in-process. Here are some highlights of the VertiPaq columnstore: You create an index on a table. You cannot update the table after the index is...

  • Business Intelligence Semantic Model – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

    November 13, 2010 / No Comments »

    UPDATE 11/14/2010 This blog probably will be the most updated blog I've ever written. I have to admit that my initial reaction to BISM was negative. For the most part, this was a result of my disappointment that Microsoft switched focus from UDM to BISM in Denali and my limited knowledge of the BISM vision. After SQL PASS, I exchanged plenty of e-mails and Microsoft was patient enough to address them and disclosed more details. Their answers helped me to "get it" and see the BISM big picture through more optimistic lenses.   UPDATE 05/21/2011 Having heard the feedback from the community, Microsoft announced at TechEd 2011 that Crescent will support OLAP cubes as data sources. This warrants removing the Ugly part from this blog.   After the WOW announcement at SQL PASS about PowerPivot going corporate under a new name, Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM), there were a lot of...

  • More Details about BISM (UDM 2.0)

    November 11, 2010 / No Comments »

    It looks like this year SQL PASS was the one to go. A must read blog from Chris Webb who apparently shares the same feelings and emotions about the seismic change in Analysis Services 11 as I do. A must read…

  • Crescent on the Horizon

    November 10, 2010 / No Comments »

    Now that the official word got out during the Ted Kummert's keynote today at SQL PASS, I can open my mouth about Crescent – the code name of an ad-hoc reporting layer that will be released in the next version of SQL Server – Denali. Crescent is a major enhancement to Reporting Services and Microsoft Self-Service BI strategy. Up to now, SSRS didn't have a web-based report designer. Denali will change that by adding a brand new report authoring tool that will be powered by Silverlight. So, this will be the fifth report designer after BIDS, Report Builder 1.0 (not sure if RB 1.0 will survive SQL 11), Report Builder 3.0, Visual Studio Report Designer. Besides brining report authoring to the web, what's interesting about Crescent is that it will redefine the report authoring experience and even what a report is. Traditionally, Reporting Services reports (as well as reports from...

  • ResMon Cube Sample

    November 4, 2010 / No Comments »

    Greg Galloway just published a ResMon cube sample on CodePlex that aggregates execution statistics (rolls up information about Analysis Services such as memory usage by object, perfmon counters, aggregation hits/misses, and current session stats) from Analysis Services dynamic management views (DMVs) and makes it easily available for slicing and dicing in a cube. I think this will be a very useful tool to analyze the runtime performance of an Analysis Services server or as a learning tool to understand how to work with DMVs. Kudos to Greg!

  • Atlanta BI SIG December Meeting

    October 30, 2010 / No Comments »

    If you are use Microsoft BI, live in or within driving distance to Atlanta, and don't know about the Atlanta BI SIG, you are missing a lot. At our last meeting we had some 50+ people and our attendance is growing! Due to the holidays, Atlanta BI SIG will not have a meeting at the end of November and December. Instead, our next meeting will be held on December 6th. I updated the Atlanta BI SIG home page to announce the December meeting. End of the year is a good time for reflecting on the past and planning for the future. Bob Abernathy from Strategy Companion will present BI past, present, and future trends. He will also show us how Strategy Companion integrates with Analysis Services. Topic:         BI: Then and Now?   Level: Beginner Date: Monday, December 6, 2010 Speaker:   Bob Abernethy, SVP & GM of Strategy Companion Corporation...

  • More Dundas Components Move to Microsoft

    October 13, 2010 / No Comments »

    Now, this is great news for Microsoft BI and .NET developers. As announced on the Dundas website, the agreement between Dundas and Microsoft, which allows Dundas to continue sell, enhance, update and support its components, will expire on October 31, 2010. Subsequently, all components change hands and become a Microsoft intellectual property. These components are: Dundas Chart for ASP.NET (Professional and Enterprise), Dundas Chart for Window Forms (Professional and Enterprise), Dundas Chart for SharePoint, Dundas Chart for SQL Server Reporting Services, Dundas Chart for OLAP Services Dundas Gauge for ASP.NET, Dundas Gauge for Windows Forms, Dundas Gauge for SharePoint, Dundas Gauge for SQL Server Reporting Services Dundas Map for ASP.NET, Dundas Map for Windows Forms, Dundas Map for SQL Server Reporting Services Dundas Calendar for SQL Server Reporting Services For me, the most interesting of these is the Dundas Chart for OLAP Services. If you have followed my blog, you...

  • Where is x64 Excel 2010 Data Mining Add-in?

    October 12, 2010 / No Comments »

    Mark Tabladillo delivered a great presentation about using Excel for data mining at our last Atlanta BI SIG meeting. The lack of an Excel 2010 x64 DM add-in came up. There was a question from the audience whether Microsoft has abandoned DM technology since it stopped enhancing it. A concern was also raised that Microsoft might have also neglected the corporate BI vision in favor of self-service BI. That's definitely not the case. I managed to get a clarification from the Microsoft Analysis Services team that Corporate BI will be a major focus in "Denali", which is the code name for the next version of SQL Server – version 11. As far as the long-overdue x64 DM add-in for Excel, Microsoft is working on it and it will be delivered eventually. Meanwhile, the 2007 add-in works with the x32 version of Excel 2010. For those of you going to SQL...

  • Prologika Training Classes

    October 5, 2010 / No Comments »

    Our online classes for the remainder of 2010: Courses Mentor Date Price   Applied SSRS 2008 Teo Lachev 10/26-10/29 12:00-5:00 EDT $799 Register Applied SSAS 2008 Teo Lachev 11/23-11/25 12:00-5:00 EDT $799 Register Applied PowerPivot Teo Lachev 11/29-11/30 12:00-4:00 EDT $599 Register Visit our training page to register and more details.

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