This course is intended for BI Project managers, BI Developers, I.T. Professionals, end-user ombudsman, and BI analysts.
This course was designed from the perspective of team immersion drawing on the author’s 20 plus years in IT and over 10 years in Business Intelligence/OLAP Reporting and dashboard design. This course will expose team members to all aspects of the Microsoft BI stack from the source data through tothe reporting of the data be it in a subscribed report or through an interactive digital dashboard.The intention of this course is to allow a business to more accurately understand the scope of a BI project, the resources, the potential pitfalls, and the state of the art and perhaps most importantly understand why it may produce for an organization an unmatched competitive edge.

• Gain a good working knowledge of SQL Integration Services.
• Obtain an explanation of Multidimensional space in SQL Server Analysis Services.
• Learn to plan for on-going maintenance and changing nature of BI projects and rapid expansion across the enterprise.
• Experience the new report design interface Report Builder 3.0 and the PerformancePoint Services one-click application Dashboard designer.
• Use the tools to design reports in either ad-hoc mode, distribution once or scheduled on subscriptions.
• Explore the dashboard designer and create scorecards, filters, KPIs and dashboards.
• Understand the roll of PowerPivot in Microsoft BI.
• Explore Excel Services 2010 and successfully implement a “Single version of the Truth workbook” deployment.
• The course ends with a walk through Data Mining.
• Learn where to use which Microsoft Algorithm to solve which type of a business problem.
• Describe the entire Microsoft Business Intelligence stack and the role of each component so that a better informed.
• Estimate of resources might be made in the BI project.
• Explain the concept of the Unified Data Model, understand its limitations and practical implementations and when it might be appropriate to use in a fast and low cost BI deployment.
• Explain what SQL 2008 and the R2 release change in Microsoft BI and how best to leverage these technologies.

Module 1: The Business Intelligence Stack

• SQL 2008R2 Business Intelligence Platform
• SQL Analysis Services
• SQL Reporting Services
• Performance Management Tools
• SharePoint 2010
• Multidimensional Space
• MDX
• Data Mining
• Understanding the Terminology

Module 2: Unified Data Model

• UDM Defined
• User Experience: Relational vs. UDM
• Advantages
• Trouble in River City

Module 3: SQL Server Integration Services

• Major Components
• New or Changed Features
• Script Task
• SSIS and ETL
• Transformers
• Best Practices 1
• Best Practices 2

Module 4: SQL Server Analysis Services

• Key Concepts
• Schemas
• Measures
• Dimensions
• Cube Processing
• Partitions
• Proactive Caching
• Aggregations

Module 5: SQL Server Reporting Services

• Integration with SharePoint
• Report Builder 3.0
• Differences Between Environments
• Tablix
• Charts
• Creating Charts

Module 6: MDX (0ptional)

• What is MDX?
• MDX Query Editor
• Select Statement
• Key Concepts
• Sets
• Functions
• Time Intelligence

Module 7: PerformancePoint Services 2010

• Integration with SharePoint Server 2010
• Common Service Application Framework
• New PerformancePoint Features
• Storage Security
• Time Intelligence and Dynamic Filters
• Linking of Web Parts
• KPI Details Report
• Retired Features
• Scorecards in PPS
• KPI Collections
• Dashboard Design Guidelines
• Dashboard Designer Internals
• Dashboard Designer Interface
• First Class Objects
• Main Window
• Properties
• Dashboard Designer Features

Module 8: Excel Services, Business Connectivity Services

• Integration with SharePoint Server 2010
• Storage Security
• Single version of the truth
• Excel Web Services
• New capabilities in Excell Services
• Business Connectivity Services

Module 9: Excel PowerPivot

• Integration with SharePoint Server 2010
• Understanding Modeling

Module 10: Data Mining

• Key Terms in Data Mining
• Types of Data Mining Algorithms
• The Algorithm
• Excel and The BI Extensions
• Visio 2010

Additional Reading
To help you prepare for this class, review the following resources:
The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit by Ralph Kimball
Smart Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server2008
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Unleashed

• There is currently no recommended follow on course.