Extract and analyze mission-critical enterprise data using Microsoft Office 2007
This authoritative volume is a practical guide to the powerful new collaborative Business Intelligence tools available in Office 2007. Using real-world examples and clear explanations, Microsoft Office 2007 Business Intelligence: Reporting, Analysis, and Measurement from the Desktop shows you how to use Excel, Excel Services, SharePoint, and PerformancePoint with a wide range of stand-alone and external data in today's networked office. You will learn how to analyze data and generate reports, scorecards, and dashboards with the Office tools you're already using to help you in your everyday work.
Create Excel PivotTables and PivotCharts and apply Conditional FormattingConvert Excel spreadsheets into Excel Tables with Conditional Formatting and ChartingConnect external data to Excel using Office Data Connections and SharePointCreate SharePoint dashboards that display data from multiple sourcesAdd Key Performance Indicators and Excel Services reports to your dashboardsHarness advanced SQL Server 2005 data analysis tools with the Excel Data Mining Add-In and Visio Cluster DiagramsGenerate integrated PerformancePoint ScorecardsCreate Visio PivotDiagrams and Windows Mobile spreadsheets
All of the examples in the book can be downloaded for free by doing the following: go to www.mhprofessional.com. Click on the Computing tab. Click on the Downloads page. Click on the book's title to download the examples.
User review
Very Good Introduction to MS-Office 2007 BI
This book was exactly what I needed - a clear introduction to the BI features in Excel 2007 and SharePoint (no use for PerformancePoint - yet).
I needed something that had complete illustrations, as I was travelling and wouldn't have a connection to a SharePoint server. There were enough illustrations that I could follow what was being done without actually having to be on the computer.
It was also helpful to have refererence to the `Microsoft BI Matrix`, a visual model showing how the Microsoft products fit together in Reporting, Analysis, Measurement and Planning.
Having read it through once, I'm now back in the office using the book to support `live` examples of what the author had written about.
Downside? At times, a little too free with exclaimation points - example `Using filters on actual PivotTables is one of the best ways to analyze data, and it's available to anyone with Excel!`
Gosh! Really! My Goodness!
It's a minor flaw in an otherwise accessible, understandable and well written introduction to the Business Intelligence features in Excel 2007.
Recommended for anyone looking to take advantage of Excel as a BI tool.
User review
Good Book, No Code
The textual content of the book is very good, but as others have noted, the book does not contain a CD or url from which to download the examples. Nether the book's page on McGraw-Hill Professional nor the author's still under construction website contain a link to download the code.
It's good for the theory, but if you're inclined to follow examples from the book you're going to be disappointed.
--Update
Even after having McGraw-Hill request the files, the author's company only sent part of what I expected. My review stands. It's as good as any tech book that shows you the possibilities but doesn't let you follow along.
User review
Microsoft Office 2007 Business Intelligence
The book does not include the code necessary to work through the examples. It's not included as a CD with the book or as a publisher download. The author's company will sell you the CD with the code and some `extras` for an additional $24.95. This makes the book excessively overpriced for what it's worth.
User review
Business Intelligence Developer likes this book
This is a good book.
Business Intelligence is a broad and many times an incorrectly used term. My opinion is that in essence, Business Intelligence is all about getting information into the hands of business users so they can make decisions.
This book is written for the business user. Microsoft is the fastest growing player in the Business Intelligence world. Their strategy is to leverage Microsoft Office to get the information into the hands of the business users. For example, think of how many people use Excel in the business place. That is a huge number of people to tap into who will already know how to use their Business Intelligence tools.
The book uses a diagram to show the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform. Each chapter then focuses in on a section of the diagram. It gives you a `you are here` pointer in the diagram. It gives you and explanation and then an example of how to do the important and common tasks. Each chapter is also independent of the other chapter, so you focus in on what you need to know with no worries that you missed something important in a previous chapter.
I am a Senior Business Intelligence Developer. I build the Data Warehouse and Data Cubes and develop the ETL. I have enough on my plate to keep me busy, but I still need to know all aspects of the platform. If you are a developer, I recommend this book because it gives you enough information to get you up to speed with Office 2007 as it relates to BI quickly. It shows you how to get your KPI's into SharePoint, for example. I recommend the book for developers as well.
User review
Good Concise Review
This book provided a great, easy to understand review of the features of Office 2007. Touched upon pivot tables, performance point, dashboards and scorecards. Plenty of examples were provided. This will definitely help me with implementing executive dashboards at my company.
