Bridge the big data gap with Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools for Excel Analysts The distinction between departmental reporting done by business analysts with Excel and the enterprise reporting done by IT departments with SQL Server and SharePoint tools is more blurry now than ever before. With the introduction of robust new features like PowerPivot and Power View, it is essential for business analysts to get up to speed with big data tools that in the past have been reserved for IT professionals. Written by a team of Business Intelligence experts, Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools for Excel Analysts introduces business analysts to the rich toolset and reporting capabilities that can be leveraged to more effectively source and incorporate large datasets in their analytics while saving them time and simplifying the reporting process. Walks you step-by-step through important BI tools like PowerPivot, SQL Server, and SharePoint and shows you how to move data back and forth between these tools and Excel Shows you how to leverage relational databases, slice data into various views to gain different visibility perspectives, create eye-catching visualizations and dashboards, automate SQL Server data retrieval and integration, and publish dashboards and reports to the web Details how you can use SQL Server’s built-in functions to analyze large amounts of data, Excel pivot tables to access and report OLAP data, and PowerPivot to create powerful reporting mechanisms You’ll get on top of the Microsoft BI stack and all it can do to enhance Excel data analysis with this one-of-a-kind guide written for Excel analysts just like you.

PowerPivot comprises a set of technologies for easy access to data mining and business intelligence analysis from Microsoft Excel and SharePoint. Power users and developers alike can create sophisticated, online analytic processing (OLAP) solutions using PowerPivot for Excel, and then share those solutions with other users via PowerPivot for SharePoint. Data can be pulled in from any of the leading database platforms, as well as from spreadsheets and flat files. PowerPivot for Business Intelligence Using Excel and SharePoint is your key to mastering PowerPivot. The book takes a scenario-based approach to showing you how to collect data, to mine that data through insightful analysis, and to draw conclusions that drive business performance. Each chapter in the book is focused on a specific challenge that you’ll encounter when using PowerPivot. Each chapter takes you through a solution technique that’s been proven in the real world. Covers the leading technology for bringing data analytics to the desktop Presents real-world solutions to real-world scenarios Written by a Microsoft Virtual Technical Specialist (VTS) for business intelligence

Transform your skills, data, and business and create your own BI solutions using software you already know and love: Microsoft Excel. Two business intelligence (BI) experts take you inside PowerPivot functionality for Excel® 2013, with a focus on real world scenarios, problem-solving, and data modeling. You'll learn how to quickly turn mass quantities of data into meaningful information and on-the-job results?no programming required!

Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010: Give Your Data Meaning introduces PowerPivot in Excel 2010 to power users and data analysts who want to give their data meaning by creating their own Business Intelligence models. And with Microsoft Excel 2010: Data Analysis and Business Modeling, you'll learn the best ways to use Office Excel 2010 for data analysis and business modeling. Award-winning professor and statistician Wayne Winston shares practical examples to help you transform data into bottom-line results. Web site includes practice files. The two books included in this kit are: 9780735640580 Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010 9780735643369 Microsoft Office Excel 2007: Data Analysis and Business Modeling, 3E

Discusses the use of Microsoft's free PowerPivot add-in to analyse data in Excel 2010. Describes how to import and integrate data; analyse multiple tables together; format, sort and filter data; add calculated columns using Data Analysis Expression (DAX) functions; and create and format PowerPivot reports.

Create dynamic business intelligence (BI) solutions for SharePoint faster and with more capabilities than previously possible. With this book, you’ll learn the entire process—from high-level concepts to development and deployment—for building data-rich BI applications with Visual Studio LightSwitch, SQL Server 2012, and a host of related Microsoft technologies. You’ll learn practical techniques and patterns necessary to use all of these technologies together as you build an example application through the course of the book, step by step. Discover how to solve real problems, using BI solutions that will evolve to meet future needs. Learn the fundamentals of SharePoint, LightSwitch, and SQL Server 2012 Get a solid grounding in BI application basics and database design principles Use LightSwitch to build a help desk app, including data model design and SharePoint data integration Build a tabular cube with Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM) Dive into the data visualization stack, including Excel and SQL Server Reporting Services Create reports with Excel Services, Report Builder, and PowerView Use tips and tricks for setting up your BI application development environment

Renowned DAX experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo teach you how to design data models for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. How can you use Excel and Power BI to gain real insights into your information? As you examine your data, how do you write a formula that provides the numbers you need? The answers to both of these questions lie with the data model. This book introduces the basic techniques for shaping data models in Excel and Power BI. It’s meant for readers who are new to data modeling as well as for experienced data modelers looking for tips from the experts. If you want to use Power BI or Excel to analyze data, the many real-world examples in this book will help you look at your reports in a different way–like experienced data modelers do. As you’ll soon see, with the right data model, the correct answer is always a simple one! By reading this book, you will: • Gain an understanding of the basics of data modeling, including tables, relationships, and keys • Familiarize yourself with star schemas, snowflakes, and common modeling techniques • Learn the importance of granularity • Discover how to use multiple fact tables, like sales and purchases, in a complex data model • Manage calendar-related calculations by using date tables • Track historical attributes, like previous addresses of customers or manager assignments • Use snapshots to compute quantity on hand • Work with multiple currencies in the most efficient way • Analyze events that have durations, including overlapping durations • Learn what data model you need to answer your specific business questions About This Book • For Excel and Power BI users who want to exploit the full power of their favorite tools • For BI professionals seeking new ideas for modeling data