Microsoft Self-Service Business Intelligence (BI) Explained (and taught!)

by Jeff Cate

Last fall, my employees came to me and complained that they could not get the answers to their business questions from our data.  We have TONS of data.  We are a small company, but are highly automated and have data in ERP, CRM, Marketing Automation, Google Analytics, various Cloud services, Excel spreadsheets, etc.

Of course, all of our business systems have some degree of built-in tools for reporting and data analysis.  But, even so, there are still problems such as:

• Only certain people have access to the reporting interface of certain business systems.  Even though we are OK with everyone having access to most of the data contained in each of the systems, we couldn't always give everyone access to the reporting tool for each system.
• The user interfaces and functionality of the different reporting tools are vastly different.  Let's say you want to run a report on CRM data using Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  The tool that you use is vastly different than running a report on web traffic data using Google Analytics.
• It is virtually impossible to combine and correlate data from multiple data sources.  Take the Dynamics CRM\Google Analytics example.  Neither product gives a means for importing data from the other to do analysis on the combined data to try to identify some correlations.
• We don't have dedicated IT "BI Pros" on staff, so custom-developed SSRS reports or data warehouses or SSAS cubes are out of the question.

This internal business problem led me to spend a great deal of time in October and November researching and learning about what has become known as the "Microsoft Self-Service BI platform":

• SharePoint 2010 Enterprise (or 2013)
• PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint
• SQL Reporting Services Power View
• SQL Reporting Services Report Builder 3.0

It took a good bit of initial technical work to get our SharePoint Intranet farm configured to support the Self-Service BI approach.  I did that work myself and may write another blog post in the future on that experience.

Once I had the platform up and running, I put together an internal training class to teach my employees how to use the platform.   I brought seven of them into our training center and spent four days training them on the tools, how we would govern self-service BI (very important topic - might do a future blog post on it too), and then worked on creating some initial reports and data analysis to get some practice.

(Small self-promotion: I have also created a public training class on the subject and will be teaching it every month this year Live Online and at our physical training facilities in Nashville, Dallas, Chicago and Washington, DC.  Go here to get more details.  Hope I get to see you in class!)

I am happy to report that this project has been successful!  We are up and running on the Microsoft Self-Service BI platform, and our business professionals are quickly overcoming the problems that they had with analyzing their data before the Self-Service BI adoption.

I have started to record a series of YouTube videos on Microsoft Self-Service BI.  The first one answers the question: "What is the Microsoft Self-Service BI Toolset?"  You can watch it below, or go here. It's 11 minutes.

Live Online SharePoint Training – A New Class Attendance Option

by Randy Moody

Need SharePoint training, but can’t travel?  No problem!

Each week we hear from students across the country who would like to attend one of our SharePoint training classes, and have money in the training budget, but are not able to travel.

Maybe that’s your situation too. If it is, then I have some great news!

SharePoint Solutions is now offering a Live Online Remote Attendance option for our classroom-based classes.

Through our new Live Online Remote Attendance option, you’ll join a live class in Nashville, Chicago, Dallas, or Washington, DC, except you’ll be sitting at your own desk connecting across the Internet.

You’ll see the instructor live, hear the lectures and watch the demos, and then connect to your own personal virtual SharePoint environment, just like the classroom attendees, to do your hands-on lab exercises using the very same course manual that they’re using.

The classroom experience is essentially the same, but without the hassle and expense of travel.

We’ll provide a printed course manual, a USB headset, and instructions on connecting to the class and the lab environment.

You’ll be responsible to have your computer ready for training according to our instructions, and to have a place to work where you won’t be interrupted or distracted.

Eventually, the online option will be available for all of our SharePoint training classes. But, to begin with, we’ll be offering this option on selected classes beginning in March.

You can see which classes are being offered online by going to thispage. Classes with a location of “Live Online” rather than the name of a city are available for remote online attendance. You simply register online like you would for any of our classes.

Interested?  Clickhere to learn more.

New SharePoint 2010 Training Course: Designing SharePoint Document Management and Records Management Systems in SharePoint 2010

by Randy Moody

For many companies, SharePoint Document Management really amounts to little more than eliminating file shares and storing documents in SharePoint document libraries.  But that is only the beginning of what SharePoint 2010 is capable of when it comes to managing your organization’s documents and records.
SharePoint 2010 allows you to actually design and create Document Management systems.
When you create systems for managing documents in SharePoint—instead of just storing documents in SharePoint—you leverage the power to:

·         Simplify document creation, organization, and discovery for end users

·         Control and improve document distribution

·         Improve regulatory compliance

·         Decrease costs and increase efficiency

·         Take SharePoint to the next level in your organization!

In our new 4-day Intermediate-Level SharePoint training course, DesigningSharePoint Document Management and Records Management Systems in SharePoint2010, students learn to leverage Enterprise Content Management (ECM) features in SharePoint Server 2010 to begin developing systems for managing documents in their organization. They learn to:

·         Understand the concepts, features, and technologies that are available for creating document management systems in SharePoint 2010

·         Create Content Models to understand the roles of documents in the organization and serve as a roadmap for building systems in SharePoint 2010

·         Build simple document management systems that use single location sites, libraries, metadata, and document sets

·         Build centralized document management systems that utilize automatic routing, workflows and customized search pages

·         And finally, integrate Records Management for full regulatory compliance with their governing authorities’ requirements.

Student learning will be facilitated through a combination of instructor presentations and hands-on lab exercises. A sample company will be used in the labs to teach students how to integrate these concepts and SharePoint 2010 features to design and build systems for managing document processes.

Classesare now enrolling for our new course for our Nashville, TN location in March, and our Chicago, IL location in April, 2013.

Learnmore about the course.

Not Like Everybody Else

by Randy Moody

I’m not like everybody else.

Take restaurants for example. When I go into a restaurant, I want to sit at a table, not in a booth.   Recent studies show that everybody except me wants a booth. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that you can’t push booths together to make one REALLY BIG booth (“Eisenstein, party of 16.”), tables might disappear from restaurants altogether!

And then the glass of water. When did a wedge of lemon hanging on the lip of the glass become mandatory? I like water-flavored water, not lemon-flavored water. I ask for “ice water, no lemon, please,” and if they bring it to me with lemon, I want a fresh glass, not just the same one with the lemon removed.

And I don’t use a straw. And I usually don’t like the sandwich just the way it is. “Sure, I can make that without honey mustard and with extra mushrooms, sir.  We can have that ready for you Tuesday. And that’ll be two dollars extra.”

I’m not like everybody else.

But here’s the thing:
You’re not like everybody else either!

I have a songwriter friend (remember, I live in Nashville) who puts it this way:
“Everybody’s different from the way we all are.
It’s not that we’re all weird, it’s just there’s no such thing as par.”

We’re all unique, with different personalities, different preferences, and different quirks.
At SharePoint Solutions, we get that. And that changes our approach to classroom instruction in three significant ways:

1. Not everybody learns the same way. So our classes are crafted to accommodate the diverse learning styles of our students. We want to make sure you get it.
2. Not everybody learns at the same pace. So we make sure each student is able to keep up.
3. Not everybody is interested in learning the same things. Students come with a variety of expectations, so we try to meet as many as are reasonable without getting sidetracked.

Our personal interest in your particular learning needs and learning style are a significant part of what makes our SharePoint training so effective.

Because you’re NOT like everybody else.