Michael Alexander & Jared Decker 
Microsoft Business Intelligence Tools for Excel Analysts 

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 Share Point tools is more blurry now
than ever before. With the introduction of robust new features like
Power Pivot 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
Power Pivot, SQL Server, and Share Point 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 Power Pivot 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.

Table of Content

Introduction 1

Part I: Leveraging Excel for Business Intelligence

Chapter 1: Important Database Concepts 7

Chapter 2: Pivot Table Fundamentals 19

Chapter 3: Introduction to Power Pivot 47

Chapter 4: Loading External Data into Power Pivot 69

Chapter 5: Creating Dashboards with Power View 93

Chapter 6: Adding Location Intelligence with Power Map 107

Chapter 7: Using the Power Query Add-In 129

Part II: Leveraging SQL for Business Intelligence

Chapter 8: Essential SQL Server Concepts 157

Chapter 9: Introduction to SQL 181

Chapter 10: Creating and Managing SQL Scripts 195

Chapter 11: Calling Views and Stored Procedures from Excel 215

Chapter 12: Understanding Reporting Services 231

Chapter 13: Browsing Analysis Services OLAP Cubes with Excel 249

Chapter 14: Using the Data Mining Add-In for Microsoft Office 269

Part III: Delivering Business Intelligence with Share Point and Excel Services

Chapter 15: Publishing Your BI Tools to Share Point 293

Chapter 16: Leveraging Performance Point Services 307

Part IV: Appendixes

Appendix A: Understanding the Big Data Toolset 331

Appendix B: Considerations for Delivering Mobile BI 341

Index 347

About the author

Michael Alexander is a Microsoft Certified Application
Developer (MCAD) and author of several books on advanced business
analysis with Microsoft Access and Excel.

Jared Decker is the co-founder of Stat Slice Systems and a
certified BI developer with more than 14 years’ experience
training and developing enterprise reporting solutions.

Bernard Wehbe a is a veteran BI consultant and co-founder
of Stat Slice Systems where he helps organizations implement
business analytics and data visualization solutions.

John Walkenbach is arguably the foremost authority on
Excel. He has written more than 30 books and maintains the popular
Spreadsheet Page at www.j-walk.com/ss.