Swain Scheps 
Business Intelligence For Dummies 

You’re intelligent, right? So you’ve already figured out that
Business Intelligence can be pretty valuable in making the right
decisions about your business. But you’ve heard at least a
dozen definitions of what it is, and heard of at least that many BI
tools. Where do you start?

Business Intelligence For Dummies makes BI
understandable! It takes you step by step through the technologies
and the alphabet soup, so you can choose the right technology and
implement a successful BI environment. You’ll see how the
applications and technologies work together to access, analyze, and
present data that you can use to make better decisions about your
products, customers, competitors, and more.

You’ll find out how to:

* Understand the principles and practical elements of BI

* Determine what your business needs

* Compare different approaches to BI

* Build a solid BI architecture and roadmap

* Design, develop, and deploy your BI plan

* Relate BI to data warehousing, ERP, CRM, and e-commerce

* Analyze emerging trends and developing BI tools to see what
else may be useful

Whether you’re the business owner or the person charged
with developing and implementing a BI strategy, checking out
Business Intelligence For Dummies is a good business
decision.

Cuprins

Introduction.

Part I: Introduction and Basics.

Chapter 1: Understanding Business Intelligence.

Chapter 2: Fitting BI with Other Technology Disciplines.

Chapter 3: Meeting the BI Challenge.

Part II: Business Intelligence User Models.

Chapter 4: Basic Reporting and Querying.

Chapter 5: OLAP: Online Analytical Processing.

Chapter 6: Dashboards and Briefing Books.

Chapter 7: Advanced / Emerging BI Technologies.

Part III: The BI Lifecycle.

Chapter 8: The BI Big Picture.

Chapter 9: Human Factors in BI Implementations.

Chapter 10: Taking a Closer Look at BI Strategy.

Chapter 11: Building a Solid BI Architecture and Roadmap.

Part IV: Implementing BI.

Chapter 12: Building the BI Project Plan.

Chapter 13: Collecting User Requirements.

Chapter 14: BI Design and Development.

Chapter 15: The Day After: Maintenance and Enhancement.

Part V: BI and Technology.

Chapter 16: BI Target Databases: Data Warehouses, Marts, and
Stores.

Chapter 17: BI Products and Vendors.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 18: Ten Keys to BI Success.

Chapter 19: Ten BI Risks (and How to Overcome Them).

Chapter 20: Ten Keys to Gathering Good BI Requirements.

Chapter 21: Ten Secrets to a Successful BI Deployment.

Chapter 22: Ten Secrets to a Healthy BI Environment.

Chapter 23: Ten Signs That Your BI Environment Is at Risk.

Index.

Despre autor

Swain Scheps is Manager of Business Analysis at Brierley +
Partners, Inc. and a technology veteran making his first foray into
the world of book authoring. He wrote the masterpiece resting in
your hands with a great deal of input and inspiration from BI guru
and fellow For Dummies author Alan R. Simon.

In the late 1990’s Swain, along with most people reading this
book, had his dot-com boom-to-bust experience with a company
called. . .well, that’s not really important now is it.
(Anyone interested in buying some slightly underwater stock options
should contact the publisher immediately.) After that there were
consulting stints at Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and Best Crossmark
developing sales support applications and reporting tools. As of
this writing, Swain basks under the fluorescent lights of Brierley,
a technology company whose specialty is building customer
relationship and loyalty management systems for retailers. The
author has had the opportunity to learn from the very best as
Brierley also provides unparalleled business intelligence and
analytics services for its clients.

Swain lives in Dallas, Texas with wife Nancy and a mere four dogs.
He writes about more than just technology; his work has appeared in
Fodor’s travel guide books, military history magazines, and
even another For Dummies book.