BI Reactions

A Business Intelligence consulting geek. Inspired by dbareactions.

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Return on Data - InnoTech Download

Return on Data - Download today's session #InnoTechOK

Thank you to all who attended today’s ‘Return on Data’ session at the 10th Annual InnoTech in Oklahoma City.

This session helps chart the waters through the sea of options when working with data. IT departments need tools to turn data into useful information for users. Instead of ROI, this session talks about ‘Return on Data’ for IT Managers.

To measure the return on investment (ROI) of a…

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Allen Speaking at InnoTech - FREE Tickets!

Allen Speaking at InnoTech – FREE Tickets!

          Featuring This Session from Cognitive Information:

Return on Data   Learn the basics of Business Intelligence, Big Data and getting return on the data in your company, with Allen Smith, MBA, MCTS, Business Intelligence Specialist, Cognitive Information, Inc.  

CLICK HERE to register, and use discount code: SPKR 

and receive complimentary admission to InnoTech Oklahoma*.

OPENING…

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Startup Super Powers You Need

Startup Super Powers You Need

In November Cognitive Information will celebrate 9 years in business. This is quite an accomplishment considering that x% of new companies fail in the first year. In my recent presentation about ‘So You Want to Be a SQL Consultant’ we discussed the challenges of starting a company. In this article, I give an update on challenges and successes through the years.

Power of No–   Say yes to the…

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Psychographics for Small Business

Psychographics for Small Business

Every business has data. How are you going to use it? Today we talk about analyzing customer data based on location and psychographics. Location or geospatial data is becoming easier to analyze using free tools such as Google Fusion Tables. Psychographics sounds complicated, but it just means going beyond demographics like age and gender to more lifestyle and behavior based analysis.…

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SSAS Lost security context

SSAS Lost security context

I recently logged into an SSAS server and was unable to add a user to the server security. Worse yet, the Security Properties tab was not showing domain user names, just SID’s. This means the service has lost connectivity to resolve SID’s with the domain.

The solution today was to run SSMS as Administrator, domain admin that is. Once connected the domain administrator account is able to remove…

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SSAS Tabular Error "The object reference not set to an instance of an object"

SSAS Tabular Error “The object reference not set to an instance of an object”

This just goes under the blog tag “Useless Error Messages”.

My instance of this error happened when I added a new calculated column. Finally I realized I had named the new column the same as another column in a different table. Changed one of the names and no error.

Lesson learned: SSAS Tabular is picky about not having two columns named the same.

So boys and girls, only you can prevent stupid…

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SpotFire for Analytics

SpotFire for Data Analytics

I recently completed a rollout for a major energy company using SpotFire for data analytics from multiple data sources.  This is just a quick review of initial impressions.   My career in the corporate tower was short, but out of it came some great experience with a new tool in my data toolbox.  You can download a free trial here:  http://spotfire.tibco.com/

  Pro’s:

D…

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Got Agile?

Got Agile? @SolutionsIQ

I recently had the privilege of working with a great team which had an Agile Coach and a Certified Scrum Master from SolutionsIQ. Doing Business Intelligence (BI) projects with Agile takes a complete change of attitude and habits for those of us like me who spent the last decade doing waterfall based data warehousing and BI.

Here are a few things I learned from a recent project:

1. You can always…

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Downloads for SQL Saturday #396 - Dallas BI Edition

Downloads for SQL Saturday Dallas BI Edition #SqlSat396

Here are the downloads for today’s sessions at SQL Saturday #396, Dallas BI Editoni.

BI Basics: Finding Return on Data

[download id=”882″]

  Kimball’s not Dead:  Dimensional Modeling Basics

[download id=”884″]

  Thank you to all the sponsors.  Thank you for inviting me.

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Want to Be a SQL BI Consultant?

Presentation Download: So You Want to Be a SQL BI Consultant? @OkcSql

  At the February meeting of the OKC SQL User Group, I presented a session on what it takes to become a consultant. After having done consulting for 8 years, I’ve learned a few things the hard way and still made a good go of it. Here is that presentation for download.

[download id=”870″]

  This download does not constitute any legal or accounting advice.  By downloading you assume all risk for…

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Data Problems? Get Help

Data Problems? Get Help

“Every company has data, we help you use it.”

After a short hiatus from consulting, I am once again available for short or long term consulting projects.  We also offer onsite training and desk-side mentoring for database issues.  After working with people at all levels of companies, there are a many areas we can help you access and use your data.

Call today [phone].

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Appreciation Dinner at Vast

Client and Board Appreciation Dinner at Vast

We had a wonderful evening with clients and advisory board members at Vast this evening. Thank you to all who made this a great year. Thank you to Denise for putting together the dinner.

High resolution copies of tonight can be picked up on the Facebook photo gallery.

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Post by Cognitive Information.

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Book: Hadoop, The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly)

I'm reading: Hadoop, The Definitive Guide from @OReillyMedia

So I was working 3 IT projects, fixing stuff at home, starting a new job, trying to stay fit and thought I needed something to do in my spare time so I’ll learn Hadoop. This book came to our OKC SQL User Group as part of O’Reilly’s user group outreach, but it deserves a review so I read it. I read the 3rd edition, but the 4th is out now for early preview.

The appendix does a good job explaining…

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Favorite SSIS Audit Framework

My Favorite SSIS Audit Framework @PragmaticWorks

Just a quick video for a friend to show the ease of use with the Pragmatic Works audit framework, part of their BI xPress.

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My Board Experience at The Alternative Board (TAB)

My Board Experience @TAB_Boards

About two years ago I was invited to visit a Business Owner Advisory board, hosted by Art Miller at The Alternative Board (TAB). These meetings are where owners who don’t have a full board agree to meet monthly for half a day with each member bringing one business problem or goal to discuss with the group.  Everything shared in the group good or bad remains confidential, like Vegas in a good way.…

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End of Consulting Services

End of Consulting Services

I want to start by saying thank you to all my customers through the years. You’ve trusted me to come into your company to solve problems with your data systems.  You’ve invited me to your homes, your dinners, birthday lunches and picnics. But like the Motley Crue concert tour ‘All good things must end’ and for me, consulting will end December 1, 2014.

I started this company in November 2006 with…

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When the BI Consultant shows up and your database server and network is down all morning.