Chapter 9. Data Analysis with Microsoft SQL Server

We have come to the final chapter, and to say that we've covered quite a bit of information would be an understatement. If you've made it this far then you'll notice that business intelligence covers a broad spectrum of interrelated topics, methodologies, and technologies.

"The ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide actions towards a desired goal."                                                                                        - IBM researcher Hans Peter Luhn

While the term "business intelligence" was first coined by Hans Peter Luhn of IBM in 1958, it was still only intended for backend folks concentrated on the IT side. BI became commercialized once data warehouses became more readily available in the 1980s and the personal computer became more accessible in the 1990s. Each decade since has seen the introduction of new BI tools by new vendors looking to bridge the gap between business...