BI tips
We want to share some of our tips that help to improve perception of BI users and make their lives a little bit easier. We also want to share some great books and training that can help to increase skills and expertise, in order to grow within your organization or find a better job.
BI skills
We want to share some important skills from experienced BI developers. These cover several areas:
- BI software: There are many BI tools on the market but they have many features in common. That's why it is good to master MicroStrategy, then it is easy to understand how others work.
- Dimensional modeling: This approach is the most popular design schema.
- Data modeling: Before starting to develop schema, we should understand the corporate data model, that's why we should learn how to read models.
- Databases: Nowadays, relational databases are the most popular choice for data warehouses. As BI tools, there are plenty of databases, but all of them run SQL and have different advantages and disadvantages.
- Network knowledge: Usually BI tools use three-tier architecture; as a result it is good to know how to set up the network, open the network ports, and so on.
- Visualization: It is a well-known fact that graphical representation of data is the most effective way to represent data.
- Security: There are many users who work with BI and have different levels of access. It is very important to understand security topics and different ways of authenticating users.
- Unix operational systems: Usually big companies prefer to use Unix systems as their main operating system for software, because they are reliable. However, they have a console or a terminal, which is why it is good to have knowledge of working with such operating systems.
Tip
According to the MicroStrategy documentation, it runs faster in a Linux environment.
There is no secret to how to master BI. There is only one way - constantly learn through reading and technical exercises. www.packtpub.com offers us plenty of technical books that can help us to solve any technical issues.
The most critical skill for a BI developer is to quickly find a solution using Google. It is impossible to store all relevant information in our head, but we can easily Google it and find the right solution. Do not hesitate to ask Google if you are struggling.
BI users' development
One hot topic is the happiness of business users. Usually they are not technical guys and often struggle with report development. Another difficulty is that there are many attributes and metrics in the data warehouse, and sometimes we can't use them in one query because it could produce cross joins and even crash the database. There is only one solution - constantly train them and give them the opportunity to learn the technical and business sides of BI solutions. As a result, the BI department should develop two streams of training - business and technical. Technical training relates to BI software. For example, our book is an advanced training for MicroStrategy. At the same time, business users should learn different business cases. For example, how they can build reports in order to compare revenue for 2014 and 2015 across all branches in Canada?
The main challenge of this training is to motivate business users. But there is a lack of time to learn. As a result, they make wrong decisions on inaccurate data. In order to involve them in the training process, we want to share one of our success stories.
One of the authors implemented BI Academy. It was an internal brand; users who successfully finish the training and pass the internal exam get a branded T-shirt:
In order to make the training process fun, the author used special software that offers the opportunity to create cartoons:
These guys were very popular because they helped to solve real business problems. Another piece of advice is to contact heads of department and encourage them to make this online training mandatory for employees. There are some training courses based on this approach on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAGzL89m1L3c675hn7DE2Uw
Or you can see the MicroStrategy example here:
BI portal
The final thing that is good to have in an organization is a BI portal. When companies run BI solutions, they do it for users. Usually, BI users are not technical. The best practice is to build BI and integrate it into an intranet website. For example, in the attachment to this chapter, there is a file called sweet home.html. It is not a BI portal, but it demonstrates the idea very well. It helps business users and developers to quickly get the latest news about BI changes and innovations. Moreover, it links to BI environments and training. For example, the company can use Microsoft SharePoint because it is easy to deploy, and we can easily integrate it with MicroStrategy and Office products.
