Pro SQL Server 2008 Analytics: Delivering Sales and Marketing Dashboards (Expert's Voice in SQL Server) Review

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(More customer reviews)I referred to this book while doing a prototype in building a Sales dashboard for a company. It gave me a jump start in using Microsoft technologies to come up with a dashboard in a short time. To be honest this is the first book I am referring to on this task. Especially I liked the case studies chapter at the end of the book to be very helpful. The chapters provide covers well on details around SQL Server analytics but I was looking for examples in each chapter to get me though. But this book solved it's purpose for me.
I will recommend this book to other like me who want to start working on dashboards and analytics using SQL Server tools.


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SQL Server 2008 is the latest version of Microsoft's popular SQL Server database product. It has been very well received since its release in July 2008, most notably for its greatly increased reporting and analytical capabilities over previous versions. There is a strong reader demand for information related to these aspects of SQL Server.This book aims to provide developers and their managers with a complete reference to building reporting dashboards that are able to assimilate information from various sources and integrate with other Microsoft technologies such as SharePoint and PerformancePoint to present that information in flexible ways. It is a generalist guide, and teaches techniques that can be applied to a wide range of reader situations.

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How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business Review

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(More customer reviews)Hubbard explains how to "find the value of intangibles in business." An excellent book and one which should be on every manager's book shelf.
Hubbard has made what can be a deadly dull subject interesting and accessible. I found several examples for measuring exactly what I needed and always felt I could not measure. This book is a must read for leaders including the Master Six Sigma Blackbelt on your staff. Finding the value of intangibles in business has always been a challenge. How to Measure Anything is full of practical ideas for getting to a measurement.
Measurement: reducing the uncertainty. As long as we are not willing to accept a best guess, or educated estimate, or range of possibilities for a difficult to measure item we will not move forward. Our decisions will be flawed. Hubbard put forth these four assumptions which I found to be most useful when thinking about measuring:
1.Your problem is not as unique as you think
2.You have more data than you think
3.You need less data than you think
4.There is a useful measurement that is much simpler than you think.

Numbers can be used to confuse people; especially the gullible ones lacking basic skills with numbers. Therefore we, as leaders, must be committed to making sure the whole organization is data driven and understands the way we can reduce uncertainty through the straight forward techniques Hubbard explains. As he states, "The fact is that the preference for ignorance over even marginal reductions in ignorance is never the moral high ground."
Hubbard gives us a very useful check list for a Universal Approach to Measurement:
1.What are you trying to measure? What is the real meaning of the alleged "intangible?"
2.Why do you care -- what's the decision and where is the "threshold?"
3.How much do you know now -- what ranges or probabilities represent your uncertainty about this?
4.What is the value of the information? What are the consequences of being wrong and the chance of being wrong, and what, if any, measurement effort would be justified?
5.Within a cost justified by the information value, which observations would confirm or eliminate different possibilities? For each possible scenario, what is the simplest thing we should see if that scenario were true?
6.How do you conduct the measurement that accounts for various types of avoidable errors (again, where the cost is less than the value of the information)?
I especially enjoy the approach Hubbard takes to quantify the cost of making measurement based on the value of the information obtained. Too often, I have seen projects founder on either inaction to get data which would be of great value and little cost or, perhaps, the exact opposite -- spending great amounts of time and money to obtain relatively useless information.
To emphasize: After reading Hubbard's excellent book on `How to Measure Anything,' I was able to immediately solve several measurement challenges for my CEO and Business Owner colleagues. This book makes accessible measurement techniques that have eluded many of my colleagues. It should be on every manager's desk. - Dave Kinnear, CEO dbkAssociates, Inc. and Vistage Chair.

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Praise for How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business"I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question in business, in science, or in life . . . Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something better than we know it now. How to Measure Anything provides just the tools most of us need to measure anything better, to gain that insight, to make progress, and to succeed."-Peter Tippett, PhD, M.D.Chief Technology Officer at CyberTrustand inventor of the first antivirus software"Doug Hubbard has provided an easy-to-read, demystifying explanation of how managers can inform themselves to make less risky, more profitable business decisions. We encourage our clients to try his powerful, practical techniques."-Peter SchayEVP and COO ofThe Advisory Council"As a reader you soon realize that actually everything can be measured while learning how to measure only what matters. This book cuts through conventional clich?s and business rhetoric and offers practical steps to using measurements as a tool for better decision making. Hubbard bridges the gaps to make college statistics relevant and valuable for business decisions."-Ray GilbertEVP Lucent"This book is remarkable in its range of measurement applications and its clarity of style. A must-read for every professional who has ever exclaimed, 'Sure, that concept is important, but can we measure it?'"-Dr. Jack StennerCofounder and CEO of MetraMetrics, Inc.

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Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events Review

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(More customer reviews)The stories featured in A. P. Martin's Harnessing the Power of Intelligence are fun to read and talk about, at work and at home. I have used some of them to alert my customer-service team about hidden risks and untapped opportunities. We have been applying the ideas of the first six chapters (Part I) for about three months. Our interactions with customers are yielding better results. We are now moving aggressively to prevent tampering with our information assets as noted in the section titled "How Good Organizations Lose Intelligence".
Four of my high-school educated supervisors, who read the book, found Part I a down-to-earth eye-opener, and right on target, for making wiser choices and avoiding costly errors. They, however, thought Part II would be more applicable to middle and senior management. A drawback: the cases in the chapter on Psychographics lack the detail necessary to be useful.
I have also read C. S. Fleisher's Strategic and Competitive Intelligence. Both books represent, in my opinion, two different, credible and complementary approaches to intelligence-based decision-making. Except for some references, there is virtually no duplication of content. A big bonus!

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This book covers the organization, leadership, tools,practices and culture of intelligence. It reveals a powerful frameworkcomprising new instruments, platforms and breakthrough concepts toaddress intelligence issues facing professionals and decision-makers,at the national and corporate levels, post September 11. Armed with awide variety of real-life examples and road maps from business,government and the military, the author demonstrates how the frameworkcan be applied to win customers and allies, seize opportunities,anticipate threats, shield assets from adversaries, and gain insightsinto the mindset of stakeholders, by legal and ethical means. Thecontent is based on Harvard University Global System™ managementroad maps pioneered by the author Alain Paul Martin.The failure to act on valuable intelligence is legion. About half ofthe book addresses this issue with new instruments for intelligenceanalysis and interpretation. A full chapter focuses on anticipatingand managing surprise events, and another covers the application ofthe issue-incubation cycle, as an early warning system. Neglectingthis cycle can result in undue risk exposure and flawed decisions. Inaddition, acting on valuable intelligence requires the commitment of ateam, with members playing complementary roles. Otherwise, too manyimportant ideas, intelligent trails and even great goals and missionsare abandoned. The book examines the power, status and role of thecatalysts of intelligence-led change. It also introduces newintelligence tools used to analyze the perceptions and behavior ofconsumers and other stakeholders.The book is suitable for general audiences. Learning aboutintelligence can help each of us make wiser choices, work better andbe a more informed and accountable citizen. Technical terms areexplained thoroughly. Real-life examples about people and importantissues will be fun to read, talk about, both at work and to stimulatediscussions and give your staff or students a primer onintelligence.All in all, this is an excellent, timely and easy to read book withentertaining, vivid examples and breakthrough instruments, most ofwhich are not available elsewhere. As illustrated by the followingtestimonies, this book is highly recommended for managers,professionals, educators and students in business, government and themilitary.

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The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities in Chaos Review

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(More customer reviews)The next wave of Technologies is a very rich, and up to date, source of information. Chances are the reader has already heard, read and possibly work with some of these technologies. And of course we can always search for information on the internet. But this book bundles it all together in a consistent and comprehensive way. It also provides information that one can use as a starting point to investigate further. This book will also serve as an excellent reference book.
Next to describing and explaining the technologies, the reader gets an insight on:
- when and how these technologies and concepts, evolved to there current status
- benefits, costs, risks, limitations, and challenges
- who are (current) players (form vendor- as well as user and customer side)
- role and strategies of vendors/suppliers, and customer/user expectations
- impact on organizations
- best practices, key factors, models and frameworks
- development, management and deployment
- references to specific research done, literature, articles, whitepapers etc. (can serve as point for further study)
Phil Simon has done a great job in bringing together 15 other authors and there knowledge and expertise to form this excellent bundle of information. Each author writes a chapter on his/her specific area of expertise. One of the things I like of books written by different authors, is that each chapter has a bit different writing style, which to me makes it more interesting to read. Every chapter is written with a bit different style, while still maintaining an overall general structure. Nicely done!
Each chapter ends with a summary and a `next steps' section. The `next steps' section is intended to help the reader think about steps he/she can take when considering using, or is already using, the specific technology in their organization.
The book is structured in 4 parts:
Part1 - Introduction, Background and Definitions
Part2 - Architecture, Software Development, and Frameworks
Part3 - Data, Information, and Knowledge
Part4 - Management and Deployment
Part5 - Conclusion
the chapters are:
Part-1
Ch1 - The changing Landscape of Business and Technologies
Ch2 - How the Game has changed
Ch3 - The role of IT in an Enterprise 2.0 World
Part-2
Ch4 - Cloud Computing
Ch5 - Opens Source: The War that both Sides Won
Ch6 - Software as a Service
Ch7 - Service Oriented Architecture
Ch8 - Managing Mobile Business
Ch9 - Social Networking
Part-3
Ch10 - Enterprise Searc and Retrieval
Ch11 - Enterprise 2.0 Business Inteligence
Ch12 - Master Data Management
Ch13 - Procurement in Chaos
Part-4
Ch14 - Agile Software Development
Ch15 - Enterprise Risk Management
Ch16 - Implementing Open Source Software
Ch17 - Global Engineering
Ch18 - Enterprise 2.0 IT Project Failure
Ch19 - Readying the troops for Battle
Ch20 - Sustainability and Green IT
Part-5
Ch21 - Finding Opportunity in Chaos
That's it for my review. I hope it gives an insight of what to expect from the book.
Thansk fo reading the review.
*********

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Your all-inclusive guide to all the latest technologies
Providing you with a better understanding of the latest technologies, including Cloud Computing, Software as a Service, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Open Source, Mobile Computing, Social Networking, and Business Intelligence, The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities from Chaos helps you know which questions to ask when considering if a specific technology is right for your organization.
Demystifies powerful but largely misunderstood technologies
Explains how each technology works
Provides key guidance on determining if a particular technology is right for your organization
Contains contributions from experts on Cloud Computing, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software as a Service (SaaS), Open Source, Mobile Technologies, Enterprise Risk Management, Social Media, Business Intelligence, and more

More of a management text than a technical guide, the book is designed to help your organization better understand these exciting new technologies and their potential impact. The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities from Chaos will help you determine if your organization is ready for a specific technology, how to prepare for its successful adoption, how to measure success, and the key risks and red flags to recognize.

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Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart Review

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(More customer reviews)Is it a new brand of cereal? Or maybe it's a granola bar, or a chunky peanut butter spread? Then again, could it be the latest infomercial exercise device designed to give you the six pack abs you've always dreamed of but know in your heart of hearts you'll never achieve? Actually, it's a book - the title a product of the very methods the book describes. Here's what SUPER CRUNCHERS says.
(1) Mathematical regression models generated from large datasets often generate better predictions than human experts, and they provide supporting information on the predictive weight and reliability of each explanatory variable.
(2) Well-crafted experiments using randomized trials and control groups provide good market research and behavioral analysis results.
(3) Technological advances - the Internet, massive data storage devices, rapid computation, broadband telecommunication - are making it possible to share more sources of information and create ever-larger databases for analysis.
(4) Today's companies engage in multiple forms of market research by creating and using large databases and large-scale randomized trials.
(5) Many phenomena conform to normal distributions in which 95% of the population will be found within two standard deviations of the mean, the5% balance generally divided evenly in the two tails.
That's it. I just saved you $25.00 U.S. and a half-dozen or more hours learning how a guy from Yale named Ian Ayres collected a bit of information about applied mathematical techniques that have been in practical use for decades, packaged them up, palmed them off as something new, and cooked up the ridiculous name Super Crunching to describe an ostensibly new technological development. Yet "Super Crunching" is nothing more than the author's marketing hype for a couple of standard mathematical methodologies, a creation of nothing from something. There's no new breakthrough here, no new paradigm.
Yes, the anecdotal information about the future prices of wine vintages, Capital One's teaser offerings, and evidence-based medical diagnosis are interesting (hence the two stars rating). The rest, however, is neither prescriptive nor sufficiently critically analytical. Should we go out shopping for a Super Cruncher tomorrow? Should we delight in the increased accuracy of data-driven modeling and prediction, or should we fear the implied manipulation of our desires and the incessant, single-minded drive toward maximum profit at the expense of creativity? Do we really want movies and books to be developed from mathematical models like Epagogix? Do we really want our every keystroke on the Internet to be fodder for market research that manipulates us in response? John Kenneth Galbraith, among others, warned of exogenous, manufactured demand decades ago.
SUPER CRUNCHERS is part business tome, part econometric paean, and part sociology book, but not fully any of the three. No matter how many time the author uses words like "cool" and "humongous" and "amazing," it's still regrettably a "No Sale" even for someone like me who enjoys reading about applied mathematics.


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The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great book if you have a need to sell executive leadership on the usefulness of extracting additional value out of organizational data.
I bought this book with great anticipation as I have been on the search for books that describe how to leverage data analytics within business...I kept waiting for the punchline. There were many references as to how decision analytics can drive efficiency gains and revenue, yet no noticeable mention of how to go about doing it. It read like a subtle sales pitch as to why you should hire Fair Issac to help you get there. There was barely enough technical jargon included to even go start researching descriptive and predictive analytics models. I found myself going to wikipedia and reading about this subject, then going back to the book, waiting..In protest, I refused to read the last 5 pages.
There's value in the book for those business leaders that have absolutely no knowledge of the topic, which is why I gave it 3 stars. Just don't go thinking that it provides any insight as to how to start extracting that value.

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Praise for The Deciding Factor

"Both companies and governments have made some poor decisions recently, and almost all would benefit from more fact-based and analytical approaches. This book provides clear methods and extensive examples for organizations that want to make better, faster, and more consistent decisions."-Thomas H. Davenport, author, Competing on Analytics, and President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management, Babson College
"The secrets of the decision-making processes employed by the most successful corporations of the world are revealed in The Deciding Factor. Both corporate decision makers as well as analysts will gain invaluable insights from this treasure trove of case studies and expert guidelines." -Robert Heller, former president and CEO of VISA U.S.A., and former governor, Federal Reserve Board
"Information, used correctly and creatively, can be a source of tremendous customer value, competitive advantage, and company profitability. The Deciding Factor will help you understand if you have this opportunity, and how you might seize it."-Nigel Morris, co-founder, Capital One Financial Services
"There has never been a more important time in business history to truly understand both the technical strengths and conceptual weaknesses of decision analytics. If you're prepared to be serious, The Deciding Factor offers the insider's insights that matter when managing innovation risk."-Michael Schrage, author, Serious Play, and research associate, MIT Sloan School of Management

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How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business Review

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(More customer reviews)Some things are easy to measure. Time, money, exercise, calories, location - all of these are relatively straightforward to repeatably determine or calculate.
But how does one go about measuring happiness? What about compassion, or public influence, or creativity? These are more intangible, harder to pin down to a number that means anything.
Douglas Hubbard has written an impressive work called "How To Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business."
While it's written primarily for business people, the lessons transfer smoothly to self-experimenters. Hubbard begins with a compelling case for why to measure intangibles:
"Often, an important decision requires better knowledge of the alleged intangible, but when a [person] believes something to be immeasurable, attempts to measure it will not even be considered.
As a result, decisions are less informed than they could be. The chance of error increases. Resources are misallocated, good ideas are rejected, and bad ideas are accepted. Money is wasted. In some cases life and health are put in jeopardy. The belief that some things--even very important things--might be impossible to measure is sand in the gears of the entire economy.
Any important decision maker could benefit from learning that anything they really need to know is measurable."
He goes on to explain in detail how to measure intangibles, including sections on how to clarify problems, calibrate estimates, measure risk, sample reality, and use Bayesian statistics to add to available knowledge. He also describes his Applied Information Economics (AIE) Approach that ties together several threads of his ideas:
"The AIE approach addresses four things:
1. How to model a current state of uncertainty
2. How to compute what else should be measured
3. How to measure those things in a way that is economically justified
4. How to make a decision"
I'm working my way through the book, and am incredibly grateful to Douglas Hubbard for writing it.

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The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business Review

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(More customer reviews)We're not designed to think unemotionally nor about abstract statistics. But Ma's book shows us that if we do learn to do so, we can achieve something we are designed to pursue--success. This book outlines and explores just how to do that. It's a great read for various demographics: the not-so-business savvy who wants to become so; the "layperson" looking to find ways for making better life-decisions; or the expert businessperson looking to uncover an edge in bringing down their own sort of house.
Ma describes things for the reader that will get you up to speed on both your gambling--i.e. the nuances of 21--and your business-speak--i.e. I finally learned what an option is and then how it relates to volatility and the Mexican economic crisis' affect on the U.S. dollar--without turning the expert off in either arena. Not an easy task as a writer and is done exceptionally well here.
The book is of the same genre as Lewis' Moneyball (a book Ma cites as life-changing in the Acknowledgments). Ideal for the neophyte interested in economics, finance, etc., combining the highfalutin world of casino gambling with modern day finance. In a sense, Ma urges us to put our faith in something that we believe in--which is rooted in clear thinking and statistics--and forge ahead, regardless of the valleys that may occur in the arena of "ups and downs."
Ma uses well-told personal anecdotes to explain cognitive errors common in academic psychology such as the gambler's fallacy and confirmation bias. Clearly not a man of superstition, frowning up on the "same-roller" phenomenon in craps and the concept of `statistical atheist', making sure the reader knows he's not involved in magic or some form of voodoo. Instead, he employs a more stoic approach that follows the logic--follows the math--and never gives up.
This book isn't just fun, it isn't just interesting (though it is both of those) but it's also something that will help the reader make better decisions both inside the business world and out.

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IBM Cognos 8 Report Studio Cookbook Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a real report developer on the east coast of the US, and yes, this is a real review. I have to admit that I am not a seasoned Cognos person - I come to Cognos from SQL Server/Business Objects and have been in data warehousing and reporting for 7+ years. I've been using Report Studio intensively for about 4 months now.
So far, none of the Report Studio documentation or books that I have read come close to being useful, even the user documentation from IBM. This "Cookbook" by Sanghani does give some helpful approaches to specific Report Studio questions/problems, but in no way is it a complete or thorough treatment of how to use Report Studio. At best it will help you figure out how to do some of those nagging little things that you know you should be able to do but just can't seem to figure out. It's best if you've already been using Report Studio for some time - this is not a book for newbies trying to learn the software. IMO, there is also too much of "Do exactly what I tell you" but not enough explanation of the "why" behind what you're told to do.
The English needs refinement. It's not blatant, and the text remains readable, but there are many annoying little English grammar and usage errors throughout.
All in all, OK if you want helpful hints, but don't look to it for anything more than that.


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Written in cookbook style, this book offers learning and techniques through recipes. It contains step-by-step instructions for Report Studio 8 users to author effective reports. The book is designed in such a way that you can refer to things chapter by chapter, and read them in no particular order. You will see a new fictional business case in each recipe that will relate to a real-life problem and then you will learn how to crack it in Report Studio. If you are a Business Intelligence or MIS Developer (programmer) working on Cognos Report Studio who wants to author impressive reports by putting to use what this tool has to offer, this book is for you. You could also be a Business Analyst or Power User who authors his own reports and wants to look beyond the conventional features of Report Studio 8. This book assumes that you can do basic authoring, are aware of the Cognos architecture, and are familiar with Studio.

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