Delivering Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2005: Utilize Microsoft's Data Warehousing, Mining & Reporting Tools to Provide Critical In

This book is a perfect place to jump in and get your feet wet. I can't say how many tech books have put me to sleep before I've absorbed the content, this is not one of them. It's well laid out and will give you the understanding and ability to create your own dashboards. I agree with the reviews that this book will not make you an expert in Integration Services, Analysis Services, Business Intelligence Studio, or Excel Services. It does save you the money, time and headaches from buying each specific book and trying to incorporate all of these products on your own. Good Luck!

If you learn better through the combination of conceptual overview and detailed walk throughs you'll love Brian Larson's approach. I too thought I had a problem (as noted by reviewer B Hynum) with the sample data, but the author was quick with a response. My advice is, follow the instructions carefully and don't try to be clever by skipping steps!

With this book, Mr. Larson executes a task not easy to do-he covers a lot of ground in a few steps. He covers all major topics of BI related to SQL Server 2005 and has sample exercises (Learn By Doing) that reinforce the knowledge. What is great about the exercises is that he uses a fictional company in one real scenario, unlike many authors. As someone not very familiar with Data Mining/Warehousing, I found his explanations to be at my level of understanding. He also ties each aspect he discusses in with the other subjects as you go along, making the whole concept of Business Intelligence clear. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Larson's publications.

This is the second book written by Brian Larson that I've purchased. Just like his book on SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, this one also delivers everything as advertised. It provides a complete overview on the business intelligence components of SQL Server 2005. By following the detailed examples provided in the book, a reader can learn how to develop their own BI applications. I would recommend this book to everyone looking to learn this new technology from Microsoft.