Good Blog Read

I came across this blog entry by Derek Comingore: So you want to be a Microsoft DW/BI Pro.  He gives a chronological "learning plan" for how to learn Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. At the end of the post, he gives some additional URLs to check out, many of which are blogs of other BI experts.

As I read his post, I was pleased to find out that I already knew the terminology and have some experience with some of the technologies.  I'm on the right path, it seems.

BI Resources

I asked my company's internal BI mailing list for suggestions on how to get up-to-speed on Business Intelligence technologies, and here are some of the responses.  Note that I have no personal experience with any of these references as of this date.

Books

• The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit: With SQL Server 2005 and the Microsoft Business Intelligence Toolset
  [A] must have book to get you started with designing a data warehouse with SQL Server [...] It covers a beginning to end solution using Kimball design principals.
• Practical Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2005
  Even with 2008 coming out, book is still relevant - and it guides you through a practical example from the ground up,  from the relational database through data warehouse design, analysis services ,and reporting.

Web Sites

• http://www.ralphkimball.com
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb331753.aspx
• http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson/archive/2007/07/18/Business-Intelligence_2C00_-what-is-it-and-what-is-it-not_3F00_.aspx
  [A] 30,000 foot view of what BI is, and what it is not

Whitepapers

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 White Paper: Business Intelligence (a video is here)

As I get additional links I'll add to this list.

Hello World

As is typical with a new programming language, new technology, or in this case a new blog, a "Hello World" is in order.  This post serves that mission.

My name is Steve Jackson, I'm a senior consultant dealing with Microsoft technologies.  I came up through C and C++ with a little bit of VB in the mix (mainly to test my C++ COM components).  I've been working with .NET for several years, now, mainly focusing on C#--I really love the new C# features such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and am working on a project currently which makes heavy use of it.

I recently decided to become a Business Intelligence (BI) expert.  I created this blog to chronicle my learning experiences, and plan to update it every so often with reports on how I'm doing.  I plan to provide examples of what I'm working on so that others out there going through the same experiences might benefit.

If you happen by this blog while searching for something BI related, please provide a comment on something you'd like to see.  At this point, I'm a total n00b, but I'll consider all suggestions and see what I can do to provide information on your subject.  Some of the folks I work with have been doing this for a while so I have access to some great minds!

I'm excited to be starting this journey and can't wait to see where it takes me.

"From the point of ignition
To the final drive,
The point of the journey
Is not to arrive."
  - Rush, Prime Mover