100% of companies using CLARITY FSR™ for their SEC XBRL submission successfully file without any EDGAR XBRL validation errors

Big news from our partner, Clarity Systems, regarding their Financial Reporting & Governance product, Clarity FSR.

FSR is the ONLY major XBRL creation software that filed without validation errors… are you kidding me?  This year, many of these companies were required to perform detailed XBRL tagging for the first time.

Read the Press Release

I’ve seen FSR in action and I can understand why Clarity’s clients have been so successful.  Beyond XBRL tagging, FSR provides an elegant and easy-to-use platform for simplifying the financial reporting process, particularly in the final stages of disclosure.

Contact Us if you’d like to see a demo of Clarity FSR… no doubt you’ll be impressed!

Using Excel 2007 for Analysis Services (SSAS)

I was asked by a client today if I had run across any good books or training that focus on cube functions in Excel. 

Immediately, Mr Excel came to mind.  I ran a quick search and it looks like Pivot Table Data Crunching Excel 2007 might be worth checking out.

Otherwise, here are some additional resources that look useful…

Virtual Labs
Developing Business Intelligence Applications
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services – Pervasive Analysis through 2007 Microsoft Office Excel
Business Intelligence in Excel 2007 Pivot Tables and Analysis Services

Webcast
Excel 2007 – Building Business Intelligence Solutions Using Excel and SQL Server 2005 Analysis

Excel 2007 Help and How-to
List of worksheet functions (by category) – cube functions

Microsoft Excel 2010 Blog
Using Excel & Excel Services with SQL Server Analysis Services 2008
CUBE Functions Part 1
CUBE Functions 2: A Few Examples
CUBE Functions 3: Formula AutoComplete revisited
CUBE Functions 4: Deconstructing the PivotTable

Please comment with your feedback if you find any of these resources particularly useful (or bad), and if there are additional guides, books, webcasts, online trainings on this subject that you really like!

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August 2010 v.38 – Business Intelligence Update

HOT TOPICS

Executive Breakfast Briefing
Hosted by CapstoneBI
Aug 12, San Jose, CA
Click here for more info

Using SharePoint 2010 to Monitor & Analyze K12 Student Assessment Scores
Hosted by CapstoneBI
Aug 25, 1pm
Click here to register

Blog: Microsoft Based Planning and Budgeting solutions revisited

Where Social Media Meets Strategy
Microsoft Reports 48% Increase in Profits

Bringing Data Mining Into the Mainstream
Blog: Jamie’s Junk – continuing whatever comes to mind on data mining and predictive analytics
Blog: DM(X) – bogdanc on SQL Server Data Mining

WEBCASTS
All webcast times are in Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise specified

Quick Deployment of Enterprise-Level Executive Dashboards
Hosted by Strategy Companion
Aug 12, 2pm
Click here for more info

Metrics to Understand Your Brand and Help it Thrive
Hosted by Tableau Software
Aug 18, 2pm
Click here for more info

Using SharePoint 2010 to Monitor & Analyze K12 Student Assessment Scores
Hosted by CapstoneBI
Aug 25, 1pm
Click here to register

SaaS and BI
Hosted by Strategy Companion
Aug 26, 2pm
Click here for more info

Self-Service Business Intelligence with Microsoft PowerPivot
Hosted by Andrew Brust of 26NY
Aug 26, 1pm
Click here for more info

Powerful Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting with CLARITY 7 using Microsoft technology
Hosted by Clarity Systems
Sep 16, 2pm
Click here for more info

EVENTS

Executive Breakfast Briefing
Hosted by CapstoneBI
Aug 12, San Jose, CA
Click here for more info

TDWI BI Executive Summit
Aug 16-18, San Diego, CA
Click here for more info

2010 Tableau Customer Conference
Aug 30-Sep 2, Seattle, WA
Click here for more info

Minnesota Microsoft BI User Group 2010 Q3 Meeting
Sep 1, Bloomington, MN
Click here for more info

SoCal BI User Group
Sep 2, Mission Viejo, CA
Click here for more info

TRAINING

Web-based Training
SQL Server: Training Portal, eLearning
SharePoint 2007: Training Portal
SharePoint 2010: Getting Started with SharePoint 2010, Introducing SharePoint Designer
PerformancePoint 2010: Up to Speed with PerformancePoint Dashboards and Web Parts

Instructor Led Training
Presenting Data and Information
Edward Tufte
Sep 29 & 30 Arlington, VA
Oct 1, Arlington, VA
Click here for more info

Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
Accelebrate
Aug 25-27, Online
Click here for more info

Advanced T-SQL Querying, Programming and Tuning for SQL Server 2005 & 2008
Solid Quality Mentors
Sep 13-17, Sacramento, CA
Click here for more info

SQL Server and Business Intelligence Training
Pragmatic Works
August Courses, Online
Click here for more info

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Training
Intertech
Aug 25-27, Minneapolis, MN
Click here for more info

Business Intelligence Training
Hosted by QuickStart
Click here for more info

Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning Training
Hosted by CapstoneBI
Click here for more info

RESOURCES
Microsoft BI

SQL Server
Business Intelligence: SQL 2005, SQL 2008
SSAS: list of front end applications
Data Mining: SQL 2005, SQL 2008
StreamInsight: Versions and SQL Server SKUs, Developers Training Kit
Book: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Unleashed
Book: Data Mining with SQL Server 2008

SQL 2008 R2: Home, Parallel Data Warehouse
Download: SQL Server 2008 R2
Microsoft Virtual Lab: PowerPivot for Excel 2010 Introduction, SQL Server 2008 Virtual Labs
Hands On Lab: PowerPivot in SQL Server 2008 R2
Whitepaper: Best Practices for Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008
Whitepaper: Develop Reporting Services reports using Analysis Services data
Blog Post: Reporting Services Bing Map – Unable to connect to the remote server

SQL 2008 Books Online: Planning and Architecture (Analysis Services – Data Mining)
SQL 2008 Books Online: Architecture of Integration Services
Whitepaper: Top 10 Performance and Productivity Reasons to Use SQL Server 2008 for Your Business Intelligence Solutions
Blog: SQL Server 2008 for Oracle DBA

SharePoint Server 2010
Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog
Blog: SharePoint 2010 – Top 10 Resources to get you started…
Describing SharePoint 2010 in 1 Sentence, 8 Categories and 40 Feature Areas
Excel Services in SharePoint 2010 Feature Support, Dashboard Improvements, Planning for Upgrade from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to SharePoint Server 2010
MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing Business Intelligence Applications

Office 2010
www.PowerPivot.com
PowerPivot Team Blog
The Great PowerPivot FAQ
Download: PowerPivot for Excel 2010
Book: PowerPivot for the Data Analyst: Microsoft Excel 2010
Book: Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010: Give Your Data Meaning
Book: Professional PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint
Demo: Using PowerPivot to analyze MS Dynamics NAV
Blog: Load data from SAP into PowerPivot for Excel
Blog: The Business User’s Perspective
Blog: Thoughts on how PowerPivot and SSAS could work together
Blog: Diagnostic Guide for Usage and the PowerPivot Management Dashboard
Screencast: Using datamining with PowerPivot in Excel

Microsoft BI Certifications
Blog: New 2008 Microsoft BI Certifications Reviewed
Blog: Obtaining Microsoft BI Certification
Learning Plan: BI Developer
Exam: 70-448
Exam: 70-452
Exam: 78-702

Related BI Resources
Notes from the Field
Professional Association for SQL Server
SSAS-info
FUTURESULTS – Microsoft web parts, add-ons, customizations
Panorama Software Releases NovaView 6.2: Integration with Office/SharePoint 2010…
Dundas Dashboard Wins “Best of TechEd” Award
Article: Microsoft PowerPivot vs.. Tableau
Blog: Using a Data Warehouse for CRM
Blog: Thoughts on: Who are the BI Personas?

NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES

Ballmer Outlines Mobile Strategy at Microsoft Event
The Promise of PowerPivot in Excel 2010
PowerPivot vs.. Native SSAS
PowerPivot Fast Track
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2: What’s New with PowerPivot?
Microsoft Office 2010 adds depth while making things easier
Light-up Your Dashboards with Silverlight
Download PivotViewer Extension for Reporting Services CTP1
Northridge Announces Numerous SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Implementations

BI’s Corporate Challenge
IT Market Starting to Heat Up
Business Intelligence: maximising data collation for end users
Buying BI? Talk to Users, not Technologists

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM a Leader according to Forrester

Turn away for a second and the next thing you know Dynamics is touted as a bona fide Leader for CRM.  Check out the Waves for both Large Enterprise and Mid-Size...

Here are the related links:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Cited as a Leader by Independent Research Firm
The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites For Midsized Organizations,Q2 2010
The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites for Large Organizations, Q2 2010

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July 2010 v.37 – Business Intelligence Update

HOT TOPICS

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
July 11-15, Washington DC
Click here for more info

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
Blog: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 – Business Intelligence Samples

Microsoft Live Labs Pivot
World Cup Pivot

Blog: ProClarity Resources
Demo: Using PowerPivot to analyze MS Dynamics NAV

WEBCASTS
All webcast times are in Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise specified

BI on a Limited or Shrinking Budget: Strategies for Doing More with Less
Hosted by Tableau Software
Jul 7, 12pm
Click here for more info

Techniques & Technologies for Enterprise-Wide BI Deployment
Hosted by Strategy Companion
Jul 8, 2pm
Click here for more info

Powerful Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting with CLARITY 7 using Microsoft technology
Hosted by Clarity Systems
Jul 13, 2pm
Click here for more info

Empower Your Users with Advanced Analytics-On-The-Fly
Hosted by Panorama
Jul 20, 2pm
Click here for more info

SaaS and BI
Hosted by Strategy Companion
Aug 26, 2pm
Click here for more info

EVENTS

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
Hosted by Microsoft
Jul 11-15, Washington D.C.
Click here for more info

Building Cubes using Analysis Services
Boise SQL Server User Group
July 13, Boise ID
Click here for more info

Query Tuning Tips
Hosted by PASSMN, presented by Itzik Ben-Gan
July 20, Bloomington MN
Click here for more info

2010 Tableau Customer Conference
Aug 30-Sep 2, Seattle, WA
Click here for more info

TRAINING

Web-based Training

SQL Server: Training Portal, eLearning
SharePoint 2007: Training Portal
SharePoint 2010: Getting Started with SharePoint 2010, Introducing SharePoint Designer
PerformancePoint 2010: Up to Speed with PerformancePoint Dashboards and Web Parts

Instructor Led Training

Presenting Data and Information
Edward Tufte
Jul 19, Minneapolis, MN
Jul 22 & 23 Chicago, IL
Sep 29 & 30 Arlington, VA
Oct 1, Arlington, VA
Click here for more info

Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
Accelebrate
Jul 14-16, Online
Aug 25-27, Online
Click here for more info

Advanced T-SQL Querying, Programming and Tuning for SQL Server 2005 & 2008
Solid Quality Mentors
Jul 19-23, Minneapolis, MN
Jul 26-30, Bellevue, WA
Sep 13-17, Sacramento, CA
Click here for more info

SQL Server and Business Intelligence Training
Pragmatic Works
August Courses, Online
Click here for more info

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Training
Intertech
Aug 25-27, Minneapolis, MN
Click here for more info

Business Intelligence Training
Hosted by QuickStart
Click here for more info

Microsoft PerformancePoint Planning Training
Hosted by CapstoneBI
Click here for more info

RESOURCES
Microsoft BI

SQL Server
Business Intelligence: SQL 2005, SQL 2008
SSAS: list of front end applications
Data Mining: SQL 2005, SQL 2008
StreamInsight: Versions and SQL Server SKUs, Developers Training Kit
Book: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Unleashed
Book: Data Mining with SQL Server 2008
SQL 2008 R2: Home, Parallel Data Warehouse

Download: SQL Server 2008 R2
Microsoft Virtual Lab: PowerPivot for Excel 2010 Introduction, SQL Server 2008 Virtual Labs
Hands On Lab: PowerPivot in SQL Server 2008 R2
Whitepaper: Best Practices for Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008
Whitepaper: Develop Reporting Services reports using Analysis Services data
SQL 2008 Books Online: Planning and Architecture (Analysis Services – Data Mining)
SQL 2008 Books Online: Architecture of Integration Services
Whitepaper: Top 10 Performance and Productivity Reasons to Use SQL Server 2008 for Your Business Intelligence Solutions
Blog: SQL Server 2008 for Oracle DBA

SharePoint Server 2010
Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog
Blog: SharePoint 2010 – Top 10 Resources to get you started…
Describing SharePoint 2010 in 1 Sentence, 8 Categories and 40 Feature Areas
Excel Services in SharePoint 2010 Feature Support, Dashboard Improvements, Planning for Upgrade from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to SharePoint Server 2010
MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing Business Intelligence Applications

Office 2010
www.PowerPivot.com
PowerPivot Team Blog
The Great PowerPivot FAQ
Download: PowerPivot for Excel 2010
Book: Professional Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel and SharePoint
Book: PowerPivot for the Data Analyst: Microsoft Excel 2010

Blog: Load data from SAP into PowerPivot for Excel
Blog: The Business User’s Perspective
Blog: Thoughts on how PowerPivot and SSAS could work together
Blog: Diagnostic Guide for Usage and the PowerPivot Management Dashboard
Screencast: Using datamining with PowerPivot in Excel

Microsoft BI Certifications
Blog: New 2008 Microsoft BI Certifications Reviewed
Blog: Obtaining Microsoft BI Certification
Learning Plan: BI Developer
Exam: 70-448
Exam: 70-452
Exam: 78-702

Related BI Resources
Notes from the Field

Professional Association for SQL Server
SSAS-info
FUTURESULTS – Microsoft web parts, add-ons, customizations
Panorama Software Releases NovaView 6.2: Integration with Office/SharePoint 2010…
Dundas Dashboard Wins “Best of TechEd” Award
Article: Microsoft PowerPivot vs. Tableau
Blog: Using a Data Warehouse for CRM
Blog: Thoughts on: Who are the BI Personas?

NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES

Review: Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
Dissecting Microsoft Office 2010
Office 2010: a deeper dive
Forrester: Google still a distant Office competitor

PowerPivot Developer’s Career Is Full of Twists and Turns
PowerPivot observations from TechEd/BI Conf, Pt 1
Laissez les bon temps rouler! (Microsoft BI Conference 2010)
TechEd 2010 StreamInsight Session and Demo

Attracting and Retaining Top BI Professionals

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Microsoft BI Demo, VPC 7.1 - Expiry

A couple years ago, Microsoft made available a pre-built, virtual demo environment (BI VPC 7.1) that included demo scenarios for fictitious businesses called 'Contoso' and 'AdventureWorks'.  This demo environment consisted of Excel 2007, SharePoint 2007, SQL Server 2005, PerformancePoint Server and ProClarity.

Several BI consultants (and internal MS field teams) have used this virtual image over the years.  Many folks have further customized this environment to showcase sample data sets and scenarios, and to build Proof of Concepts.

This week I heard from one such consultant whom I have been in touch with for several years, Eliot MacDonald (Director of Consulting Services, Market Forte).  Eliot works with SSAS and ProClarity quite a bit, and he has used the BI VPC 7.1 extensively. 

Eliot emailed me yesterday to mention the Expiration Date of the environment... 

the latest “BI-VPC” has a deadline of 2 days from now. For me, that’s a big deal since I’ve used it for development purposes and have a ton of stuff contained within that virtual hard drive that may well have been lost had I not marked a warning on my calendar.

Since it had a 2-year-plus time frame on it (the 7.1 version), there may be others out there who have just been happily using it daily and will suddenly be unable to access it in a couple of days. So thought it might be worth sending such a warning to others.


He was smart, he set a calendar reminder in Outlook to assure he didn't miss the deadline.  If he hadn't paid attention to expiry, he would have lost the work he'd done and would have to rebuild the demo environment and reconfigure all of his customizations.
 
Thought I'd post a mention of this for everyone out there who are using BI VPC 7.1
 
Thank you Eliot, for the insight!
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April 2010 v.36 – Business Intelligence Update

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HOT TOPICS
President Obama Appoints Edward Tufte – Big Victory for Data Visualization And Transparent Government
Obama’s Data Visionary

Why Predictive Analytics Is A Game-Changer

SQL Server 2008 R2 gets an official date
Microsoft ships the final Technology Preview for SQL 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse
Overview: Parallel Data Warehouse
New Data Visualizations in SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 R2

Tableau Public – How it Works Blog: Tableau Public - A Powerful New Tool for Democratizing Data

Kerberos SPN Generation Setup Tool – RobertLambrecht.com

WEBCASTS
All webcast times are in Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise specified

System Center Service Manager 2010: The CMDB, Connectors, and Data Warehouse
Hosted by Microsoft
Apr 2, 2pm
Click here for more info

Unleash the Power of PowerPivot
Hosted by Panorama
Apr 20, 10am
Click here for more info

Insight Through Microsoft Business Intelligence Solutions
Hosted by ComFrame
Apr 22, 10am
Click here for more info

Visualizing Success – Visualization with SharePoint PerformancePoint Services
Hosted by Mariner
Apr 29, 8:30am
Click here for more info

EVENTS

Executive Business Intelligence Roundtable
Hosted by ComFrame
Apr 13, Jackson, MS
Click here for more info

Business Insight Lunch and Learn
Hosted by MPS Partners and Microsoft
Apr 20, Granger, IN
Click here for more info

Convergence 2010
Hosted by Microsoft
Apr 24-27, Atlanta, GA
Click here for more info

SQL Saturday #39 NYC
Hosted by NJ SQL Server User Group in NYC
Apr 24, New York, NY
Click here for more info

Microsoft Business Intelligence
Hosted by Quilogy
May 4, Naperville IL
Click here for more info

TechFuse 2010
Hosted by Benchmark Learning
May 6, Bloomington, MN
Click here for more info

Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference
Hosted by Microsoft
Jun 7-10, New Orleans, LA
Click here for more info

TRAINING

Web-based Training
SQL Server: Training Portal
SharePoint 2007: Training Portal
SharePoint 2010: Getting Started with SharePoint 2010
PerformancePoint Monitoring and Analytics: Dashboard basics I,  Dashboard basics II
Up to Speed with PerformancePoint Dashboards and Web Parts
Excel 2007: Training Courses

Instructor Led Training
SQL Server and Business Intelligence Training
Pragmatic Works
April Courses, Online
Click here for more info

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Training
Intertech
Apr 7-9, Minneapolis, MN
Click here for more info

Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
Accelebrate
Apr 12-14, Online
Click here for more info

Solving Business Problems with MDX in SQL Server 2008
Solid Quality Mentors
Jun 15-17, Minneapolis, MN
Click here for more info

RESOURCES

Microsoft BI
2010 Betas are here, including Office, SharePoint, Project, Visio

SQL Server Business Intelligence: SQL 2005, SQL 2008
SSAS: SQL Sentry, Performance Optimization Software
SSAS: list of front end applications
Data Mining: SQL 2005, SQL 2008
StreamInsight: Versions and SQL Server SKUs, Developers Training Kit
SQL Server 2008 R2 gets an official date

Download: SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP
Hands On Lab: PowerPivot in SQL Server 2008 R2
SQL 2008 R2: Home, Parallel Data Warehouse
Whitepaper: Best Practices for Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008

SQL 2008 Books Online: Planning and Architecture (Analysis Services – Data Mining)
SQL 2008 Books Online: Architecture of Integration Services
Whitepaper: Top 10 Performance and Productivity Reasons to Use SQL Server 2008 for Your Business Intelligence Solutions
Blog: SQL Server 2008 for Oracle DBA

SharePoint Server 2007
Business Intelligence: Overview, Using BI Features
PerformancePoint: Technical Library
Download: PerformancePoint SP2 (64-bit or 32-bit) Blog: Using Excel Services Reports with PerformancePoint Server (PPS)
Online Book: SharePoint guidance for SQL Server database administrators

SharePoint Server 2010
Describing SharePoint 2010 in 1 Sentence, 8 Categories and 40 Feature Areas
New Features in PerformancePoint Services 2010

Excel Services in SharePoint 2010 Feature Support, Dashboard Improvements, Upgrading PerformancePoint Server 2007 to PerformancePoint 2010
Planning for Upgrade from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to SharePoint Server 2010
Blog: What is Time Intelligence?

Office 2010
www.PowerPivot.com
PowerPivot Team Blog
The Great PowerPivot FAQ

Download: PowerPivot for Excel 2010
Blog: The Business User’s Perspective
Blog: How PowerPivot and SSAS could work together
Blog: Diagnostic Guide for Usage and the PowerPivot Management Dashboard
Screencast: Using datamining with PowerPivot in Excel

Microsoft BI Certifications
Blog: New 2008 Microsoft BI Certifications Reviewed
Blog: Obtaining Microsoft BI Certification
Learning Plan: BI Developer
Exam: 70-448
Exam: 70-452

Related BI Resources
Notes from the Field

Article: Microsoft PowerPivot vs. Tableau
Blog: Using a Data Warehouse for CRM
Blog: Thoughts on: Who are the BI Personas?

Strategy Companion’s Analyzer Named 2009 EDITOR’S BEST Award by SQL Server Magazine

NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES

A High Level Comparison Between Oracle and SQL Server
SharePoint 2010 Steps Up to the ECM Plate
SharePoint 2010: A More Viable Cloud Option
SharePoint 2010: An Evolutionary Step Toward Content-Centric Middleware

Launching an Analytics Practice: Ten Steps to Success
Zen BI: The Wisdom of Letting Go
It Takes a Village to Drive Predictive Analytics

Blog: PowerPivot/Excel/SharePoint and SSRS – should they merge?
Blog: Comparing Analysis Services and PowerPivot
Blog: Great Visualizers: Mike Deal Charts the Beatles
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