Books, Conferences, Microsoft Technologies, Power BI

Let Her Finish: Voices from the Data Platform

This year I had the pleasure of contributing a chapter to a book along with some very special and talented people. That book has now been released and is available on Amazon!  Both a digital and print version are available. My chapter is about data viz in Power BI, combining platform agnostic concepts with practical applications in Power BI.

The other chapters are:

  • Azure Data Catalog by Melody Zacharias (b|t)
  • Biml for Beginners: Script and Automate SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Development by Cathrine Wilhelmsen (b|t)
  • Care and Feeding of a SQL Server by Jen McCown (b|t)
  • Indexing for Beginners by Kathi Kellenberger (b|t)
  • Creating a Disaster Recovery Plan by Rie Irish (b|t)
  • Using Extended Events to figure out why an application is slow by Mindy Curnutt (b|t)

Special thanks to Rie and Melody for putting this together and for being awesome and inspiring.

We may all be women authors, but this book isn’t about WIT issues. We each got to write about an area of the data platform in which we have expertise.

If you’d like to support us, or are just curious what we have to say, you can pick up a copy on Amazon or purchase a copy at PASS Summit. If you are going to be at PASS Summit, you can also stop by the WIT Happy Hour/book release party on Oct 31 or the panel session on Nov 2.

For more information, check out the website (kindly provided by SentryOne, who sponsored the book).

It’s tough to write a book chapter about a technology that changes every month, but I think the content holds up fairly well a few months after writing it. A few things changed on me (e.g., the Office Store for custom visuals is now App Source, and drillthrough actions exist now), but my approach to data viz in Power BI is still relevant and in use today with several clients. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think.

 

Books, Data Visualization, SQL Saturday

I’m speaking in January about data visualization

I am excited to have two opportunities to speak in January. The first is the Kansas City SQL Server User Group. I will be speaking at the monthly KCSSUG meeting on January 16th at 2:30pm CST. You can RSVP for the event here. Next I will be speaking at SQL Saturday #271 in Albuquerque. At both events, I will be presenting on The Accidental Report Designer: Data Visualization Best Practices in SSRS.

This presentation is geared towards data professionals who may not see report design as one of their main responsibilities, but who occasionally have to deliver information through reports, dashboards. I think most people have to do this from time to time in their jobs, so anyone could benefit from this information. I am passionate about the content in this presentation because it changed the way I work and has positively impacted my career path. My interest in data visualization started when I read Stephen Few’s book Information Dashboard Design while working on a marketing dashboard at a previous job. I strongly believe that the way you display information to the end user can enhance or render useless any great data model/ETL you have created. The end user of your report is probably missing the point if you aren’t providing useful information in a consumable format.  Poor report design, in addition to being ineffective, can actually mislead your audience. As a data professional, this should concern you.

As an example, let’s look at some crime data for my neighborhood that I pulled from data.kcmo.org. I want to know: what was the most common crime committed in my neighborhood in 2013?
First, take a look at this graph:

crimes donut chartThis is a 3-D exploded donut chart that shows the number of crimes committed by type.

Now let’s try to answer the question with this graph: crimes bar chartThis is a bar chart that shows the types of crimes committed as a percent of total crimes. I think you will agree that you immediately see from this graph that non-aggravated assault is the most common crime, followed closely by stealing from an automobile.  I can easily see the percent of total incidents that each type represents and how each type compares to other types.

Even if your data isn’t saving any lives, you can still learn to make professional data visualizations that effectively communicate information while being visually appealing, which can impress and earn trust from your management, clients, and other audiences. If you would like to learn more, I would love for you to attend my session in KC or Albuquerque. If you can’t make it, feel free to check out the slides on the Presentation page.

Books, Data Visualization, Data Warehousing, Excel, PerformancePoint, SSAS, SSIS, Uncategorized

The One Book

I tend to get some variation of the following question as I present at SQL Saturdays and work with clients:

What is the one book I should read to gain a good understanding of this topic?

There are many great books out there on business intelligence, data warehousing, and the Microsoft BI stack.  Here is my list of those that had a significant impact on my learning and career or that I consider the current defining book on the subject.

Data Warehousing/Dimensional Modeling –  The Data Warehouse Toolkit by Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross (link is to the newest edition of the book) defines dimensional modeling, walks through many common data scenarios and explains recommended data modeling and ETL practices. If you are designing, building, or enhancing a dimensional data warehouse, please read this book.

Master Data ManagementMaster Data Management by David Loshin thoroughly explains the resources required, helps clarify goals, and discusses the challenges of implementing a master data management program in your organization. The book also discusses architecture options and provides a roadmap that you can adapt to your project. I actually did an independent study class based upon this book as part of my MBA. I would recommend it to anyone just getting into MDM as a great platform agnostic view of MDM.

Agile Data WarehousingAgile Data Warehousing Project Management: Business Intelligence Systems Using Scrum by Ralph Hughes is an enlightening read about applying the agile process to data warehousing by someone who understands both.  Use this book to help set expectations at the beginning of projects, estimate effort, decide what should be included in an iteration, and provide value early in your project.  It addresses DW enhancements as well as new DW projects.

SSISProfessional Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Integration Services contains great information whether you are just learning SSIS or you just need to understand the new features in 2012. It covers each task and data flow component, offers tips for performance tuning, and provides great examples.  If you haven’t moved up to SQL Server 2012 yet, you will want to learn about the project deployment model, environment variables, and project-level connection managers, which are all covered in this book.

SSAS TabularMicrosoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: The BISM Tabular Model by Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari, and Chris Webb
There aren’t that many books available on SSAS tabular models since it is fairly new. This one got me through a couple of projects as I learned tabular cubes and DAX.  You will read almost every page while building your first tabular cube.  Then you will return to find helpful tips on writing DAX calculations.

Data Visualization –  Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few (link is to the newest edition of the book)
This book is what got me interested in data visualization.  The way I design reports and dashboards changed after I read it. I was torn whether to go with this book or Show Me the Numbers, but I think Information Dashboard Design covers the main points of Show Me the Numbers that I most want people to understand (it was also the first of Few’s books that I read). Today’s technology enables us to make reports that are high on shiny and low on actionable information. I see two troubling trends: reports that are just wide tables with several hundred lines that no one can read at one time, and really shiny dashboards with lots of bells and whistles that make them look really cool. This book will tell you there is an appropriate time and place for tables and dashboards.  And while visual appeal is good, it should not be at the expense of effectively communicating the intended message of the information.

Up Next

I just picked up some books that look very promising and may cause me to update my list above:

 

Happy reading!