SAP BW Certification: A Business Information Warehouse Study Guide Review

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SAP BW Certification: A Business Information Warehouse Study Guide ReviewThis review was written by a consultant, who can look back on 8 years of SAP-experience and almost 2 years of experience with SAP-BW.
This book targets consultants, who want to cross-check their knowledge, before they take their multiple choice test for the SAP-BW-Certificate. It does contain the orginal Multiple-Choice-Tests for SAP-BW 2.1., and it does contain information on SAP-BBW. It is useful, but you should consider the following shortcomings:
(1) This book is on SAP-BW 2.1, but the most up-to-date release is 3.1. There were many changes since then
(2)If you are just a BW-User, who wants to know, which button to push and which report to start, you should consider other books.This book has got few screenshots and it is definitely not for novices. You can use it, to test knowledge,but it is not comprehensive enough, to teach new knowledge.
(3) If you are a systems administrator or a practitioner, who wants in depths technical information, but who does NOT want a certificate, you should consider other books.
Examples: Kevin McDonalds book on BW or a german publication by Christian Mehrwald (SAP BW Relase 3.0)published by dpunkt-Verlag (Mehrwalds book was written in german and to the best of my knowledge it has not been translated yet, though it is the best book on that topic I know) .
With all due respect towards Mrs Roze, her book is rather thin (260 Pages), does use a large letter type, has got many blank spaces and devotes 20-30% on very general topics (OLTP versus OLAP, Exam preparation etc). The structure of the book is rather erratic. I got along with it, as I have got experience, but a novice might be forced to flip pages forwards and backwards a lot. Moreover, this book does not contain that type of hands-on-advice on administration, that can be found in more advanced books on BW. The scientific content of the chapters varies a lot.
Some are too simple, others discuss very esoteric topics, which you hardly need, except in your exam. Even if you are lucky and pass the test, because you memorize all questions, this is not enough to use BW in you daily work.
(4) I agree with the previous reviewer, that there are mistakes in the multiplechoice-tests, that some answers are definitely wrong, and that some tests ask for information, that one can not find in the corresponding chapter.
SUMMARY: This book is still useful, but only for experienced consultants, who want to get their SAP-BW-Certificate,and moreover it has got some serious flaws.SAP BW Certification: A Business Information Warehouse Study Guide Overview
Provides an overview to the exam's topics, including a "Need to Know" list that identifies areas that must be understood in-depth.
Includes exercises that can be performed, usually with a small test BW server.
Contains practice test questions that assess the readers knowledge of the current exam topics.
Serves as a complement to the classroom training provided by SAP.


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Hands-On Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Second Edition Review

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Hands-On Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Second Edition ReviewThe database used in this book is not installing and keep on giving me an error when I try to install it. book has pretty good examples to practice. But the book became useless to me as I can not practice the examples given in the book.
Hands-On Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Second Edition Overview
Transform Raw Data Into Meaningful Business Intelligence with SSIS
Deploy and manage high-performance data transformation solutions across your enterprise using the step-by-step techniques in this fully revised guide. Hands-On Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services, Second Edition explains the tools and methods necessary to extract conclusive business intelligence from disparate corporate data. Learn how to build and secure packages, load and cleanse data, establish workflow, and optimize performance. Real-world examples, detailed illustrations, and hands-on exercises are included throughout this practical resource.

Build SSIS packages using the Import and Export Wizard and Business Intelligence Development Studio
Create Loop and Task Host Containers with Control Flow Designer
Administer SSIS from SQL Server Management Studio and dutil
Secure packages using encryption, roles, signatures, and permissions
Build-in memory lookups and transformations using the Data Flow Engine
Extend functionality using custom scripts and ActiveX components
Use SCD transformations to load data warehouses and data marts
Learn to build a Star Schema and Parallel Data Warehouse
Migrate Data Transformation Services 2000 and SSIS 2005 packages


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Pentaho Solutions: Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing with Pentaho and MySQL Review

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Pentaho Solutions: Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing with Pentaho and MySQL ReviewJos and Roland have done a great job explaining the tools and technology of the Pentaho BI Platform in the context of building real world Business Intelligence applications. They have taken some very complicated and technical concepts and presented them in an easy to follow case study. The case study they chose is simple to understand yet filled with the same kinds of real world complexities that make BI applications difficult to deliver.
The "Getting Started with Pentaho" section has all the information and documentation you wish you could find neatly arranged on the Pentaho community site. They do an excellent job explaining the entire Pentaho application stack from collecting data to presenting information. The book could have stopped here, being the Pentaho missing manual, and still have been worth buying.
The next section, "Dimensional Modeling and Data Warehouse Design" is an very good introduction/refresher on hows and whys of building data warehouses, data marts and OLAP cubes. Again they have taken a subject that is broad and complex and presented it in a way that is easy to understand and apply. Where appropriate, they refer the reader to other resources available for more in-depth coverage of specific topics.
A data warehouse is useless until you can reliably get good, complete and accurate data into it. The section on "ETL and Data Integration" is another section that could easily stand on it's own. After an introduction to ETL and Pentaho Data Integration, they show how to populate the database used for the case study including populating time dimensions. Other real world topics touched upon include; change data capture, data validation, data cleansing and issues with generating dimension tables.
The last section covers transforming data into information via metadata, reporting, analysis services, data mining and dashboards. Each topic is covered by an introduction, explanation of the tools available and examples using data from the case study.
I like the way Roland and Jos combine general BI knowledge with tutorials on the Pentaho applications and tie it all together with an interesting case study giving you a chance to stop and play as you follow along. I also enjoyed the many side notes with tidbits of history and pointers to other resources. Overall I found this book both informative and enjoyable.
I'm a fifteen year veteran of building BI software, one of the original Pentaho developers and am currently the Pentaho community guy. I'm not affiliated with Jos, Roland or Wiley and receive no benefit from this book beyond the satisfaction of having Pentaho software be so well represented.
Doug Moran
Pentaho
Pentaho Solutions: Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing with Pentaho and MySQL OverviewYour all-in-one resource for using Pentaho with MySQL for Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
Open-source Pentaho provides business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing solutions at a fraction of the cost of proprietary solutions. Now you can take advantage of Pentaho for your business needs with this practical guide written by two major participants in the Pentaho community.
The book covers all components of the Pentaho BI Suite. You'll learn to install, use, and maintain Pentaho-and find plenty of background discussion that will bring you thoroughly up to speed on BI and Pentaho concepts.
Of all available open source BI products, Pentaho offers the most comprehensive toolset and is the fastest growing open source product suite
Explains how to build and load a data warehouse with Pentaho Kettle for data integration/ETL, manually create JFree (pentaho reporting services) reports using direct SQL queries, and create Mondrian (Pentaho analysis services) cubes and attach them to a JPivot cube browser
Review deploying reports, cubes and metadata to the Pentaho platform in order to distribute BI solutions to end-users
Shows how to set up scheduling, subscription and automatic distribution

The companion Web site provides complete source code examples, sample data, and links to related resources.

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Data Modeling Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Business and IT Professionals, 2nd Edition Review

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Data Modeling Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Business and IT Professionals, 2nd Edition ReviewI think very highly of Data Modeling Made Simple (the first edition), so when this second edition came out I had great expectations - which were not only met but also exceeded. Although this second edition is more than twice the number of pages as the first edition, it is still an easy read.
Here are my favorite things about this book:
1.Clearly delivers on its ten objectives. Read the back cover and you will understand the key takeaways you will get after reading the book. After I read the book, I went back over each of these objectives and I was able to check each of these off as accomplished. Everything from justifying the model to building data models to assessing data models was knowledge I gleaned from the book. If you are interested in just one or a subset of these ten objectives, read the Read Me First section and it will reference the sections and chapters you need to read to meet your specific objective.
2.More examples more thoroughly presented. The first edition took a business card example from beginning to end. This edition further expands the business card example and adds several other examples including an ice cream example and many real world examples. The author uses spreadsheets to illustrate many modeling examples, and I too have found spreadsheets to be a very effective way to communicate data and business rules.
3.Data Model Scorecard. The first edition touched on the Scorecard which is the author's technique to reviewing a data model. This second edition goes into detail including providing the template which I can use on my modeling assignments to review my models.
4.Treating a dimensional model as more than just a physical data model. Many texts treat the dimensional as only a physical data model yet there is a business level that this book illustrates at both the subject area and logical levels.
5.Getting other Greats for free. Bill Inmon, Graeme Simsion, and Michael Blaha have all written chapters in this book. I have already starting using Simsion's technique of a diary on my assignments and found it very useful.
My only area for improvement would be to expand the book with more modeling conventions such as ORM and IDEF1X. There is a chapter on UML though that I did find informative. I question however if adding these extra notations would detract from the book's simplicity.
Overall, an excellent read that I would recommend to every business or techie that works with data.
Data Modeling Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Business and IT Professionals, 2nd Edition OverviewData Modeling Made Simple will provide the business or IT professional with a practical working knowledge of data modeling concepts and best practices. This book is written in a conversational style that encourages you to read it from start to finish and master these ten objectives:
Know when a data model is needed and which type of data model is most effective for each situation
Read a data model of any size and complexity with the same confidence as reading a book
Build a fully normalized relational data model, as well as an easily navigatable dimensional model
Apply techniques to turn a logical data model into an efficient physical design
Leverage several templates to make requirements gathering more efficient and accurate
Explain all ten categories of the Data Model Scorecard
Learn strategies to improve your working relationships with others
Appreciate the impact unstructured data has, and will have, on our data modeling deliverables
Learn basic UML concepts
Put data modeling in context with XML, metadata, and agile development


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Pentaho Kettle Solutions: Building Open Source ETL Solutions with Pentaho Data Integration Review

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Pentaho Kettle Solutions: Building Open Source ETL Solutions with Pentaho Data Integration ReviewI wanted to do this review much sooner but I've been too busy using the book.
Jos and Roland have taken the proven formula they used in Pentaho Solutions and focused it on ETL and Kettle, AKA Pentaho Data Integration. Their magic formula is to seamlessly mix a product users guide with equal parts of real world examples and best practices training. With the addition of Matt Casters, Mr Kettle himself, the depth of knowledge in the book is now equal to it's breadth. The result is a book that you can read cover to cover and learn about all aspects of building and deploying ETL solutions, and is equally useful as a day to day reference.
The book is divided into five parts starting with an obligatory Getting Started. Getting Started, however, goes beyond the traditional "here's how to install it guide" and presents a nice tutorial on the sometimes confusing terminology and practices used in the data world. It explains how Kettle fits into this world and talks about the key concepts in Kettle. The first part ends with an excellent example ETL solution to populate a non trivial yet easily understood star schema. The example covers fact and dimension tables, change data capture, generating date dimensions and the ETL jobs and transforms required to populate the data.
The organization of the second part of the book is based on the 34 subsystems of ETL as defined by Ralph Kimball in "The Data Warehouse Lifecycle Toolkit", considered by many (including me) as the bible of data warehousing. For each subsystem, Kettle Solutions refers to the original chapters that describe the topic and provides examples on how to solve those issues using Kettle. It is a must have for anyone struggling with the concepts presented in the Kimble book. For the rare cases that Kettle does not have a straight forward solution, the book points you to other open source software that can get the job done. The authors stay true to the task of helping the ETL developer solve real problems regardless of whether Kettle is the complete solution or not.
The first two parts take up about half the book and if the authors stopped there, it would be worthy of at least 4 stars. But like most software development, the base code (in this case, the jobs and transforms) are the easy part and usually the most fun. The real hard stuff comes when you have deploy your solution into the real world, keep it running, add new capability, explain it to others and be confident that it is actually working. Part three walks you through the ETL lifecycle with best practices and pitfalls by 3 people who do (or have done) this for a living. Everything is covered from development and testing through documentation, monitoring, migrating and auditing. Part four finishes what part 3 started by covering performance tuning and scaling with topics like clustering, partitioning, cloud and real time ETL.
The last part is my favorite since it covers the advanced stuff like writing Kettle plugins, complex data formats, integrating data from web services, dynamic ETL, embedding Kettle, etc. There are many ways to extend Kettle via defined APIs and Kettle Solutions covers them all.
As you can probably tell I like the book and I use it often. I have the luxury of being able to ask Matt questions when I run into trouble. After writing the book, he now answers "it's in the book" and needless to say, it is. I can honestly say, having this book sitting on your desk is better than having Matt sitting on your desk. Kettle Solutions is also available for Kindle which, much to my surprise, has proven very useful. I use it from my iPhone and Mac via Kindle app and despite some of the Kindle app limitations like cut and paste and a good search, it is always available as a reference. The links are live which is a bonus.
I'm a fifteen year veteran of building BI software, one of the original Pentaho developers and am currently the Pentaho community guy. I work with Matt Casters, I'm not professionally affiliated with Jos, Roland or Wiley and receive no benefit from this book beyond the satisfaction of having Pentaho software be so well represented. I do consider all three of them good personal friends and I provide this review with the risk that it may greatly inflate their heads.
Doug Moran
PentahoPentaho Kettle Solutions: Building Open Source ETL Solutions with Pentaho Data Integration OverviewA complete guide to Pentaho Kettle, the Pentaho Data lntegration toolset for ETL
This practical book is a complete guide to installing, configuring, and managing Pentaho Kettle. If you're a database administrator or developer, you'll first get up to speed on Kettle basics and how to apply Kettle to create ETL solutions—before progressing to specialized concepts such as clustering, extensibility, and data vault models. Learn how to design and build every phase of an ETL solution.
Shows developers and database administrators how to use the open-source Pentaho Kettle for enterprise-level ETL processes (Extracting, Transforming, and Loading data)
Assumes no prior knowledge of Kettle or ETL, and brings beginners thoroughly up to speed at their own pace
Explains how to get Kettle solutions up and running, then follows the 34 ETL subsystems model, as created by the Kimball Group, to explore the entire ETL lifecycle, including all aspects of data warehousing with Kettle
Goes beyond routine tasks to explore how to extend Kettle and scale Kettle solutions using a distributed "cloud"

Get the most out of Pentaho Kettle and your data warehousing with this detailed guide—from simple single table data migration to complex multisystem clustered data integration tasks.

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The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleanin Review

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The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleanin ReviewIn this book Ralph lays down a framework for constructing the DW ETL. This is useful not just in constructing quality ETL processes, but also because Ralph's works tend to 'set' standards in data warehousing. The format of this book is similar to the Lifecycle Toolkit. Ralph takes a very staged, logical approach to the material. Some sections are just great e.g. the chapters on Extraction and Development. A small amount of the material is repeated from the Lifecycle Toolkit and Dimensional Modeling books, but no more than is needed to make this book stand on its own.
Also like the other books, this one takes a vendor agnostic approach. While this may increase the shelf-life of the book, I would have appreciated some comparisons between the major vendors out there today.
Overall: I recommend this one as a buy, even if you have Ralph's other books.
The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleanin Overview
Cowritten by Ralph Kimball, the world's leading data warehousing authority, whose previous books have sold more than 150,000 copies
Delivers real-world solutions for the most time- and labor-intensive portion of data warehousing-data staging, or the extract, transform, load (ETL) process
Delineates best practices for extracting data from scattered sources, removing redundant and inaccurate data, transforming the remaining data into correctly formatted data structures, and then loading the end product into the data warehouse
Offers proven time-saving ETL techniques, comprehensive guidance on building dimensional structures, and crucial advice on ensuring data quality


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