Microsoft® Business Intelligence For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Adopting Microsoft Business Intelligence

In This Chapter

• Adopting Microsoft BI for your business

• Discovering Microsoft goodies you may already have

• Identifying your most important business processes

• Getting guidance from Microsoft BI experts

Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.

—Bill Gates

One of the best things about my job as a consultant is going into businesses and describing all of the ways Microsoft BI can help them. The Microsoft BI tools are impressive, but the first questions are usually about licensing costs. That's why I like to have members of the IT department in the presentations with the executives — to keep things in perspective and to make sure all parties are included. Having IT in the room helps to determine in a few minutes whether the company is already licensed for many of the Microsoft BI and presentation capabilities. Often IT is already using SQL Server and Microsoft Office, and the company already owns the licensing. Sure, if our clients want to get BI going for the entire enterprise, they may have to pony up for additional licensing. But if they want to try Microsoft BI features at the prototype level on a small scale, they may see some real value generated pretty quickly. All they need to figure out is how to implement the features they already have.

In this chapter, you walk through the general ideas and steps necessary in adopting ...