Microsoft® Business Intelligence For Dummies®

Introduction

Any fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.

It's an old, tired joke among people in the armed services that "military intelligence is a contradiction in terms." And yet, intelligence in the military sense — accurate, timely information that can help produce an effective strategy — is more important these days than ever before. As organizations continue to pursue their goals in an economy that seems more like a battlefield, it's no wonder that they, too, feel the need for reliable information based on real and readily usable data — business intelligence. Unfortunately, gathering intelligence (let alone using it) takes time — which is in short supply, and sometimes the technology that was introduced to help a business meet its goals just adds to the confusion. Acronyms, obscure phrases, and seemingly unrelated buzzwords proliferate.

Hey, even "buzzword" used to be a buzzword, but now it has a Merriam-Webster definition: "an important-sounding, usually technical word or phrase, often of little meaning, used chiefly to impress laymen." (Wow! I'm impressed.) That is not to say that Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) is full of technologies that are of little meaning. On the contrary! Microsoft BI is chock-full of some of the most useful software components you will ever use. Microsoft BI, like any other software realm, has a dizzying array of acronyms and terms that are used by those ...