Visual Intelligence: Microsoft Tools and Techniques for Visualizing Data

Introduction

Visualization, both in the form of traditional business intelligence (BI) and as infographics (such as those of The New York Times) has become a vital part of communication in business, in the media, and in government.

Much work has been done on the art and science of visualization, and just as much has been done on specific technology implementations. However, less work has been done on the intersection between these, making it difficult to choose the best tool to implement a specific visualization. Visual Intelligence: Microsoft Tools and Techniques for Visualizing Data bridges this gap, helping you to choose the right visualization and the right tool to implement the visualization, and then to guide you in the best way to implement that visualization.

Overview of the Book and Technology

This book focuses on the Microsoft platform. With the ubiquity of Microsoft products such as Excel, and to a smaller extent SQL Server and SharePoint, almost everyone has access to a Microsoft tool. Indeed, anyone working on a Windows PC can freely download SQL Server Express and gain access to Reporting Services.

The biggest challenge in the Microsoft BI platform is the spread of the capabilities across the platform. With products from the SQL team and the Office team often overlapping, it can be challenging to know when to use one tool as opposed to another, and there is often a tendency to try to make just one tool (most commonly Excel!) fit all use cases. In this book, you find ...