I’m delighted to announce that I’m holding a pre-conference one-day training in Data Visualisation in SQL Server 2012 in Cambridge on 7th September, 2012. For more details, and to register for the precon, please click here and to register for SQL Saturday 162 event, please click here.
My thanks go to SQLPass and to Mark Broadbent in particular, who have worked extremely hard in order to put on this community event. Here is an outline for my precon and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any other queries!
If you want to conduct advanced, business-oriented Business Intelligence analysis in SQL Server 2012, then it is essential to understand data visualisation.
Using the new SQL Server 2012 Tabular Model and PowerPivot as data sources, this course will aim to teach about the new self-service Business Intelligence features in SQL Server 2012 whilst focusing on data visualisation. We will also look at SharePoint, and what it can offer.
This session is aimed at Excel and/or Business Intelligence developers who want to make informed data visualisation decisions about reporting, with supporting cognitive psychology theory where relevant. The takeaways will focus on:
- Finding patterns in the data.
- Further Data Visualisations – learn about visualisations that are perhaps not so well-known including Stephen Few’s bullet charts and Tufte’s Sparklines in SSRS.
- The complexities of displaying multivariate data. For example, we will look at Tufte’s “small multiples” in Power View and in Reporting Services.
- Putting it all together: Considerations for Dashboards with PerformancePoint
9:00 Welcome and What is data visualisation? What it is not, and why is it important? What products make up the SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence stack?
09:30 Tabular Model – what is it? When is it best used? What distinguishes it from multidimensional cubes?
10:30 PowerPivot – what is it? When is it best used? What distinguishes it from multidimensional cubes? What are the new features in SQL Server 2012?
11:15 Break
11:30 Finding patterns in the data. You will learn about the process involved in finding patterns in the data, looking at some of the more well-known data visualisation examples.
– We will learn about: Power View, using PowerPivot and the Tabular model as a basis.
– We will also look at tips and tricks in optimising Tabular Models so that they can render Power View effectively.
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Further Data Visualisations. In this section, you will learn about visualisations and how they are best used. This includes bullet charts, and other visualisations based on Tufte’s “small multiples” such as sparklines. We will learn:
– We will look at PerformancePoint, and how we can use PowerPivot as a basis and ‘gotchas’ in using PowerPivot as a basis for PerformancePoint
– We will look at Excel Services, and how we can provision self-service using the Tabular Model and PowerPivot as the basis for Excel and Excel Services
– We will look at other helpful visualisations such as sparklines, bullet charts and marimekko charts.
– We will look at other helpful visualisations such as sparklines, bullet charts and marimekko charts.
15:00 Multivariate statistical data. In this section, we will cover the complexities of displaying multivariate data since is potentially more complex. Here, we look at ways of displaying multivariate data such as table lenses and crosstab arrangements of Tufte’s ‘small multiples’. We will use Reporting Services as a technology to surface multi-dimensional data.
15:15 Break
16:15 Dashboards – Putting it all together. We will look at different ways of implementing Dashboards, KPIs and other visualisations. This will involve a range of technologies, from KPIs in PowerPivot, to the new features in Power View.
17:30 Close