Business Intelligence Resources

Sometimes you need to better understand a business intelligence (BI) issue before you can address it. The latest white papers from Microsoft can help you learn about a variety of topics ranging from the business value of performance management to technical guidance in architecting a Microsoft BI solution.

• Business Value
• Upgrade
• Search
• Interoperability
• Data Integration
• Reporting
• Data Integrity and Scalability
• Portals
• Analysis
• Metadata
• SQL Server 2008

How Intelligence Enterprises Deliver Performance Management
In spite of the billions of dollars invested in information technology, many organizations still struggle to provide a seamless flow of trusted information to their employees.

Business Intelligence Meets Business Process Management
Business processes are the foundation for a business's products, services, and brands. Business process management is a methodology to ensure that those processes support a common set of goals and objectives.

Microsoft Office Excel Services Business Value
See how Excel Services in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help your business get to a single version of the truth.

Spreadsheet Compliance in the 2007 Microsoft Office System
See how Excel Services in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help your business get to a single version of the truth.

Why Upgrade to SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence: A Technical Overview
SQL Server 2005 delivers technology that integrates seamlessly and scales to support your enterprise demands. SQL Server 2005 can take your organization to the next level of BI with integrated tools, faster performance, more reliability and availability, and an easy, low-cost upgrade path.

Extending Enterprise Search Capabilities to your BI Applications
Quickly get up and running on the key concepts of delivering BI search using features in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SQL Server 2005. As an added bonus, download the sample content below and walk through the process step by step with the white paper.
Download sample content

Accessing External Data Sources with Analysis Services
Learn about different client object models supported by Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services when connecting to relational data sources.

Using Reporting Services with SAP NetWeaver BI
Learn tips and tricks that can help you make the most of the integration between Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and SAP NetWeaver BI.

Integrating Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SAP
See how enhanced integration between Microsoft Dynamics and the 2007 Microsoft Office system offers applications that provide critical data in an easy-to-understand format to help your organization gain deeper business insight.

Microsoft Dynamics and the 2007 Office System
Learn how to bring the power of SAP assets into the tools and applications that information workers are familiar with. Read about the innovations in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 that make interoperability with SAP easier than ever.

Integrating the SharePoint Server 2007 Business Data Catalog and SAP Enterprise for Search
Find out how you can use the innovations in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to make searching with SAP Enterprise easier than ever.

Integrating the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Business Data Catalog with SAP NetWeaver
Learn about using the innovations in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to make interoperability with SAP NetWeaver easier than ever.

Configure Office SharePoint Server for SAP iView Web Parts
Learn how to use the integration between SAP and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 by using SAP iView Web Parts to display SAP data in SharePoint sites.

Data Integration Solutions for Master Data Management
Learn how application developers can use Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services functionality to address the data integration challenges of Master Data Management applications.

ETL Performance: Unisys and Microsoft Speed Up the Process
Learn about an optimized ETL solution that can support even the most demanding enterprise BI initiatives.

SQL Server Integration Services with Oracle Database 10g
This paper focuses on the advantages of using SQL Server Integration Services to extract data from heterogeneous sources and import data into Microsoft® SQL Server™ for Business Intelligence (BI) analysis and reporting.

Accessing large scale ROLAP environments with PerformancePoint Server 2007
This white paper is for PerformancePoint Server administrators and IT professionals who want guidance about how to develop and deploy PerformancePoint Monitoring Server applications utilizing ROLAP data sources built with Analysis Services and Teradata.

Designing and Delivering Rich Office Reports with SQL Server Reporting Services 2005 and SoftArtisans OfficeWriter
Discover how to use Reporting Services and SoftArtisans OfficeWriter to design and deliver full-fidelity, data-driven Office Excel and Office Word reports.

Using SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services with Hyperion Essbase
Learn how Reporting Services can be used to build high-quality reports against Hyperion Essbase sources.

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
Read about how Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services provides a complete server-based platform designed to support a wide variety of reporting needs, including managed enterprise reporting, ad hoc reporting, embedded reporting, and Web-based reporting.

Handling Data Integrity Issues in Analysis Services
Learn about common data integrity issues and tools in SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services that can help you easily handle them.

Strategies for Partitioning Relational Data Warehouses in Microsoft SQL Server
Find out why, when, and how to design, implement, and maintain partitioned tables using SQL Server 2005.

Using Excel Web Services in a SharePoint Web Part
Learn how to create a Web Part that can be deployed to Office SharePoint Server 2007 and how to use Excel Web Services to perform custom calculations.

An Introduction to SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
Discover how SQL Server 2008 Integration Services (SSIS) can help information technology departments meet data integration requirements in their companies. Real-world scenarios are included.

SQL Server Integration Services with Oracle Database 10g
This paper focuses on the advantages of using SQL Server Integration Services to extract data from heterogeneous sources and import data into Microsoft® SQL Server™ for Business Intelligence (BI) analysis and reporting.

Improving Performance in Excel 2007
Learn about the increased worksheet capacity in Office Excel 2007 and techniques you can use to design worksheets that can help improve calculation performance.

Excel Services Technical Overview
Read about Excel Services and how it works with Office Excel 2007 to help provide robust and secure shared workbook solutions.

SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Overview
Get a high-level look at features in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services that build on the significant investments in Analysis Services 2005 around scalability, advanced analytics, and Microsoft Office interoperability.

SQL Server 2005 BI Metadata
Learn about metadata management in SQL Server 2005.

An Introduction to New Data Warehouse Scalability Features in SQL Server 2008
Get a high-level look at the new performance and manageability features in SQL Server 2008 that offer a major advance in meeting the data warehouse needs of the largest enterprises.

SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Overview
Read this high-level overview of features in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services that build on the significant investments in Analysis Services 2005 around scalability, advanced analytics, and Microsoft Office interoperability.

Predictive Analysis with SQL Server 2008
Learn about how the complete and intuitive set of data mining tools in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 can help provide predictive analysis for all users, insight at every step of the data lifecycle, and data mining awareness in every application.

Business Intelligence in SQL Server 2008
Find out how Microsoft SQL Server 2008 makes business intelligence (BI) available to everyone through deep integration with Microsoft Office, providing the right tool, to the right user, at the right price.

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
Read about how Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services provides a complete server-based platform designed to support a wide variety of reporting needs, including managed enterprise reporting, ad hoc reporting, embedded reporting, and Web-based reporting.

An Introduction to SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
Discover how SQL Server 2008 Integration Services (SSIS) can help information technology departments meet data integration requirements in their companies. Real-world scenarios are included.