Unmerging Dimensions in Web Intelligence
One of the things that I really wish SAP had left alone during the rewrite of Web Intelligence between XI 3 and BI4 is the merging interface. The way you merged dimensions in XI 3.x was brilliant, and...
View ArticleUsing OLAP Functions to Extend Calendar Capabilities
I think it's probably a safe bet to suggest that just about every data warehouse (or even transactional system) has some sort of calendar table. In many cases, the unique key for this table might be...
View ArticleSAP Teched 2013 Kickoff
So far the keynote is heavy on HANA and associated elements (apps, Fiori, Intel collaboration) but not much being mentioned about analytics or BI. Sybase (including IQ) did get a nice plug as a lead-in...
View ArticleDiversified Semantic Layer Guest Appearance
Since this was actually recorded and published several weeks ago, I guess I'm late to the party. You may have already seen this if you follow the Diversified Semantic Layer, but in case you haven't, I...
View ArticleBig Universe + Security Profiles = Slow Query Generation
The actual origin of the concept of a "red herring" is unknown, but that doesn't stop it from causing grief while trying to diagnose a performance issue. If you are not familiar with the concept, a red...
View ArticleBig Data Is Hard To Define… and Vulnerable
Stephen Few weighed in on what is the proper definition of big data yesterday, and it's an interesting read. If you don't want to click through, I will summarize in one sentence: "Big data is nothing...
View ArticleLessons in Business Intelligence: Be Careful What You Wish For
Author Note: This post was originally a guest post published on "The Decision Factor" blog. Since that site seems to have disappeared I am re-posting it here. The original publication date was November...
View ArticleIt’s So Nice To Be In Nice
I'm going to be at the SAP Insider BI 2014 event in a few weeks in Nice, France. It's my third time travelling to the "old continent" to present at a BI conference, but my first in a long time. If...
View ArticleBI2014 Report Part 1
I spent yesterday at the BI2014 event and had a very productive day. I delivered a presentation that compared Universe Designer to Information Design Tool and discussed some of the pros and cons of...
View ArticleBusiness Intelligence Lessons From Star Trek
Author Note: This blog post was originally a guest entry at The Decision Factor, a site that appears to have ceased publication. I have reproduced it here. It was fun to write, and I hate to see good...
View ArticleBusiness Intelligence Lessons from Star Trek – Part Two
Author Note: This blog post was originally a guest entry at The Decision Factor, a site that appears to have ceased publication. I have reproduced it here. It was fun to write, and I hate to see good...
View ArticleDid Florida State Win National Championship By Using Big Data?
Florida State University won the 2014 college football national championship game this past January in a thrilling come-back victory over upstart Auburn. Did big data help? It turns out that a few...
View ArticleAirlines Could Save Millions in Fuel Costs By Providing Everyone An iPad
There's an interesting article over at fivethirtyeight.com that discusses various ways that airlines could save money. Like many airline profitability studies this one focuses on things that Southwest...
View ArticleYes, Virginia, You Can Refresh One Data Provider At A Time
For a while now I have been whining about the fact that there were features dropped from XI 3.1 during the upgrade to BI4, including how the dimension merging process works. Another gap? In XI 3.1 we...
View ArticleDagira Change Log Script Update Coming Soon
Hi folks... a few days ago I posted an update via a comment on my universe compare tool page regarding a small bug. It's not a huge deal, otherwise I am sure someone would have reported it by now. If...
View ArticleIt’s Alive!
Wait... what's this? Yes, my blog has a heart beat again. It has been a long time since I've been here, and I hope to fix that. I started this morning by reviewing all of the comments that were queued...
View ArticleYes, Virginia, You Can Switch a Multi-Source Universe Back to Single Source
What's the first decision you have to make when creating a new universe with the Information Design Tool (IDT)? You have to specify if you want a single-source or multi-source data foundation. Once...
View ArticleDowngrading from Multi-Source to Single Source
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had found a way to "downgrade" a multi-sourced universe to a single-source. I wanted to create a beautiful blog post with screen shots to walk everyone through the...
View Article“Working As Designed”
Those three little words: "Working as designed." I hate them. I don't know why it took me so long to experience this, as I found this topic on BOB that brought the issue to light years ago. That being...
View ArticleWhen Charts Go Bad…
I was reading about the FBI versus Apple issue earlier today and came across this graphic: Pie charts are viewed with anything from disdain to downright hatred at times. I don't want to open a debate...
View Article