Excel 2013 brings forward an array of new and exciting features at the finger tips of the data analysts, ranging from a shiny new visualization and exploratory data analysis platform (PowerView) to a number of new pivoting features as well as a powerful in-memory data modelling engine (PowerPivot) enabled by default.

Among all these features, the new Excel delivers a few different options for visualizing geographical and location based data, each visualization technique serving a different purpose (with a specific set of features) or targeting a particular demographic segment of the over-all Excel user-base. This is a short post introducing some techniques for visualizing geo information in Excel.

Read more →

There has been a lot of buzz on Twitter going around today about Microsoft’s new Mobile BI Platform, dubbed Project Helix, which was unveiled at Microsoft’s SharePoint event last week.

The screenshots originated from Just Blindbaek, and shows some aspects of the new Mobile BI Platform that is due to be released in 2013, if Microsoft’s Mobile BI roadmap is still accurate.

Read more →

Mobile BI is clearly on our door-steps, with many organizations starting to integrate a level of Mobile Business Intelligence into their reporting and analytics road-maps, although the uptake has not been as strong as one might expect, this is mainly because of the following reasons:

• The landscape of the Mobile BI reporting suites is still very new with only a few names out there that offer such solutions
• Integrating a level of Mobile BI into your report offering could mean an increased level of complexity in terms of data preparation.
• Due to a low number of providers, Mobile BI tends to be more expensive than what one might expect, which could increase the risks of a project revolving around such a system, causing managers to be deterred away from taking the first step, even if that steps allows for a competitive edge.

But this is all about to change, Mobile BI is becoming as easy as installing an App on your Tablet.
Read more →

Ok, this might be abit of a general question, as am sure anyone who found themselves in this blog knows a thing or two about BI, but in this post I will try to give a more holistic overview of what is a full Business Intelligence offering, and what dimensions constitutes a full analytical offering. Additionally, having a BI infrastructure is all well and good, but at the end of the day, the over-all goal of any BI platform is to identify and act upon the data as quickly as possible, when the data is most useful for strategic, tactical or operational business decisions, a concept that we will try and explore in this article.

Read more →