Note: Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to reschedule this session. The new date is the 16th of February, 2012. Same place, same time. We apologise for this reschedule.

Traditional Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence projects have a nasty reputation for being slow, restrictive and end up over-promising yet under-delivering. This is generally because designing data marts, producing ETL specifications, loading a warehouse, building cubes and so on can be complex and by nature take time and significant effort.

To make matters worse, most organisations have not clearly defined key metrics that are critical performance measures for their business. Key users can also find it difficult to state clear requirements prior to project kickoff. This is especially true when introducing new, unfamiliar technology. However, the time honoured concept of gathering careful requirements before undertaking any development still holds true. Still, many BI professionals embark on projects using a bottom-up approach i.e. building a warehouse by looking only at the source systems - not by designing to meet analytical and reporting needs. This practise is largely driven by stakeholders wanting a solution yesterday.

Enter PowerPivot and Sharepoint! This session will show you how to incorporate these technologies into well established processes to deliver rapid dimensional model prototypes and dashboards. These serve to familiarise users with the tools and also to validate models and refine requirements in an iterative fashion. Do this without writing any ETL or building any formal cubes. Gain favour with your project stakeholders within weeks... not months or years! The technique can even be applied when extending existing warehouses. What could be better.

The target audience is anyone who wants to realise the potential of rapid prototyping â€" both BI consumers and implementers. Knowledge of dimensional modelling, Powerpivot or Sharepoint is not required but is useful since the session will consist of a live end-to-end demonstration to support the theoretical content.

Bhavik is a true end-to-end Microsoft Business Intelligence specialist. He has been working with the SQL Server Business Intelligence stack from SQL 2000 onwards now with over 6 years dedicated to the platform across both SQL Server and Sharepoint. He currently leads a team of Microsoft BI consultants at CSG in Perth and has implemented solutions for a wide range of clients and industries across Australia. Last year he was announced as the Microsoft vTSP (Virtual Technical Solutions Professional) for BI in WA in recognition of passion and deep knowledge of the toolset. Bhavik has presented Microsoft BI Topics at TechEd AU 2011, Sharepoint Saturday Perth 2011 and Sharepoint Saturday Melbourne 2011. He is also gearing up for regular presentations at the Perth SQL user group.

CSG is going to be supplying attendees with Pizza and cold drinks, so please ensure that you register for this event.

See you there!