This Month's Featured Course(s): Business Intelligence Intro Courses
SAS Education's BI Expert Decodes Entry-level Offerings
Is your organization transitioning to SAS 9? Do you need a big-picture view of the software's capabilities? SAS Education offers two entry-level business intelligence (BI) courses that may be of interest to you: Overview of SAS Business Intelligence & Data Integration Applications and Introduction to SAS Business Intelligence Applications for Reporting & Analysis. Both courses are geared toward beginner BI users and both require the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform.So how do you choose which course best meets your needs?
Training and Technical Services Manager Eric Rossland recently took some time to help answer that question. Rossland has developed several of SAS' BI courses, teaches most of them, and manages SAS Education's Business Intelligence team. He has used SAS software since 1987 and provided training services for SAS since 1998.
SAS Training Report: Let's talk first about what these courses have in common.
Eric Rossland: Both courses cover several of the BI and data integration applications that make up the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform. Both courses provide students with hands-on experience using these applications for a variety of tasks including reporting, analysis, data creation and basic platform administration.EDU: So how are they different? Is it mostly about learning styles and format?
ER: The learning style and format of the courses are different. Overview of SAS Business Intelligence & Data Integration Applications is a traditional two-day, instructor-based course while Introduction to SAS Business Intelligence Applications for Reporting & Analysis is a three-session Live Web course.But there are also differences in the courses' content. Business Intelligence & Data Integration Applications covers information for all of the various types of users of the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform from administrators to information consumers. This course also provides students with the ability to learn the steps to build a data mart using SAS Data Integration Studio and SAS OLAP Cube Studio.
Applications for Reporting & Analysis, on the other hand, is focused on the applications that information consumers will use to interact with data in an existing data mart and only briefly mentions the applications used to create and administer the various data sources and BI content. This course does not cover SAS Data Integration Studio, SAS OLAP Cube Studio and the SAS Information Delivery Portal.
EDU: What factors should students consider in determining which course to take?
ER: Anyone who wants an introduction to all aspects of the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform, including creation and surfacing of data, should attend Overview of SAS Business Intelligence & Data Integration Applications. Students who are only interested in consuming information using the BI applications may want to attend Introduction to SAS Business Intelligence Applications for Reporting & Analysis instead.One important point I would like to make is that the material covered in the Reporting & Analysis course is also covered in the Business Intelligence and Data Integration course so there is no need to take both courses.
The main consideration in selecting one class over the other may also be course format -- instructor-based classroom training or Live Web training -- and the ability to attend a class in person or via the Web. Of course, if you have multiple people in your organization that require this training, you can also schedule either course at your site.
| Course Name | Format | Offered |
| Overview of SAS Business Intelligence & Data Integration Applications | Instructor-led, classroom-based course Two full days |
Schedule |
| Introduction to SAS Business Intelligence Applications for Reporting & Analysis | Live Web Three half-day sessions |
Schedule |