QlikView 11 for Developers: Effective analytics techniques for modern Business Intelligence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849686068 ISBN 13: 9781849686068

Publisher: Packt Publishing, 2012

Gain an in-depth understanding of how to build applications for Business Intelligence using QlikView

Key Features

• Learn to build applications for Business Intelligence while following a practical case - HighCloud Airlines. Each chapter develops parts of the application and it evolves throughout the book along with your own QlikView skills.
• Code bundle for each chapter can be accessed on your local machine without having to purchase a QlikView license.
• Hands-on approach allows you to build a QlikView application that integrates real data from several different sources and presents it in dashboards, analyses and reports.

In Detail

Business Intelligence technologies are a must-have in every business to make informed decisions and keep up-to speed with the ever-evolving markets. QlikView's disruptive technology makes it a key player and leader in the industry; with its flexibility and powerful analytics environment, building QlikView apps can be mastered by both business users as well as developers.

This book will help you learn QlikView Development from a basic to a practitioner level using a step-by-step approach in a practical environment, and apply proven best practices on each topic.

Throughout the book, we will build a QlikView app based on real data about Airline Operations that will help 'HighCloud Airlines' make informed business decisions and analysis-guided strategies. HighCloud Airlines executives are evaluating whether entering the US market is a good strategy and, if so, which line of business should they focus their investments on; they need QlikView to make the best decision.

The application will evolve chapter by chapter, along with your skills, going from a simple proof of concept to creating a Data Model, adding a custom style, building a Dashboard and handling and manipulating the source data via script. We will meet the 'HighCloud Airlines' requirement by using many different data visualization objects and time-saving techniques.

The whole application uses real data taken from the Bureau of Transportation's statistics of the US and encompasses both domestic and international airline operations. With three years worth of data, you will help HighCloud Airlines discover where people travel the most, which are the carriers with the greatest market share, what is the average load factor per airline, which aircraft is the most used to perform flights, which are the busiest airports, and a whole universe of new insights.

What you will learn

• Learn the techniques and best practices to transform data in QlikView via script
• Load data from disparate sources to build an associative Data Model
• Build robust data models and overcoming common modeling challenges
• Design data visualization objects to present performance measures with charts and tables
• Learn to use dimensions and expressions in QlikView objects
• Utilise QlikView's built-in aggregation functions to achieve complex calculations
• Create Point In Time reporting and achieving complex calculations using Set Analysis
• Design a consistent and interactive user interface
• Ensure your QlikView applications and data are protected
• Construct a data architecture that supports scalable QlikView deployments
• Learn time-saving techniques for making your QlikView development more efficient

Table of Contents

1. Meet QlikView
2. Seeing is Believing
3. Data Sources
4. Data Modeling
5. Styling Up
6. Building Dashboards
7. Scripting
8. Data Modeling Best Practices
9. Basic Data Transformation
10. Advanced Expressions
11. Set Analysis and Point In Time Reporting
12. Advanced Data Transformation
13. More on Visual Design and User Experience
14. Security

About the Author:

Miguel is a Business Intelligence consultant and QlikView Solutions Architect from Monterrey, Mexico. Having worked throughout many successful QlikView implementations, from inception through implementation, and performed across a wide variety of roles on each project, his experience and skills range from pre-sales to applications development and design, technical architecture, system administration, as well as functional analysis and overall project execution.

He currently holds the QlikView Designer and QlikView Developer Certifications, backed by QlikTech, for versions 9, 10 and 11.

His early-found passion for QlikView led him to create and host the iQlik's blog which has been proved to help many developers, both new comers and experienced, in their everyday development challenges. You can follow his blog updates via twitter on @GarciaMMiguel and @iQlik.

He works for DataIQ, a QlikView consulting firm with presence in Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Barry Harmsen is an independent Business Intelligence consultant based in the Netherlands. Originally from a background of traditional business intelligence, data warehousing and performance management, in 2008 Barry made the shift to QlikView and a more user-centric form of Business Intelligence. Since then he has completed many successful QlikView implementations in various industries, from Financial Services to Telecom, and from Manufacturing to Healthcare. Barry writes a QlikView blog at QlikFix.