Table Of ContentQlikView 11 for Developers
Develop Business Intelligence applications with
QlikView 11
Miguel García
Barry Harmsen
professional expertise distilled
P U B L I S H I N G
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
QlikView 11 for Developers
Copyright © 2012 Packt Publishing
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However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: November 2012
Production Reference: 1161112
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-84968-606-8
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Cover Image by Barry Harmsen ([email protected])
Credits
Authors Project Coordinators
Miguel García Sai Gamare
Barry Harmsen Anugya Khurana
Reviewers Proofreaders
Ralf Becher Joel Johnson
Steve Dark Bob Phillips
Stephen Redmond
Indexers
Monica Ajmera Mehta
Acquisition Editors
Rashmi Phadnis Rekha Nair
Joanne Fitzpatrick Tejal Soni
Lead Technical Editor Graphics
Ankita Shashi Aditi Gajjar
Technical Editor Production Coordinator
Nitee Shetty Nilesh R. Mohite
Copy Editors Cover Work
Aditya Nair Nilesh R. Mohite
Alfida Paiva
Foreword
At QlikTech we often describe ourselves as "an American company with a Swedish
soul". We celebrate our roots in the delightful and urbane university town of Lund
in southern Sweden; indeed, the development teams who built QlikView are still
mostly based there. We power our business from our headquarters and major offices
in Philadelphia, Boston, and San Mateo.
Nevertheless, we have more than a Swedish soul and a US business; in fact the
QlikView community of customers, partners, and consultants is truly international.
To understand that scope, you need only look at the authors of this excellent new
book. Barry Harmsen is well known in the Netherlands as an independent Business
Intelligence consultant. He is undoubtedly a star of the QlikTech community. Miguel
García, from Mexico, has worked globally consulting on QlikView.
The sheer range of experience that Barry and Miguel bring to this book is one
of its most valuable qualities. Their examples are carefully thought out, and
very thorough; but they also take time to explain the business background to
their thinking.
At QlikTech we often say that QlikView is not so much a tool for Business
Intelligence as it is a platform for Business Discovery. This is not just a marketing
term: we do not want only something different to say. In fact, every day we see
customers making discoveries—finding new information and insights—with
QlikView.
A traditional BI report simply tells you what you already know and is packaged and
formatted to keep that knowledge up-to-date and share it easily. A typical dashboard
enables you to track key indicators and, with some good design, also "drill down" to
understand the details or trends underlying those indicators. But Business Discovery
does this and more. Business Discovery enables users to formulate new questions
and explore the answers and implications with very few restrictions.
From the very first chapter, Barry and Miguel show you exactly how this happens.
Here, they introduce the associative model that makes QlikView so powerful, along
with the clues in the user interface (look for the green, white, and grey) that make
this model easy to use.
As they progress along a thoroughly practical path, the authors introduce you to
the mechanics of collecting data from sources. They guide you through numerous
techniques for transforming, modeling, and exploring this data. They provide practical
advice on best practices for security, visualization, and more complex analyses.
In short, for new developers, this is an excellent guide to get them started. For more
experienced users, the thoughtful examples and careful notes make this an excellent
companion in your work.
Donald Farmer,
VP Product Management, QlikTech.
About the Authors
Miguel García 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
applications development and design, to pre-sales, 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 passion for QlikView led him to create and host the iQlik's blog (http://iqlik.
wordpress.com). You can follow his blog updates via Twitter on @iQlik.
He currently works for DataIQ, a QlikView consulting firm with presence in
Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
I want to thank my family for their understanding and support
throughout all the projects and endeavors I undertake.
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 he made the shift to QlikView
and a more user-centric form of Business Intelligence. Since then he has completed
many successful QlikView implementations in many different industries, from
Financial Services to Telecoms, and from Manufacturing to Healthcare. He writes a
QlikView blog at QlikFix.com.
I would like to thank my daughter Lucie, my son Lex, and especially
my wife Miranda for their support and patience during the writing
of this book.
Acknowledgements
Writing a book is not a solo - or duo - exercise. This result could not have been
achieved without the contributions of a great team.
We want to thank Donald Farmer for writing the foreword and for helping us
acquire permission to use some of QlikTech's materials in this book. Thanks to John
Trigg for supporting this project as well.
Ralf Becher, Steve Dark, and Stephen Redmond performed the technical review
of this book. Their insightful comments and suggestions have added an extra
dimension of quality to the book. For that we thank them.
We also want to thank everyone on Packt's editorial team; Rashmi Phadnis, Joanne
Fitzpatrick, Sai Gamare, Anugya Khurana, Ankita Shashi, and Nitee Shetty. Their
guidance kept us focused and on track.
