Database Reference
In-Depth Information
geTTIng STARTeD
In this chapter you create a representative data set like those you use through-
out the topic. So make sure you have all the sample iles downloaded for the
topic to follow along as we move forward.
your FIrST DATA SET
When creating your first data set, it is important to get advice from others in
your organizations about an easy data set to begin working with. Alternatively,
you can start with some of the samples included in this topic or with other free
data from sites such as Data.gov, infochimps.com, and others where free data
is available for download. Working with data that is familiar is often a good
exercise because it helps reduce confusion for folks new to these techniques.
Check with your developers, analysts, and administrators for data that you're
allowed to access, or pair up with someone working on a data project and
offer some “free” help to get some exposure to the processes used in your
organization for this type of work. This exposure can be invaluable when learn-
ing how to better visualize data because you'll have additional perspective
on what folks like and dislike when it comes to reviewing their information.
youR FIRST DATA SeT
In this chapter you work with a simple and freely available database from
Microsoft called AdventureWorks. You can download this database at
http://
msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/
. Th
e file you want is the SQL Server
2012 DW database. When it downloads you will need to attach the files to a
SQL Server instance. If you have trouble with this please see your database
administrator. This will work with all editions of SQL Server 2012.
Other chapters use data sets provided by the authors with the topic, and
obtained from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation, so be sure to
review the sections in each chapter that cover installing and configuring those
data sets along with the instructions provided in Chapter 3 for installing all
the data sets at one time. Installing them all at once will provide the best
