About the Authors

James Serra is an independent consultant with the title Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence Architect. He is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 25 years of IT experience. He started his career as a software developer, then was a DBA for 12 years, and for the last seven years, he has been working extensively with Business Intelligence using the SQL Server BI stack. At different times, he has been a permanent employee, consultant, contractor, and owner of his own business. All these experiences, along with continuous learning, have helped him to develop many successful data warehouse and BI projects. He is a noted blogger and speaker, having presented at the PASS Summit and the PASS Business Analytics conference. His blog is at JamesSerra.com.

He has earned the MSCE: SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence, MSCE: SQL Server 2012 Data Platform, MCITP: SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Developer, MCITP: SQL Server 2008 Database Administrator, and MCITP: SQL Server 2008 Database. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from UNLV.

James resides in Houston, TX, with his wife Mary and three children: Lauren, RaeAnn, and James.

Bill Anton is an independent consultant whose primary focus is on designing and developing data warehouses and Business Intelligence solutions using the Microsoft BI stack. He has over 10 years of experience in the industry, and enjoys working closely with clients to overcome their data-related challenges. Bill is also an active member in the SQL Server community and enjoys sharing knowledge and helping others. When he's not working with the clients, he can usually be found answering questions on the MSDN forums, attending SQL PASS meetings, or writing blog posts at http://byoBI.com.