About the Reviewers

Darshan Donni has worked with the Cognos BI third-level support team for IBM India Software Labs. Prior to this, he worked with the Cognos BI second-level support team for Cognizant Technology Solutions.

He blogs actively on http://cognoscommentary.blogspot.com. He has participated in numerous customer engagements for IBM clients.

James D. Miller is an accomplished Senior Project Leader, Application/Systems Architect and Developer. He is an IBM Certified Professional with over 30 years of extensive experience in BI, web architecture and design, systems analysis, GUI design and testing, database modeling. He is also well-versed with systems utilizing IBM Cognos TM1 (including TM1 rules, TI, and TM1 web planning and management), dynaSight - ArcPlan, ASP, DHTML, XML, IIS, MS Visual Basic and VBA, Visual Studio, Perl, WebSuite, MS SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase SQL Server, and so on.

His responsibilities comprise of working on all aspects of Windows and SQL solution development and design. They include analysis; GUI (and website) design; data modeling; table, screen/form, and script development; SQL (and remote stored procedures and triggers) development and testing; test preparation; and management and training of programming staff.

His other experience includes the development of ETL infrastructures, such as data transfer automation between mainframe (DB2, Lawson, Great Plains, and so on) systems and SQL Client/Server, web-based applications, and the integration of enterprise applications and data sources. In addition, James has acted as Internet Applications Development Manager, responsible for the design, development, QA, and delivery of multiple websites, including online-trading applications, warehouse process control and scheduling systems, and administrative and control applications. He was also responsible for the design, development, and administration of a web-based, financial-reporting system for a 450-million dollar organization, reporting directly to the CFO and his executive team.

James has also been responsible for managing and directing multiple resources in various management roles, including Project and Team Leader, Lead Developer, and Applications Development Director. His specialties include Cognos/TM1 design and development, OLAP, Visual Basic, SQL Server, forecasting and planning, international application development, BI, and project development. His certifications include IBM Certified Developer — Cognos TM1 (he scored a perfect 100 percent on his exam) and IBM Certified Business Analyst — Cognos TM1.

James has authored the recently published book, IBM Cognos TM1 Developer's Certification guide, Packt Publishing.

Sameer Sheth has been practicing as a Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Consultant since the year 2004. His primary focus is on architectural design, development and implementation of Enterprise Performance Management, and Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Solutions across the oil and gas, education, retail, financial, health care, and airline industries.

Overall, he has more than 13 years of relevant experience in the IT industry, blended with proven project management skills. His key roles have been as Senior Implementation Lead, Senior Solution Architect, and Project Manager. He has also spent time as Technical Mentor.

Sameer is certified in Global Business Leadership from Harvard Business School, USA. Along with this, he is certified in Managerial Excellence from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, USA. He has numerous IBM certifications, including IBM Certified Solution Designer — Cognos 10 Planning, IBM Certified Solution Expert — Cognos 8 Planning, and IBM Certified Solution Designer — Cognos 8 Planning.

Sameer has been a Technical Reviewer for the book, IBM Cognos TM1 Developer's Certification guide, Packt Publishing. This book was developed to help a user master the COG-310 certification, by using an example-driven method, which was easy to understand.