Interview with the authors of "Pentaho 5.0 Reporting by example"

Business Intelligence

Mariano Garcia and Dario Bernabeu recently announced on his blog of Dataprix the publication of his new book 'Pentaho Reporting 5.0 by Example: Beginner's Guide'.

Interview

Knowing both authors and their previous work, we are confident on the utility of that book for anyone who wants to work with Pentaho Report Designer, but we'd rather interview them to explain it themselves:

First, what's about your new book 'Pentaho 5.0 Reporting by Example: Beginner's Guide'?

The book is based on Pentaho Report Designer (PRD) 5.0 version and covers subjects ranging from PRD installation and configuration to the creation of interactive reports with hyperlinks, subreports and charts.

In the writing of the book we dealt with the particularity that PRD 5.0 was under development, in fact today it is still under development. At that time not even called PRD 5.0, would be version 4.0, but decided to align with the next BA Server. This means that from December until last month, the writing of our book has been modifyed with each new trunk version of the PRD.

Sometimes our work was hampered because some modifications to PRD were still not 100% functional, and even we had to modify some finished units. In addition, the absence of formal or informal documentation of the new features increased the difficulty of the investigation and the subsequent systematization.

What does the reader get from the book?

Dario Bernabeu The book focuses on learning by doing. Although necessary theoretical definitions are present, we have emphasized on creating a material to help reader to understand and internalize with PRD by practical exercises.

We have created an extremely detailed guide, step by step, through the different features. The guide is enriched with screenshots and clear and punctual explanations, so that the reader feels comfortable conducting their own experiences and acquiring the confidence to undertake their own projects.

The full name of the book indicates that it is a beginner's guide, what does this mean?

It means that in the writing of the book we have focused on those who have never worked with PRD or any other reporting tool. Although the included topics are also useful for users with intermediate level, we have not lost sight of the importance of simple and accurate explanations, even for themes of complex nature (drilldown, interactive formulas, nested parameters, etc..)

Our goal is that readers will achieve an intermediate-advanced level of knowledge and practice, it will be corroborated through their feedback.

Any additional comments about the book?

Yes. The writing of this book forced us to conduct a comprehensive study of the tool, beyond what we would have researched on our own, which gave us many additional knowledge. We also had the pleasure of having Diethard Steiner as a reviewer of the book, which gives us the confidence that we have done a good job.

Something else to add, future plans?

This edition of the book will be complemented by a remote PRD course in Spanish.

Also, we have future plans involving another possible book about another tool of Pentaho suite with a course that will complement it. We have not decided yet if we will write it in English or Spanish. We have received proposals from some publishers and we are evaluating them.

In short term we are enjoying this book and will continue to work on projects with our customers.

More information about the book 'Pentaho 5.0 Reporting by Example: Beginner's Guide' and online purchase