Data Administration Books

This book was awesome. It was a perfect intro to Biztalk in the Healthcare space. It dealt with common HC industry problems well, and offered clear and useful solutions using Biztalk.

Thank you, Jim Casey, for making my life easier.

The 250 pages of the book dedicate very little to healthcare solutions in integration problems using BizTalk 2004. Only chapter 8 and 9 are used for this to cover HL7 and HIPAA respectively. And that goes no further (even less) than what can be read from the BizTalk Accelerator products online help.
In the earlier chapters the authors outline the challenges of integration on a superficial level. If you know about it, it is useless, if you don't you won't get much wiser. The same is true for BizTalk itself. It touches a few things but never enough to get you started if you didn't know how to do it already in the first place. For novices you need the BizTalk tutorials or get Scott Woodgate's "BizTalk 2004 Unleased" to understand the BTS2004 architecture and artifacts and how to use them.

The book should have covered practical use of the BizTalk Accelerators and how to make the most of them or circumvent some of their limitations by customizing them. For example, how to modify HL7 schemas to your specification given the rather odd way the Accelerator builds up these schemas from three other parts. It should tell you how to cope with the ways some hospital (mis)use HL7 messages - like adding their own Z-segments, adding more separators than there are fields, how to route on only MSH header fields, ignoring whatever the message body contains (I know - some hospitals work like that!). How to make the very American HL7 messages fit local (german, dutch, french...) versions. How to have application acknowledgement between sender to receiver (works only after a BTAHL7 hotfix). How to use custom pipelines for specific HL7 situations rather than stating it can be done.

It does none of this. It tells in fact nothing new. If you know BizTalk, you can read the accelerator help file and do the tutorials that come with it and you know more than the book will tell you. If you know nothing then this book will not help either. It doesn't even manage to make a proper explanation of a port and its location/pipeline/map components.

The two blurb recommendations of two Microsoft managers on the backcover can only be interpreted as marketing blurb. I doubt they read the book.

Also the book is badly published. Pictures have been copied from the online help or presentations which are in colour. The book is in black and white, resulting in some diagram blocks that are black with black captions. How am I to read that?

There should be a money back policy on this book as this is a total waste of money.

The first and foremost thing which causes frustration is that a book as big as 700 pages (BizTalk Unleashed) and covers a lot of topics is same as 200 page book (this) with even fewer details when we compare the price. If we were to assume that BizTalk Unleashed is worth (I know for sure this book is not worth what I paid) for what it is then this book is not even worth a couple of dollars.

First let me start with the contents of the book. This book explains fundamental challenges of Health care industry. Nothing new in here. Anyone with common sense/knowledge can see the problems. Next it explains Biztalk 2004 in as few words as possible. Then comes HL7 followed by HIPAA. These two topics are the primary reason why I bought this book and this section is covered in no more than 70 pages with a huge font, few lines and a lot of pictures. IMHO just a few key strokes in Google can get you all the information present in this section (Contact me if you are unsuccessful, I can help you with it if you want to). Also, there are a couple of EDI examples on Scott's blog. I thought for a while and came to a conclusion that I (technical background) might not be the intended reader for this book. Then who could be it? Managers? How can they become managers if they don't have the slightest knowledge of HL7 and HIPAA. So, I don't have a clue as of now the intended readers for this book. May be this is intended as a marketing tool for Biztalk 2004 and accelerators (HL7 & HIPAA)

Conclusion: Basics of BizTalk 2004, HL7 and HIPAA are covered. IMHO anyone without these basics should not work on integration project. I am completely disappointed with the content of this book. I don't recommend this book to anyone. Initially I thought of writing this review tomorrow. But, I woke up from my bed (11:45 PM) to write this review so that no one makes the same mistake as I did after seeing this review.

This book has an interresting positioning philosophy. It is too technical for the president or board of directors. It is too simplified for the systems analyst who will be implementing a system. For someone inbetween these positions, this is an excellent book.

If you go try to learn about BizTalk at the Microsoft web site it sends you to page after page, written at the two extremes given above. At the teckie level you can download the package and go into it as deeply as you wish. At the high level the discussion is so high that it is almost meaningless, an example: "In today's global economy, companies need to integrate applications, systems, and technologies from a variety of sources." OK, so what?

In this book the authors have presented the BizTalk system with the two specialized packages (Accelerators, whatever those are) that are aimed at the health care marketplace. There's a fairly clear description of what we are trying to do with this software, a bunch of diagrams showing what data goes where, and discussion of what you can do, with a minimal amount of how to do it.

This is a small enough book that you can read it fairly quickly and come away with a fair understanding of the Microsoft philosophy of meeting the HIPAA and HL7 standards.

Im so happy with the book that i recently purchase. Its quick and reliable delivery. Whenever i need a book i always check amazon coz i know i can get it from here. The books are really nice, good and reliable.

I am an instructor for the Medical Manager class and have been for over 5 years. I have used almost every version possible with the Medical Manager. This is a fairly good book for students to learn from. As long as the person reads the instructions and then looks at the exercises, they should have NO problems. However, if the person just looks at the exercise and does not read the material, they may have difficulty. Some of the exercise/pictures are different then the actual reading part but not too many. Overall this book makes it fairly simple to learn this program.

The disk that came with the book is a data disk only, and does not contain the program that created the data. That is why the data disk is not a workable disk, unless you have The Medical Manager installed on your computer! The book is too geared to be used with the Medical Manager Software Program, and is difficult to read it as a stand alone book.

Version 10.0 is in print now and comes with a CD-Rom which is suppose to have the complete software program and data files so it can be used as it should be, and teach medical billing and office proceedures.

Janice

Confusing to follow instructions for data entry.

Difficult when errors are made... the student has to get back into the previous units and figure out the correction.

There is an instructor's disk that can bring the correct data in... the student then can continnue from a specific point.

Errors in the student and instructor's text.

As the authors stated in chapter 1, the book is written with experienced network administrators in mind. They try to explain the theory behind SQL and do so by bringing in-depth and well-founded information followed with tips and tricks from hands on experience. Accordingly this book is not suited for people who are completely new to this topic.
The book is divided into 13 chapters,
The first chapter, installation, explains the process of installing the SQL server in a fashioned manner.

Chapter tow, system architecture of SQL, give in depth knowledge of net-library, command parser, storage engine, lock manager, memory, cache and checkpoints, disk i/o, the default databases objects and system tables.
Chapter three, security, includes server logins, database users, server and database roles, database, statement and object permission, security using views and sp. The other 10 chapters are devides into the following capters;
Data structure, Distribution and transferring of data, Backup solutions, Restore, Monitoring and optimization, Automating SQL, Replication, Troubleshooting and understanding of TSQL.
I have used both Sybex and MS press book for my SQL certs. They provide a lot of lab simulations but they lack the in-depth knowledge needed to pass the exam.
There are some conflicting use of the two words SQL Server 7 and SQL 2000. I suppose the bad typo can bring some confusion while reading the book, but it is so obvious and are easy to spot. The typo mistakes forced me to give the book only 4 stars, but I will highly recommend this book to anyone who is dipping into the mcdba track and other SQL interested people out there.
This book along with Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
by rob vieira, will make your life a lot easyer and provide you all the knowlege you can hadle for months to come.

As the authors stated in chapter 1, the book is written with experienced network administrators in mind. They try to explain the theory behind SQL and do so by bringing in-depth and well-founded information followed with tips and tricks from hands on experience. Accordingly this book is not suited for people who are completely new to this topic.
The book is divided into 13 chapters,
The first chapter, installation, explains the process of installing the SQL server in a fashioned manner.

Chapter tow, system architecture of SQL, give in depth knowledge of net-library, command parser, storage engine, lock manager, memory, cache and checkpoints, disk i/o, the default databases objects and system tables.
Chapter three, security, includes server logins, database users, server and database roles, database, statement and object permission, security using views and sp. The other 10 chapters are devides into the following capters;
Data structure, Distribution and transferring of data, Backup solutions, Restore, Monitoring and optimization, Automating SQL, Replication, Troubleshooting and understanding of TSQL.
I have used both Sybex and MS press book for my SQL certs. They provide a lot of lab simulations but they lack the in-depth knowledge needed to pass the exam.
There are some conflicting use of the two words SQL Server 7 and SQL 2000. I suppose the bad typo can bring some confusion while reading the book, but it is so obvious and are easy to spot. The typo mistakes forced me to give the book only 4 stars, but I will highly recommend this book to anyone who is dipping into the mcdba track and other SQL interested people out there.
This book along with Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
by rob vieira, will make your life a lot easyer and provide you all the knowlege you can hadle for months to come.

Having recently been "elevated" to the rank of DBA in my company, I was looking for a good reference book. I already had a thorough background in relational databases, and I was not looking for a study guide to any MS licensing exam; I just wanted a book to explain the working details of SQL Server database administration. (For example: How can you tell if a trigger is in enabled/disabled status?) Well, this ain't the book.
This book, contrary to the Norwegian reviewer, is a very basic overview of DB administration. Its approach with each topic is to start with an explanation of the obvious, and then to continue with walk-thrus of Wizards available in Enterprise Manager. There is no depth and no breadth; in other words there is little to no discussion of wizard options not selected in the walk-thru, and only cursory explanation of the options that *were* selected.
Here is one example of the kind of fluff that comprises the bulk of this 600-page book, from the chapter on security: "The very first thing to understand, of course, is why we want to prevent unauthorized users from accessing data on our SQL Servers. Data, as you know, comes in a very wide variety..." This drivel continues in the same vein for a full page! Excuse me but if you don't already know this, you have no future in IT, much less being a DBA.
Finally, the book is bound in an ugly green "stay-closed" binding that makes this book a physical struggle to read, and impossible to use on your desk next to your PC.

I'm new to administration and I've noticed several things that are wrong. This book seems like just version 7 with a new cover. All they talk about is SQL Server 7. It will say things like "In SQL Server 7, however, these stored procedures have been removed...". That's all well and good but I bought a book on SQL Server 2000 and in 2000, they are there and I've been using them. I just wonder if they were trying to use them wrong and so they couldn't find them. I'm not sure how many of the mistakes are just changes between the versions and how many are wrong in both books. I recommend looking somewhere else.

This book tries to cover so many things it ends up covering nothing. Apache is addressed on Unix, Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms giving no depth to any single one. Literally half the book is appendices with some covering things like TCP/IP concepts and network troubleshooting. It's all over the map. No focus or usefulness.

The e-commerce section (the reason I bought the book) is a joke. Only 30 pages with 20 of them devoted to a sample site using PHP.

There are a lot of pages on the Web that do a much better, more focused, job of covering this material and it won't cost you anything. Rarely have I ever been this disappointed in a book.

Bu kitap oldukça açýklayýcý bir baþlangýç kitabý. Türkiye'de açýk kaynak kodunun geliþmesi için Apache, PHP linux kitaplarýnýn daha fazla okunmasý lazým. Böylece lisans bedeli ödenmesinden de kurtuluruz. Açýk kaynak kodu felsefesine aþinalýðý artýrmak ve vbaþtan sona sistemin kurulumunu öðrenmek açýsýndan faydalý bir kitap. Sistem departmanýnda veya proje yönetimi ile uðraþan profesyoneller için vazgeçilmez bir baþvuru kaynaðý.

Apache Web Server is the foremost application in its field, having over 60% of the Web Server market. Hawkins' book aims to be both a tutorial and reference in its chosen subject, and to provide the reader with sufficient information and software (on the enclosed CD) to configure and host an E-Commerce web site with Apache...He regularly extols the virtues of open-source software, particularly within the context of a web server, considering that this provides a greater degree of configurability than that of closed-book software. The book is very pleasant to read and handle, is well laid out and facilitates easy referencing. There are three main sections: Basic Concepts; Administration and E-Commerce, each of which is divided into logically organised chapters. Section One covers the basics, explaining Apaches' numerous directives (configuration options), modules, installation procedures (for Unix/Linux, Mac and Windows) and control methods. Section One gives the reader the means to install and configure a basic Web server. The text is very easy to follow, with clear, bold, sequentially numbered headings to the various subdivisions within chapters, enabling the reader to easily flick back and forth through the text to reference what he or she will. The use of courier fonts for command line directives seems logical. An explanation of the terminology used, exhaustively, in later sections of the book is a welcome benefit.

Section Two covers Administration and explains clearly and concisely the extensive number and variety of configuration options and modules available to the reader; virtual hosting, proxies, SSL and database integration to name but a few. Database integration is covered extensively, largely covering MySQL, but Oracle and Informix are covered too. Security is dealt with in extensive detail, an important inclusion, demonstrating the use of SSL (Secure Socket Layer), and its history (there is a lot of interesting historical detail throughout the book). An essential consideration for an E-Commerce site. Other topics are included, such as Dynamic Content with SSI (Server Side Includes), DHTML, url rewriting and performance tuning. The final chapter is brief and discusses the use of Perl and C programming languages to construct Apache modules, referring the user to: Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C by Lincoln Stein and Doug MacEachern [1]. The author refers to pe! rl as the preferred programming language for use with Apache, as mod_Perl was specifically designed for use with Apache, giving far superior performance and ease of use than ?C?.

The final section of the book is rather more of a disappointment. Although the CDROM includes software enabling the user to create a sample E-Commerce site, the topic is covered all too briefly in the book, only three chapters; money collection, database integration and construction of a sample site. The latter is a welcome inclusion, easy to follow and concise. The former are not much help at all, perhaps making money is an alien concept to a friend of the Open Source movement. The author extols the virtues of database interaction using (open source) My_SQL and PHP (Personal Hypertext Pre-processor), rather than the more commercially acceptable Oracle and Cold Fusion. This route would save the reader a nice four figure sum of money, an obvious advantage in a first E-Commerce venture.

The final part of the book is 180 pages of appendices, covering a variety of networking and programming topics to assist the reader in creation of a sample E-Commerce site. Syntax, sample code and detailed instruction are covered more than adequately and very clearly.

Overall, I would consider this an excellent book for a novice intending to create his/her first E-Commerce site, let down only by its lack of detail involving E-Commerce. The book might seem expensive for a paperback, but the inclusion of all the necessary software softens the blow, especially when one considers that the commercial equivalents would cost the reader several thousands of pounds. The book is organised well, omitting most of the code/configuration detail and general techie stuff from the general text, leaving the appendices to act as reference. The appendices are equally logical.

Recommended.

BARRY SEED Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.

Although the book was in a good presentation style, unfortunately the testing software that comes with it is very disappointing, not user friendly in the least, invisible answers, answers that can't be seen because of the exhibit buttons.
If you don't need the software then the book is OK, but if you are relying on the software for the exam prep questions then forget it!!

I purchased this book in order to solidify my experience of ISA server after 2 years building firewalls with the product, with an aim of taking the 70-227 exam at the end. As I began to read the book, I realised that a lot of the content was far too basic to really get into the nuts and bolts of ISA. Each exam topic is skirted over in such a way as to not genuinely explain how ISA works. This may be acceptable to scrape through the exam but won't prepare you for using ISA in the real world. The book is full of typos, and some of it - particularly the interrelationships between protocol rules and packet filters - is plain confused.

The chapter assessments have exhibits which aren't clear enough to answer the questions without taking a leap of faith, and some of the answers are ambiguous at best (like leaving the word "deny" out of "deny packet filter"). This is not very helpful to people who are novices with the product.

If you are hoping to use the CD to cement your knowledge, forget it. While the questions may well be valid, they are poorly presented and the questions and answers wrap off the screen on some systems. Mine even told me I was doing an Exchange exam at one stage. This is simply not what you expect from a major publisher - if you're going to include this quality of material, you shouldn't bother bundling it at all.

If you bought this book already, consider getting a transcender test to test and rebuild your knowledge, and play with an ISA server - the online help contains a wealth of information about it. Also be aware the book went to press before FP1 was released, so there is nothing about the OWA publishing wizard.

This will probably be the last Sybex book I buy. I have been unimpressed by several of their titles now - so I'll be sticking to the genuine Microsoft material in future!

Thanks to William Heldman and Sybex, this book is all you need to pass ISA 2000 server exam with a good score. I used this book alongside Cert21.com ISA server 2000 exam to study the product and exam objectives very well, and passed the real exam from the first try. Comprehensive, well written and organized with all exam objectives and more. I suggest you install ISA server serveral times and configure it for different senarious. The companion CD includes good exam questions to help you study for the exam. As usual, Sybex is the best resource to use for any future exam preparation guides.

The book seems to be oriented towards students learning about information systems in the healthcare context and is quite elementary in the topics covered. I didn't learn very much and preferred "Information Technology for Integrated Health Systems" (an Errnst and Young book) edited by Kerry Kinsinger and Sandra Borchardt.

The book is not primarily meant for an IT person. Rather, its chapters are pitched at various types of administrators and managers within a hospital (or related organisation) that need to understand what is available in terms of information management. So the chapters are written in the context of those backgrounds.

Having said this, an IT manager for a hospital, or for an IT firm that wants to develop systems for hospitals, can read this book profitably. It describes current systems and desirable properties of future systems in ways that customers can appreciate. For you, it is vital to understand these viewpoints if you intend to develop, maintain or sell management systems to them.

This book does include all the highlights on each section. However, the layout could be improved for readability. There's an error on the questions and answers arrangement. Overall, I like the in-depth answers to all the questions, help readers to analyze questions in MS way. It's great to review this book prior to your exam for consolidation.

This book has some good information, but it's obvious that they skipped all the steps needed to locate the errors. It's supposed to have the correct answers for test questions. However, multiple times up to chapter 7, I'm finding that the answer key is off, obviously off by getting the numbers mixed up and so on. This book can still be helpful, but it's very disappointing to find this many errors after paying good money for the book. I'd consider going to other publishers before buying again from these people.

I'm used to seeing overpriced textbooks and other computer-related books. 112 pages for $53.00? Give me a break! I suppose this is just about the right length for a busy CEO who would prefer to read the "highlights" in the field, and not take the time to develop a more in-depth understanding. When I become a CEO and have a spare $53.00 to spend, I'll provide a substantive review of this book. Caveat Emptor!

Preface 1. Introduction 2. Goals and Users of the Data Base Design 3. Logical Design 4. Physical Design 5. Data Sharing 6. Data Base Support 7. Utilities 8. Online Considerations for the DBA 9. Programming Techniques 10. Online Considerations for the Programmer A. Sample Data Base B. IMS Version 3

Buyer beware: I ordered this thinking it was a cheaper paperback version of the book. It's not. THIS IS THE LAB MANUAL with lab exercises. Amazon really ought to fix this because there is no differentiation on the web-site or the ordering information. I really have no idea if this lab manual is good or bad, but I had to assign a rating.