Bob Coates

Neil FitzGerald has more than 9 years' experience working with information delivery, business intelligence and enterprise reporting products. He has combined this experience with his bachelor of computer science degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, to help provide information solutions to Fortune 500 companies across North America. Neil is currently based in New York City and helps Business Objects clients understand the potential of the Crystal suite of products.

Ryan Marples has worked in a variety of roles at Business Objects and formerly Crystal Decisions for six years. His experience in supporting, building, marketing and selling Crystal-based products makes him an authority on the technology. Today Ryan works with the company's largest customers helping them define and architect successful technology deployments. This is the second book he has helped author for the Crystal community. Ryan resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Naisan Geula manages the Business Objects field sales alliance with Microsoft in North America. He is an avid garage tinkerer, mountain bike mechanic and gadget-phile, and he lives in rural Washington with his wife and personal zoo. He greatly enjoys the outdoors and watching technology unite humanity and facilitate a more holistic lifestyle.

Bob Coates has been an employee of Business Objects (through the acquisition of Crystal Decisions) for seven years. He is currently a member of the pre-sales department and the Public Sector team in the United States. Bob started working with Crystal Decisions as a technical product specialist and team leader in technical support; he moved on to become a consultant in the professional services organization and finally moved into his current role in pre-sales. Prior to coming to the technology industry, Bob enjoyed diverse roles as an Infantry Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada), bartender in various bars and restaurants and a first-aid attendant in a sawmill in Vancouver.

James Edkins is a senior pre-sales consultant for Business Objects. He holds a bachelor's degree in information technology and a post graduate diploma in marketing management. He has been in the information technology sector for more than 10 years and has experience working with the Fortune 500 companies in an ERP, product development and business intelligence capacity.

Michael Voloshko is a pre-sales consultant for the financial services team at Business Objects and is based in New York City.

Bob Coates

Bob Coates has been an employee of Business Objects (through the acquisition of Crystal Decisions) for seven years. He is currently a member of the pre-sales department and the Public Sector team in the United States. Bob started working with Crystal Decisions as a technical product specialist and team leader in technical support; he moved on to become a consultant in the professional services organization and finally moved into his current role in pre-sales. Prior to coming to the technology industry, Bob enjoyed diverse roles as an Infantry Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada), bartender in various bars and restaurants and a first-aid attendant in a sawmill in Vancouver.

James Edkins

Neil FitzGerald has more than 9 years' experience working with information delivery, business intelligence and enterprise reporting products. He has combined this experience with his bachelor of computer science degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, to help provide information solutions to Fortune 500 companies across North America. Neil is currently based in New York City and helps Business Objects clients understand the potential of the Crystal suite of products.

Ryan Marples has worked in a variety of roles at Business Objects and formerly Crystal Decisions for six years. His experience in supporting, building, marketing and selling Crystal-based products makes him an authority on the technology. Today Ryan works with the company's largest customers helping them define and architect successful technology deployments. This is the second book he has helped author for the Crystal community. Ryan resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Naisan Geula manages the Business Objects field sales alliance with Microsoft in North America. He is an avid garage tinkerer, mountain bike mechanic and gadget-phile, and he lives in rural Washington with his wife and personal zoo. He greatly enjoys the outdoors and watching technology unite humanity and facilitate a more holistic lifestyle.

Bob Coates has been an employee of Business Objects (through the acquisition of Crystal Decisions) for seven years. He is currently a member of the pre-sales department and the Public Sector team in the United States. Bob started working with Crystal Decisions as a technical product specialist and team leader in technical support; he moved on to become a consultant in the professional services organization and finally moved into his current role in pre-sales. Prior to coming to the technology industry, Bob enjoyed diverse roles as an Infantry Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada), bartender in various bars and restaurants and a first-aid attendant in a sawmill in Vancouver.

James Edkins is a senior pre-sales consultant for Business Objects. He holds a bachelor's degree in information technology and a post graduate diploma in marketing management. He has been in the information technology sector for more than 10 years and has experience working with the Fortune 500 companies in an ERP, product development and business intelligence capacity.

Michael Voloshko is a pre-sales consultant for the financial services team at Business Objects and is based in New York City.

James Edkins

James Edkins is a senior pre-sales consultant for Business Objects. He holds a bachelor's degree in information technology and a post graduate diploma in marketing management. He has been in the information technology sector for more than 10 years and has experience working with the Fortune 500 companies in an ERP, product development and business intelligence capacity.

Neil FitzGerald

Neil FitzGerald has more than 9 years' experience working with information delivery, business intelligence and enterprise reporting products. He has combined this experience with his bachelor of computer science degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, to help provide information solutions to Fortune 500 companies across North America. Neil is currently based in New York City and helps Business Objects clients understand the potential of the Crystal suite of products.

Neil FitzGerald

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Neil FitzGerald is an entrepreneur who has successfully started or contributed to multiple consulting companies in the IT consulting domain. Neil combined his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario with his more than 8 years of experience at Business Objects in a variety of senior roles to help provide information solutions to Fortune 500 companies across North America. He has spent more than 13 years in the information delivery domain and is available for onsite or remote consulting to companies large and small. Neil can be contacted at neil_fitzgerald@hotmail.com.

About the Contributing Authors

Bob Coates has worked for Business Objects, an SAP company (through the Crystal Decisions and Business Objects acquisitions), for more than 11 years. While there he worked in technical support, global services, and sales consulting. Presently Bob is a principal sales consultant working on the SAP Synergy Team—a branch of the Strategic Technology Group focused on the top 100 SAP customers. Bob would like to thank his wife Amanda for her infinite patience and support.

Ryan Goodman is the founder of Centigon Solutions Inc. As a previous technical evangelist and sales consultant at Infommersion and then Business Objects, Ryan has implemented hundreds of Xcelsius projects spanning more than 4 years. His interactive data visualization and design background coupled with his business insight and technical aptitude have made him one of the top Xcelsius experts in the world. Ryan continues to push the envelope and evangelize Xcelsius on his blog: www.ryangoodman.net/blog.

Michael Voloshko is a principal solutions architect for the financial services vertical at Business Objects, an SAP company.

Naisan Geula

Neil FitzGerald has more than 9 years' experience working with information delivery, business intelligence and enterprise reporting products. He has combined this experience with his bachelor of computer science degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, to help provide information solutions to Fortune 500 companies across North America. Neil is currently based in New York City and helps Business Objects clients understand the potential of the Crystal suite of products.

Ryan Marples has worked in a variety of roles at Business Objects and formerly Crystal Decisions for six years. His experience in supporting, building, marketing and selling Crystal-based products makes him an authority on the technology. Today Ryan works with the company's largest customers helping them define and architect successful technology deployments. This is the second book he has helped author for the Crystal community. Ryan resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Naisan Geula manages the Business Objects field sales alliance with Microsoft in North America. He is an avid garage tinkerer, mountain bike mechanic and gadget-phile, and he lives in rural Washington with his wife and personal zoo. He greatly enjoys the outdoors and watching technology unite humanity and facilitate a more holistic lifestyle.

Bob Coates has been an employee of Business Objects (through the acquisition of Crystal Decisions) for seven years. He is currently a member of the pre-sales department and the Public Sector team in the United States. Bob started working with Crystal Decisions as a technical product specialist and team leader in technical support; he moved on to become a consultant in the professional services organization and finally moved into his current role in pre-sales. Prior to coming to the technology industry, Bob enjoyed diverse roles as an Infantry Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada), bartender in various bars and restaurants and a first-aid attendant in a sawmill in Vancouver.

James Edkins is a senior pre-sales consultant for Business Objects. He holds a bachelor's degree in information technology and a post graduate diploma in marketing management. He has been in the information technology sector for more than 10 years and has experience working with the Fortune 500 companies in an ERP, product development and business intelligence capacity.

Michael Voloshko is a pre-sales consultant for the financial services team at Business Objects and is based in New York City.

Naisan Geula

Naisan Geula manages the Business Objects field sales alliance with Microsoft in North America. He is an avid garage tinkerer, mountain bike mechanic and gadget-phile, and he lives in rural Washington with his wife and personal zoo. He greatly enjoys the outdoors and watching technology unite humanity and facilitate a more holistic lifestyle.

Ryan Marples

Ryan Marples has worked in a variety of roles at Business Objects and formerly Crystal Decisions for six years. His experience in supporting, building, marketing and selling Crystal-based products makes him an authority on the technology. Today Ryan works with the company's largest customers helping them define and architect successful technology deployments. This is the second book he has helped author for the Crystal community. Ryan resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Ryan Marples

Joe Estes has been in the information technology industry for more than eight years. He currently manages the Midwest Pre-Sales Team at Crystal Decisions, working with some of the company's largest customers. Prior to working for Crystal Decisions, Joe has been focused on the data reporting, information delivery, and analytical aspects of Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence initiatives exclusively during the past six years. Throughout his career, Joe has held positions varying from system analyst and consultant at large consultancies, to system engineer and project manager at various Business Intelligence software companies. Joe is an avid enthusiast of running, snowboarding, in-line skating, and squash.

Neil FitzGerald has 7+ years experience working with information delivery, business intelligence, and enterprise reporting tools. He has combined this experience with his Bachelor of Computer Science degree from Queens University in Kingston, Canada, and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, to help provide information solutions to an array of Fortune 500 companies throughout NYC and the Northeastern United States. Neil is currently managing a top-shelf group of technical consultants in the NY/NE region for Crystal Decisions. He can be contacted at nf_cr24@hotmail.com.

Born, raised, and educated in Vancouver BC, Kathryn (also known as KAT) Hunt has been working at Crystal Decisions since 1994. During that time, she has held many roles that have brought her both customer-focused and report design experience. She is now considered one of the elite "report design gurus" at Crystal Decisions. She's frequently referred to as the "Reporting Goddess." In her current role as program manager, charged with the Crystal Reports Designer and its features, she has experienced many aspects of how Crystal technologies are designed, marketed, implemented, and supported.

Steve Lucas has been in the information technology industry for more than 10 years. He currently manages the Strategic Pre-Sales Team for North America at Crystal Decisions, working with some of the company's largest customers worldwide. Steve regularly speaks on current and future Crystal technology at significant events and trade shows for Crystal. Prior to Crystal, Steve focused on Microsoft technology and consulting for the better part of his career. He is currently based in Denver.

Ryan Marples is a program manager at Crystal Decisions responsible for delivering new and powerful developer tools as part of the Crystal Reports product. In addition to this book, Ryan has been involved in the authoring and editing of various other books and magazine articles. In addition to writing, Ryan has been a speaker at software conferences around the world.

Michael Voloshko

Neil FitzGerald has more than 9 years' experience working with information delivery, business intelligence and enterprise reporting products. He has combined this experience with his bachelor of computer science degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, to help provide information solutions to Fortune 500 companies across North America. Neil is currently based in New York City and helps Business Objects clients understand the potential of the Crystal suite of products.

Ryan Marples has worked in a variety of roles at Business Objects and formerly Crystal Decisions for six years. His experience in supporting, building, marketing and selling Crystal-based products makes him an authority on the technology. Today Ryan works with the company's largest customers helping them define and architect successful technology deployments. This is the second book he has helped author for the Crystal community. Ryan resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Naisan Geula manages the Business Objects field sales alliance with Microsoft in North America. He is an avid garage tinkerer, mountain bike mechanic and gadget-phile, and he lives in rural Washington with his wife and personal zoo. He greatly enjoys the outdoors and watching technology unite humanity and facilitate a more holistic lifestyle.

Bob Coates has been an employee of Business Objects (through the acquisition of Crystal Decisions) for seven years. He is currently a member of the pre-sales department and the Public Sector team in the United States. Bob started working with Crystal Decisions as a technical product specialist and team leader in technical support; he moved on to become a consultant in the professional services organization and finally moved into his current role in pre-sales. Prior to coming to the technology industry, Bob enjoyed diverse roles as an Infantry Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada), bartender in various bars and restaurants and a first-aid attendant in a sawmill in Vancouver.

James Edkins is a senior pre-sales consultant for Business Objects. He holds a bachelor's degree in information technology and a post graduate diploma in marketing management. He has been in the information technology sector for more than 10 years and has experience working with the Fortune 500 companies in an ERP, product development and business intelligence capacity.

Michael Voloshko is a pre-sales consultant for the financial services team at Business Objects and is based in New York City.

Michael Voloshko

Michael Voloshko is a pre-sales consultant for the financial services team at Business Objects and is based in New York City.