In this chapter, we will continue our journey through the data analysis life cycle. We are still in the first step of the cycle and that is gathering data. I have dedicated a separate chapter to connect to databases as I feel that this topic is important and merits its own space. You will soon realize that a lot of data you work with is present in a database. Data, such as customer information, product information, log data, and a lot of information will be found in a database. Excel is a good introductory tool that you can use to get the data out of a database. Ultimately, learning how to query a database using one of the various flavors of Structured Query Language (SQL) should be your goal but until then Excel is your go-to tool.

In this chapter, we will read the various tables in a Microsoft SQL Server database. I have chosen the Microsoft SQL Server database because apart from Oracle, this is one of the most popular databases you will be interacting...