Business Intelligence Michael Gross Tina Larsell Chad Anderson

Business Intelligence is defined as… The process of gathering information about a business or industry matter; a broad range of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help make business decisions Typically in the form of software that analyzes business statistics and trends.

Business intelligence applications allow users to analyze trends, behaviors, patterns, preferences, capabilities,& conditions and easily present them in a report to determine what decisions to make based on the data. This allows businesses to quickly and easily adapt to changes and keep up with evolving competition.

Data Warehouse Business Intelligence software gets its raw intelligence data from the “Data Warehouse”. This is the database where the organization stores all its historical data and where analysts can go to perform queries without slowing down the operational systems. Data Warehouses contains every bit of corporate memory; information about sales, production, customers, employees, productivity, and every transaction the business makes.

Data Mart Data marts are also used by business intelligence systems, they are specialized versions of data warehouses. They contain only relevant specific data grouped for a particular purpose for specific users. This enables users to manipulate and develop data without harming data in the warehouse or other data marts.

Common Mistakes & Problems Business Intelligence software can be very useful for a business if it is used correctly. But there are common mistakes to avoid when implementing new business tools.

Simplicity You cannot assume the average business user has the time or ability to use complex Business Intelligence tools. Organizations tend to overlook the actual end user of the business tools. If the user cannot properly use the tools provided, they are worthless. Also, advanced users who can make sense of the tools will spend hours writing a report and get bogged down with information requests.

Keep It Simple Stupid

Excel as the default BI platform Excel is the most commonly used BI tool in the world. Small businesses rely on Excel for most of their record keeping. Simple, easy to use but can effect the quality and consistency of information. Manual, Error-Prone Processes; data can be easily corrupted and passed on. “7% of all data found in Excel spreadsheets is wrong.” This is an example of how useful tools can cause more problems than they solve.

Specific Purpose for Specific BI Tools Do not add a BI tool unless it is for a specific reason. If you don’t know why you are adding a business intelligence system to your business then it probably will have little effect upon your business except by adding additional costs

Storage Some believe that storing all their information together will solve problems. But data warehouses can be expensive to maintain and if they are not organized well, the system will become more cumbersome and costly to use than the previous system.

Common Mistakes & Problems Most BI tools are too complex for the average end user to operate. Employees often rely on programs like Excel for their primary business tool when there are more accurate productive tools available. Businesses will store all their information in unorganized, difficult data warehouses.

Business Intelligence Improvements Data is becoming easier to access and much more useful. Advances in BI make it easier for companies to analyze data immediately after it is collected. Technological advances also make it possible to analyze data that don’t easily fit into a traditional database. This analysis of “unstructured data” can give organizations a competitive edge.

Business Intelligence Improvements These advances have resulted in large part from improvements in business intelligence software. Companies are moving toward more of a self-service situation where companies are putting BI tools in the hands of hundreds of employees, not just a few executives. BI is being added to standard applications such as logistics and inventory management. This integration into regular operations will allow managers to monitor activity and quickly make more informed decisions.

BI Overview Even with new, more powerful business intelligence software, costly mistakes can still be easily made. As mentioned before it is still important to be cautious or these advances may result in bad decisions being made at a faster rate. By standardizing data, training employees to properly use the tools, and choosing to implement the correct tools business intelligence software can be an important asset to the organization.