Query, Analysis and Reporting Tools Brian BALSER Lamia BENKIRANE Jeralyn PASINABO Dave WILSON MBA 664 April, the 13 th, 2009

Definition of Business Intelligence Business Intelligence (BI) is the set of methodologies, processes and tools that are used by corporations to gather, store, access, and analyze data to enable users to make better business decisions faster The principal goal of BI is to increase performance and gain a competitive advantage in the market place BI also enables an effective implementation of the strategy by setting agreed upon and understood Key Performance Indicators (KPI) BI gives the right information to the right people at the right time

What is the difference between Business Intelligence and the Operational Systems? The data is captured daily in different databases which are stored in the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) Several dimensions that we should consider to distinguish these two types of information systems.  OIS Systems have limited Analysis capacities  Analytical tools in BI systems provide insights to the analysts that they would not have been able to see within an OIS configuration.

The Business Intelligence Cycle The OIS systems export the data to the BI systems that transform raw data into useful information by organizing it in dimensions, hierarchies and measures for analysis. Then, the users can turn this information into knowledge by using the various analytical tools of BI such as the query and reporting tools. BI allows the users to transform knowledge and rules into action by taking fact based decisions quickly.

Query, Analysis and Reporting Tools Provide the ability to any user at every level in the organization to analyze the data. Deliver fast and efficient multidimensional analysis Answer business questions at the speed of thought Ex: What is the profitability by product and by customer for 2008? Ex: What are the actual sales compared to the forecasted sales by period by region by salesperson? Present the data in reports where the user can: choose the dimensions slice and dice the data filter the data drill down and drill across Objective: identify trends, patterns or anomalies; threats or opportunities and take informed decisions quickly.

History of Business Intelligence Origins of BI: - first data simple processing applications (i.e. accounts payable and receivable in the early 1990s) - ran in sequential technology, such as magnetic and paper tapes - By the early 1990s, BI consisted of two nascent segments: data warehousing and desktop query and reporting tools. - In the late 1990s, these desktop query and reporting tools were converted to the web and bundles with other types of analytical tools to create what are today called “BI suites” or “BI platforms”. The modern face of BI: Performance dashboards represent the latest incarnation of BI, the modern face of BI; they are built on years of technical and process innovation within the BI field and span both the data management and analytical sides of BI.

Relevance and Influence of BI on organizations Tangible and Intangible Benefits Tangible Benefit can have value in relationship to bottom line Time Savings Cost Savings ROI Intangible Benefit can have value to organization, but not to bottom line. Better quality decision making

Relevance and Influence of BI on organizations Tangible and Intangible Benefits Data Warehousing Institute: Study on a sample of 510 companies in 2003  Most BI benefits are intangible!

How can BI tools fulfill business needs? Richmond Virginia Police Department Big Problem – 5 th Most Dangerous City in 2004 Had data – Crime Reports Too much Information Needed to extract information from data

How can BI tools fulfill business needs? Richmond Virginia Police Department Improvement– 15 th Most Dangerous City 2005 Used BI Crime Reports - Geographical Location - Weather Patterns - Sporting Events Reports– predictive crime analysis, data mining, reporting and GIS capabilities to the RPD

Query Reportnet

Query Example

Future of BI, Going Forward What lies ahead if the leap can be made that tools like reporting, querying, OLAP, dashboards, scorecards and portals can be successfully used to help make sense of the world around us? Incorporate new components into business analytics solutions. ‘The next generation of BI’; real-time BI Not just ubiquitous information at your fingertips; involve a collaboration Proper allocation of scarce human, capital and IT resources