Business Intelligence (BI)

Business Intelligence is the new business buzz word and we are told that are companies need business intelligence. Even among business professionals in the industry, there is some confusion about what is Business Intelligence. Often the given definition is a list of display items of the Business Intelligence delivery: dashboards, scorecards, reports, analytics, key performance indicators (KPI), database, etc. Or the response is a discussion about the benefits and tips for implementation. In addition, there tends to be a lot of technical terms, jargon, and acronyms used when describing Business Intelligence. This leaves the question unanswered.

That is a lot of words to say Business Intelligence is the software, databases, and delivery tools used to harness volumes of data into manageable measurements that allow for better decision making. In other words, Business Intelligence merges data sources so information can be gleaned by using sophisticated methods to slicing and dicing data and display useful reports.

The software is designed to pull data from one or more databases, consolidate the data, analyze the it, and provide it in easy to understand format.

The measurements are defined by the business and may include such measurements as: profit margin, days cash on hand, turn ratios, sales, or capacity used. Since real time reports can be delivered, the measures should be in alignment with corporate goals and initiatives.

The delivery tools allow measures to be displayed by the preferred media, for example: reports, dashboards, statically comparisons, graphs, charts, online, and paper.

Timely data delivered as measures enables decisions to be made that take advantage of opportunities and eliminates inefficiencies. Business Intelligence uses data to reduce guesswork and assumptions when making decisions. When the data is consolidated and provided in a consistent manner, better decisions can be made.