Dimensional modeling is a specific discipline for modeling data that is an alternative to entity-relationship (E/R) modeling. A dimension model contains the same information as an E/R model but packages the data in symmetric format whose design goals are user understandability, query performance, and resilience to change. Ralph Kimball, PhD, The Data Warehousing Lifecycle Toolkit, […]
As of the end of 2010, the business intelligence (BI) software marketplace is in a state in which there are clear leaders or as Gartner, Inc puts it, “megavendors” that own roughly two-thirds of the $6 billion market. In addition the rest of the BI vendors are more commonly referred to as “niche” or “pure-play” […]
Subject areas within a data warehouse or data mart are physical tables that are grouped together in a dimensional model or star schema that reflect general data or functional categories. Subsequently, subject areas are synonymous with functional areas and each subject area identifies and groups the data that relates to a logical area of the […]
Although they’re not pure-play business intelligence vendors, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle Corp., and SAP Business Objects own two-thirds of the $6 billion business intelligence (BI) market because they have optimized their BI platforms to work well with their respective enterprise and information management applications, according to Gartner Inc. This integrated approach, as well as the fact […]
Overview of Data Mining & Predictive Analytics Concept According to data-mining-guide.net, data mining is the process of analyzing large data sets in order to find patterns that can help to isolate key variables to build predictive models for management decision making. In addition, data mining applications help discover hidden patterns and relationships in data in order […]
Level 4 – On-line Analytical Analysis (OLAP) Systems On-line analytical processing (OLAP) is a technique for rapidly visualizing and analyzing business metrics across different points of view. OLAP is a term used to generically refer to software and applications that provide users with the ability to store and access data in OLAP cubes (also called […]
Overview of Dashboard Management Dashboard management systems are intended to facilitate and support the information and decision-making needs of management by providing easy access to key business information in a highly graphical and intuitive format. Fundamentally, a dashboard is a graphical business tool that displays a set of KPIs (key performance indicators), metrics, and any […]
Overview of Query & Analysis Solutions & Environments Query and analysis solutions enable business users and analysts to rapidly generate business queries and reports from enterprise data based upon business question of the data. Also known as “ad-hoc” querying, these tools typically provide intuitive, graphical interfaces that shields users from technical complexities and allows users […]
Overview of Operational Reports Operational reports are pre-designed business reports that focus on listings of data at the detailed level with data presented within a highly-structured format. Also known as “canned reports”, operational reports enable organizations to present data in a logical format and are designed to support the day-to-day activities of an organization at […]
Overview of Spreadsheets A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper, accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas. Because spreadsheets are easy to work with and are widely available, many businesses rely on them […]