Components of a Business Objects Universe
Also known as a “semantic layer”, the Business Objects Universe is an intermediary layer between a database or data source and dependent reports, queries, or dashboards. Fundamentally, the universe enables the end-user of Business Objects to interact with data without having to understand the complexities of database logic or be familiar with where the physical data [...]
Benefits of a Data Warehouse
Data warehouses (DW) are centralized data repositories that integrate data from various transactional, legacy, or external systems, applications, and sources. The data warehouse provides an environment separate from the operational systems and is completely designed for decision-support, analytical-reporting, ad-hoc queries, and data mining. This isolation and optimization enables queries to be performed without any impact on [...]
BI Market: Vendors and Products (2011)
Business Intelligence (BI) systems are software applications that enable better understanding of organizational data and provide the information organizations need to make enlightened decisions. Fundamentally, there are five market segments of entire business intelligence market space… • Operational Reports • Query & Analysis • Dashboard Management • On-line Analytic Processing (OLAP) • Data Mining & Predictive [...]
Components of Oracle BI Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) is a comprehensive business intelligence platform produced by Oracle, Inc. that delivers a full range of analytic and reporting capabilities. Additionally OBIEE incorporates a suite of advanced business intelligence tools that are built upon a unified architecture. The components delivered within the OBIEE suite include: • Oracle Interactive Dashboards • [...]
Oracle BI Platform vs Oracle BI Analytical Applications
The business intelligence market is rapidly maturing and Oracle is leading the way with its delivery of Oracle Business Intelligence. Initially Oracle just provided the Oracle BI Platform which provided businesses with the tools for developing custom business intelligence solutions. However, Oracle is now providing an option to its customers with Oracle BI Analytical Applications, a complete [...]
Data Integration Techniques (ETL and Data Federation)
Data integration is a fundamental, yet deceptively challenging, component of any organization’s business intelligence and data warehousing strategy. Data integration involves combining data residing in different data repositories and providing business users with a unified view of this data. In addition, companies face a challenge of ensuring that data being reported is current and up-to-date. Companies [...]
Dashboards and Scorecards
All members of an organization need information they can use to focus on accomplishing the same organizational goals. But maintaining consistent views of operations through all lines and divisions of an organization can be a challenging task. To this end, organizations are relying on dashboards and scorecards to provide relevant metrics, indicators, alerts, and monitoring [...]
Data Warehouse Appliance Vendors and Products
Data warehouse appliances are purpose-built data warehouse solutions and systems that encompass a whole-technology stack including: • Operating System (OS) • Database Management System (DBMS) • Server Hardware • Storage Capabilities Data warehouse appliances can be broken down into three main categories: • Complete Data Warehouse Solutions • Partial Data Warehouse Solutions / Software Appliances [...]
Components of SAP BusinessObjects Product Suite
Rather than being one independent tool, SAP BusinessObjects delivers a comprehensive suite of products that provide business intelligence functionality to empowers user to make effective, informed decisions based on solid data and analysis. All users, from the high-end analyst to the casual business user, are enabled with access to the information they need. Capabilities within [...]
Crystal Reports: Operational Reporting Environment
Crystal Reports is an operational reporting system that enables report authors to easily design interactive reports and connect them to virtually any data source. It is the ideal solution for canned or published reports as it allows for the creation of high-fidelity, pixel-perfect reports. Additionally, end-users benefit from numerous advanced viewing and interaction features – [...]
Modeling Slowly Changing Dimensions in Data Warehouses
Modern data warehouse design assumes that business transactions such as sales, orders, shipments, and receivables can occur at a rapid rate and each the details of each transaction needs to be recorded. Hence a fact table with a dimensional model contains a separate record for each business transaction. While in contrast, the describing or text-based [...]
Features of SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 (Aurora)
SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 (codenamed Aurora) is the next major release of the SAP BusinessObjects product suite. It follows three major SAP BusinessObjects XI releases and will be generally available (GA) in 2011. During the release, some modules will change names. XI will be dropped from the Business Objects name to avoid the confusion with other [...]
Business Intelligence (BI) Maturity Model
The six levels of the Business Intelligence (BI) Maturity Model are measured by the value provided to the business vs the sophistication of the tool suite. The lowest level of business intelligence maturity (level 0) is characterized by fractured reporting at different times using different data sources and rules for defining metrics within an [...]
Basic Concepts of EDW and Data Marts
Data Warehouses (DW) are read-only, integrated databases designed to provide insight into past organizational performance and project future results. Further, they can be defined as highly-optimized data repositories that include data sourced from numerous transactional, legacy, external systems, applications, data feeds, and data files that exist throughout an organization. In practice, the data warehouse is [...]
Overview of a Data Warehouse Appliance
By definition, a data warehouse appliance is a complete hardware and software solution that contains a fully integrated stack of processors, memory, storage, operating system, and database management software. The data warehouse appliance is typically constructed to be optimized for enterprise data warehouses, designed to handle massive amounts of data and queries, and designed to scale [...]
Example Charter for a BI Center of Excellence (BI COE)
In order to ensure a predictable and repeatable usage of Business Intelligence (BI) services across organization X, and to maximize the value of licensing cost, organization X’s information technology department has adopted the formation of a Business Intelligence Center of Excellence (BI COE). This BI COE performs at an enterprise level and serves as a [...]
Definition of BI Center of Excellence (BI COE)
Business Intelligence Centers of Excellence (BI COE) enable the design, development, and implementation of strategic, enterprise, department, and tactical Business Intelligence solutions from one centrally managed team within a corporation or organization. Fundamentally, the BI COE merges the traditional roles and responsibilities of program management offices, functional expertise of subject matter experts, and the technical [...]