Business intelligence

Business intelligence (BI) refers to technologies, applications and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of business information and sometimes to the information itself. The purpose of business intelligence--a term that dates at least to 1958--is to support better business decision making.Thus, BI is also described as a decision support system

BI is sometimes used interchangeably with briefing books, report and query tools and executive information systems. In general, business intelligence systems are data-driven DSS.

BI systems provide historical, current, and predictive views of business operations, most often using data that has been gathered into a data warehouse or a data mart and occasionally working from operational data. Software elements support the use of this information by assisting in the extraction, analysis, and reporting of information. Applications tackle sales, production, financial, and many other sources of business data for purposes that include, notably, business performance management. Information may be gathered on comparable companies to produce benchmarks.

data warehousing

Some of the benefits that a data warehouse provides are as follows:

* A data warehouse provides a common data model for all data of interest regardless of the data's source. This makes it easier to report and analyze information than it would be if multiple data models were used to retrieve information such as sales invoices, order receipts, general ledger charges, etc.

* Prior to loading data into the data warehouse, inconsistencies are identified and resolved. This greatly simplifies reporting and analysis.

* Information in the data warehouse is under the control of data warehouse users so that, even if the source system data is purged over time, the information in the warehouse can be stored safely for extended periods of time.

* Because they are separate from operational systems, data warehouses provide retrieval of data without slowing down operational systems.

* Data warehouses facilitate decision support system applications such as trend reports (e.g., the items with the most sales in a particular area within the last two years), exception reports, and reports that show actual performance versus goals.

* Data warehouses can work in conjunction with and, hence, enhance the value of operational business applications, notably customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Evolution in organization use of data warehouses

Organizations generally start off with relatively simple use of data warehousing. Over time, more sophisticated use of data warehousing evolves. The following general stages of use of the data warehouse can be distinguished:

Off line Operational Databases
Data warehouses in this initial stage are developed by simply copying the data of an operational system to another server where the processing load of reporting against the copied data does not impact the operational system's performance.

Off line Data Warehouse
Data warehouses at this stage are updated from data in the operational systems on a regular basis and the data warehouse data is stored in a data structure designed to facilitate reporting.

Real Time Data Warehouse
Data warehouses at this stage are updated every time an operational system performs a transaction

Integrated Data Warehouse
Data warehouses at this stage are updated every time an operational system performs a transaction. The data warehouses then generate transactions that are passed back into the operational systems.