Business Intelligence Posts

Whenever we read about enterprise reporting solutions, the common ones would include Crystal Reports, SQL Server Reporting Services and Cognos 8 Business Intelligence.

photo credit: edrugsearch.com

Today, I would like to highlight one more enterprise reporting solution called Stonefield Query.

Just like most reporting solutions, Stonefield Query is capable to:

• Generate reports with charts and graphs
• Export report to other formats like Word and PDF
• Create mailing, barcode, or product labels
• Schedule reports to run at certain time
• Drilldown into details
• Analyze data using cross tab reports

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An alternative to Crystal Report & SQL Server Reporting Services

So now the company has made a considerable investment implementing a powerful data warehouse and a sophisticated front-end Business Intelligence tool, in line with the requirements specified by users during the requirements analyses stage of the process…but what now?

One would assume that once a user has his wish list of data available at the press of a button that everything would change instantly, but surprisingly it is not necessarily so! Photo by Argonne National Laboratory.

Firstly there is the resistance to change that needs to be accounted for. A manager that used to get information through manual processes and excel spreadsheets prepared by sub-ordinates doesn’t necessarily have the time to invest learning how to work on a new tool, even when he is offered to be trained after the implementation.

And even if he goes for some quick training, it would normally be within a busy schedule with many other pressing and urgent matters to attend to. He would typically play around for a short time, think he understands, but back at his desk it would be so much more convenient to just go back to the old way of doing.

Secondly, one needs to know what to do with data and how to interpret it, before it becomes helpful. If the Business Intelligence solution simply produces for him the same information in almost similar format he used to get it before, by means of straight forward reports, it may be simpler for him to adapt. Continue Reading »
Analyzing data in a data driven organization

Although currently, the Business Intelligence (BI) landscape is still dominated by proprietary BI solutions, the lower price tag associated with open source BI solutions within the current economical climate is contributing to it becoming increasingly popular.

Apart from the price tag, it ultimately is still the technical as well as business requirements of an organization that will dictate the most suitable BI solution.

It really is not that much at the end of the day about whether your BI solution is open source or closed source, but whether the end-user can get the information that he wants, on a front-end tool that he is comfortable to work with and that presents the information well. Image by irwebreport.

More about proprietary vs open source BI solutions:

Open Source BI solutions allow for companies to mix and match the best-of-breed technologies considered most suitable to their organization. Closed source / proprietary models do not release source codes to the public. There are pro’s and con’s associated to both. Continue Reading »
The difference between closed vs open source BI solutions

The sales person walks into the door of the target company, takes out his laptop and sweeps his audience off their feet with his impressive display of some BI tool’s functionality, preloaded with perfect dummy data. “That is what this tool will produce in your business!” he implies with a sparkle in his eye, ready to close the sale. Photo by rob.wall.

I have seen that happen. Especially if it is a company’s first exposure to the “magic” that Business Intelligence can bring to an organization.

But wait! There is a catch. BI tools surely are impressive, and some experts have even claimed that in future those organizations without Business Intelligence solutions in place will eventually not be able to compete anymore. There are plenty of reasons to become excited about its possibilities, but there are many other factors also to be considered before just buying the first product that interests you.

What is Business Intelligence (BI)?

The term Business Intelligence refers to much more than the presentation of data through some sophisticated BI tool. It refers to the technologies, but also the processes, skills, applications as well as practices used to support the making of decisions.

A simple arrangement of data on Excel for example, that helps a manager to make decisions, could thus be considered a BI solution, while a sophisticated BI tool, which is not backed up by a properly designed data warehouse, could ironically end up providing no help with decision-making at all. Continue Reading »
Business intelligence and data warehousing, what is it?