BI != Reporting. BI platforms enable users to build applications that help organizations learn and understand their business. Gartner defines a BI platform as a software platform that delivers the following 12 capabilities:
Integration
- BI infrastructure — All tools in the platform should use the same
security, metadata, administration,
portal integration, object model and
query engine, and should share the
same look and feel.- Metadata management — This is arguably the most important of the 12
capabilities. Not only should all
tools leverage the same metadata, but
the offering should provide a robust
way to search, capture, store, reuse
and publish metadata objects such as
dimensions, hierarchies, measures,
performance metrics and report layout
objects.- Development — The BI platform should provide a set of programmatic
development tools — coupled with a
software developer’s kit for creating
BI applications — that can be
integrated into a business process,
and/or embedded in another
application. The BI platform should
also enable developers to build BI
applications without coding by using
wizard-like components for a graphical
assembly process. The development
environment should also support Web
services in performing common tasks
such as scheduling, delivering,
administering and managing.- Workflow and collaboration — This capability enables BI users to
share and discuss information via
public folders and discussion threads.
In addition, the BI application can
assign and track events or tasks
allotted to specific users, based on
pre-defined business rules. Often,
this capability is delivered by
integrating with a separate portal or
workflow tool.Information Delivery
- Reporting — Reporting provides the ability to create formatted and
interactive reports with highly
scalable distribution and scheduling
capabilities. In addition, BI platform
vendors should handle a wide array of
reporting styles (for example,
financial, operational and performance
dashboards).- Dashboards — This subset of reporting includes the ability to
publish formal, Web-based reports with
intuitive displays of information,
including dials, gauges and traffic
lights. These displays indicate the
state of the performance metric,
compared with a goal or target value.
Increasingly, dashboards are used to
disseminate real-time data from
operational applications.- Ad hoc query — This capability, also known as self-service
reporting, enables users to ask their
own questions of the data, without
relying on IT to create a report. In
particular, the tools must have a
robust semantic layer to allow users
to navigate available data sources. In
addition, these tools should offer
query governance and auditing
capabilities to ensure that queries
perform well.- Microsoft Office integration — In some cases, BI platforms are used
as a middle tier to manage, secure and
execute BI tasks, but Microsoft Office
(particularly Excel) acts as the BI
client. In these cases, it is vital
that the BI vendor provides
integration with Microsoft Office,
including support for document
formats, formulas, data “refresh” and
pivot tables. Advanced integration
includes cell locking and write-back.Analysis
- OLAP — This enables end users to analyze data with extremely fast
query and calculation performance,
enabling a style of analysis known as
“slicing and dicing.” This capability
could span a variety of storage
architectures such as relational,
multidimensional and in-memory.- Advanced visualization — This provides the ability to display
numerous aspects of the data more
efficiently by using interactive
pictures and charts, instead of rows
and columns. Over time, advanced
visualization will go beyond just
slicing and dicing data to include
more process-driven BI projects,
allowing all stakeholders to better
understand the workflow through a
visual representation.- Predictive modeling and data mining — This capability enables
organizations to classify categorical
variables and estimate continuous
variables using advanced mathematical
techniques.- Scorecards — These take the metrics displayed in a dashboard a
step further by applying them to a
strategy map that aligns key
performance indicators to a strategic
objective. Scorecard metrics should be
linked to related reports and
information in order to do further
analysis. A scorecard implies the use
of a performance management
methodology such as Six Sigma or a
balanced scorecard framework.