Providing Decision Makers with Direct Access to Business Intelligence Tools

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Providing Decision Makers with Direct Access to
Business Intelligence Tools

• Designing a Business Intelligence Platform from
  Existing Database Systems

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How quickly can you get basic business
information from your existing information
systems?

• How much time and effort would it take to get
  answers to the following questions
• What are the profit margins for product sold
  in the eastern region of the country. Rank these
  highest to lowest
• How much is promotional spending as a of
  revenue in each sales region. View this within
  each region by customer and product line.
• Who are the top 50 customers based on sales. Who
  are the top 50 based on profit. View for the
  current quarter and year to date. View the same
  data for the bottom 50.
• What is each sales region sales growth for the
  current quarter and year to date basis as
  compared to budget and prior year. What is the
  growth for products sold within the region.

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If it takes hours, days and weeks to get answers
to questions like these, an on-line business
intelligence platform should be explored
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Business Intelligence tools in the hands of
decision makers can have an immediate positive
impact on the bottom line

• Decision makers have expert knowledge of how the
  business operates and what information is needed
  to drive performance improvement. They know where
  to look for opportunities and then can quickly
  make decisions to capitalize on the intelligence
  gathered. In addition, giving decision makers
  direct access to the business intelligence tools
  can reduce special requests that consumes
  precious resources in other areas (IS, finance,
  accounting)

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However, available data is increasing at an
exponential rate while support resources are on a
decline
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1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
Source Gartner Group
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During the past 30 years, database technology has
gone through three basic phases in an effort to
provide decision makers with information needed
to run the business
1970s
1980s
1990s
Phase III- Update to ERP Systems
Phase II-Migrate to Relational Databases
Phase I- Install Legacy Systems
Main Frame Written in Cobol
Client Server Use of SQL
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On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is the
answer for many companies
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What is OLAP
OLAP stands for On Line Analytical Processing
Software. It is an engine that can access a
companies multiple databases and provide users
with instant access to information with the
ability to change data views and allow drill
down capabilities in a real time environment.
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OLAP Key Feature Business intelligence
platform built on current database technology

ERP Systems
Relational Databases
Legacy Systems
OLAP
OLAP
OLAP
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OLAP Key Feature- Data resides on a secure server

• Integrity of data is protected despite multiple
  user access
• Security is in place to protect against
  unauthorized access to data cubes
• Full set of administration tools available to
  control and monitor access to data cubes
• Large MDDBs can be stored and accessed by
  multiple users. (some current applications are in
  excess of 20 gigabytes)

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OLAP Key Feature-Multiple users with simultaneous
access

• Server platform allows for a number of users to
  access data simultaneously.
• Access can be through direct connection with the
  server and/or through the internet

Direct connection to server or www.yourcompany.com

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OLAP Key Feature- Changes to multidimensional
database are easily made
Updates to the multidimensional database should
be easily accomplished. For example new products
are entered into the OLAP cube automatically from
the source data.
Order Entry System
New products
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OLAP Key Feature- Quick implementation time frame
Because OLAP uses information residing in
existing databases, implementation time to get a
business intelligence platform up and running can
be accomplished within a few months. The time
frame is often dependent on several factors
including ease of extracting source data,
integrity of data, complexity of multidimensional
model, hardware readiness and internal resource
availability during implementation.
September
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Key issue Choosing database technology that
will meet business intelligence criteria

• Key features of BI
• Quick access to large amounts of data
• Delivered on-line to decision makers
• Simultaneous views across multiple cost objects
• Ability for decision maker to directly control
  queries to data base with user friendly tools

RDB
MDDB
ERP
EIS
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OLAP Key Feature Use of multi-dimensional
database(MDDB) technology
Measures
Customer

Product
Sales Regions
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OLAP Key Feature- Minimal training ease of use

• To have an effective business intelligence tool
  and realize immediate benefits, decision makers
  need direct access to the data and can perform
  their own analysis with minimal training
• Accessing multidimensional cube and viewing data
  should be quickly accomplished using an
  Excel/Lotus spreadsheet
• Additional analytical/reporting tools can easily
  connected to the OLAP cube
• No coding or special query language necessary to
  build views and sort/rank data
• Use of Windows based technology to perform data
  analysis and graphing

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OLAP Key Feature Strategic Platform for
Enterprise Data Warehousing
End-Users
Sales Analysis
Product Mix Analysis
Product Profitability
Customer Profitability
Financial Consolidation
Performance Reporting
Budgeting
Planning
Reporting
Modeling
Analysis
OLAP Server
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OLAP Additional References

• General OLAP Information
• OLAP market report www.olapreport.com
• OLAP Council www.olapcouncil.org
• OLAP vendors
• Hyperion www.hyperion.com
• Cognos www.cognos.com
• Oracle www.oracle.com
• Microsoft www.microsoft.com/sql/beta/dss