SSAS ch02_02_whatisbi

p. 1

1

Chapter 2 - Video # 2

What is Business Intelligence?

1

Chapter 2: Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing with SSASCourse: SQL Server 2008/R2 Analysis ServicesCourse Id: 165Presented by Scott Whigham

p. 2

2

• Overview of Chapter

• Defining Business Intelligence

• BI and SQL Server

• OLTP vs. OLAP

• “Where should I put my data warehouse?”

• Multi-dimensional databases

• Data Mining

• What is Analysis Services?

• New Features in SSAS 2008

Business Intelligence

p. 3

3

• Business Intelligence is one of the hottest buzzwords/terms around– “BI”

– Closely followed by the term “Data warehouse”

– So what is it?


p. 4

4

• BI is getting the right information into the right people’s hands in a format that allows them to understand the data quickly


p. 5

5

• BI:… is not just about decision support

… is not a methodology

… is not just about the tools used to make decisions

… is not SQL Server, Analysis Services, Reporting Services, or Integration Services

… does not require a data warehouse or data mart


p. 6

6

• Definitions of Business Intelligence from around the web:– “BI refers to skills, processes, technologies, applications and practices

used to support decision making.” – Wikipedia

– “BI is a broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions.” – TechTarget.com

– “BI is an umbrella term that refers to a variety of software applications used to analyze an organization’s raw data. BI as a discipline is made up of several related activities, including data mining, online analytical processing, querying and reporting.” – CIO.com


p. 7

7

• BI needs by position


Executive

Upper Manager

Middle Manager

Lower Manager

Team Lead

p. 8

8

• Another look at BI needs by position– Focus this time is on initial level of detail needed


Team Lead

Lower Manager

Middle Manager

Upper Mgr

Exec

p. 9

9

• A typical BI implementation might consist of:– Data entry system(s)

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

• Ticketing system

• Defect tracking system

• Order entry

• Website registration/shopping cart

– Data warehouse

– Enterprise reporting system

– Training on how to use reporting system


p. 10

10

• BI is also about monitoring change– Identifying lagging/growing products and why

– Understanding context behind the numbers

– Identifying trends in quality control, marketing, etc

– Identifying progress towards organization goals


p. 11

11

• As a company:– We want to react to changes

• Economic and market conditions

• Competitors’ pricing/features/products

– We also want to cause change

• Change customer buying habits/behavior

• Disrupt market with new pricing, features, etc

• Implementing new quality control tools/procedures


p. 12

12

• Remember: BI is getting the right information into the right people’s hands in a format that allows them to understand the data quickly– It’s about helping management understand where

to make the right changes

– It’s about helping management understand which changes are having the best/most/least impact


p. 13

13

• The best companies:– Put more money into those projects which have

the best payoff/ROI

– Kill off/lessen projects that have little to no ROI

• BI helps companies of all sizes identify these quickly and efficiently


p. 14

14

• A small company CEO may run the business by “gut feeling”– Decisions are often made based on past personal

experiences of the CEO

– Decisions are often not made based on facts

– Reacting to and causing change is often based on anecdotal evidence or gut feeling


p. 15

15

• Larger company CEOs must have buy-in from shareholders, investors, management, or even the press– Major decisions cannot be made by one person’s

gut feeling or experiences

– Such decisions require market analysis reports, trend analysis, data mining, etc

• Business Intelligence!


p. 16

16

• Before we go on to the next video– “Business intelligence” is an umbrella term that

attempts to cover a lot of ground

– Be wary of vendors who overuse the term…

• Many of the ideas/topics are so generic that almost anything can be under the umbrella of BI


p. 17

17

• Business Intelligence and SQL Server

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin

Next up

Documents

SSAS ch02_02_whatisbi