| On 12.08.09, In Uncategorized, by Nidhi |
Business Intelligence (BI) is the buzz word for businesses today. It refers to the information, technology and systems that are present in an organization for making decisions. A business intelligence tool is an application that feeds on the data passed by the organization and presents reports after applying certain logics. Such a reporting by business intelligence is termed as Business Intelligence Reporting.
Whether you are in an insurance, business , financial, healthcare, stock market or manufacturing sector, the ability to make correct decisions in order to sustain in the long run is a pressing need. To cater that very need, BI tools/applications are equipped with intelligent reporting feature.
Importance of BI reports
An organization might have data coming in from various departments as well as from the market. Data becomes knowledge when certain meaning is attached to it. The task of adding knowledge to collected data is done by a typical BI tool. This BI tool intelligently connects various dots and presents the output in the form of reports and charts. For e.g., let’s take an individual in manufacturing sector. He has various data about his inventory, sales, customer base, distributors, dealers, marketing etc. Now to decipher the relationship between all these entities, (s)he will use a BI tool.
BI tool allows the individual to integrate all the data sources and the reporting feature helps to generate reports that eventually help him or her to make apt decisions.
BI reports can be classified into following categories.
Standard, static report
- Based on certain subject
- Data is defined prior to report generation
- Layouts of reports are pre-determined
- Reports are generated as per the user’s needs
- Contains sub-reports
- Uses advanced calculations and statistical analysis to generate reports
- Usually made available online
Ad-hoc report
- Reports are generated as per the user’s needs
- Reports are simple in nature
- Either uses standard report’s template or a separate design
Interactive, multidimensional OLAP report
- Provides report using multidimensional parameters
- Ability to dynamically drill down, slice, dice and filter reports
- Layouts of reports are pre-determined
- Reports are generated as per the user’s needs
- Usually made available online
Write-back report
- Provides ability to edit and customize products and customers grouping
- Ability to enter budget figures, forecasts, rebates
- Setting sales targets
- Refining business relevant data
Technical report
- Focuses on Data quality
- Furnishes metadata reports
- Produces extracts for other systems
All BI tools have reporting feature embedded in them. But some of the famous ones have been jotted down below.
One Response
Nice info…:)