“Data really powers everything that we do” - Jeff Weiner
Majority of my grad courses at Eller College of Management have been driven by data: MIS-587 (Business Intelligence) more than any other course. In the past two weeks, I have learnt quite a lot of Data Warehousing concepts. Most importantly, I have started to feel confident about my understanding of DW basics.
Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross have explained and illustrated concepts such as facts and dimensions, star schema, OLAP cubes and various dimensional modeling techniques in their book 'The Data Warehouse Toolkit'. In this post, I would like to focus on the goals/responsibilities and benefits of DW/BI systems, and the DOs/DONTs of BI implementations.
A DW/BI system aids an organization in converting knowledge
into profit through improved decision making. Apart from this, some of the goals of such a system are:
· Providing simplicity and ease of use to the end (business) users
· Improving the quality, timeliness and consistency of information
· Analyzing the changing trends and adapting to changes
· Providing simplicity and ease of use to the end (business) users
· Improving the quality, timeliness and consistency of information
· Analyzing the changing trends and adapting to changes
While reading about how BI solutions are implemented in organizations, I realized that Ralph Kimball and the likes have taught people how to make a lot of money. Or lose a lot! BI implementations are prone to failure if the IT world does not clearly understand the real needs of the Business world.
A few pointers on avoiding failures in BI implementations:
·
Establish clear business needs
·
Involve users and other stakeholders during the selection
and implementation process
·
Choose a flexible BI product - helps in anticipating changes and handling
them
·
Evaluate and select the least expensive and the
most appropriate data-integration method
·
Provide sufficient business value to BI
investments and avoid generic BI solutions
DW/BI systems in an organization are intended to increase productivity and decrease
costs. Having a good understanding of the business, a well-documented BI
strategy and the befitting tools will lead to a seamless BI implementation.
In conclusion,
In conclusion,
Enough said.
Until next time!
References:
1. The Data Warehouse Toolkit, 3rd Edition - by Ralph Kimball & Margy Ross
2. www.gartner.com
3. www.searchbusinessintelligence.techtarget.in
References:
1. The Data Warehouse Toolkit, 3rd Edition - by Ralph Kimball & Margy Ross
2. www.gartner.com
3. www.searchbusinessintelligence.techtarget.in
