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A Complete Blueprint for Maximizing the Value of Business Intelligence in the Enterprise
The typical enterprise recognizes the immense potential of business intelligence (BI) and its impact upon many facets within the organization–but it’s not easy to transform BI’s potential into real business value. In The New Era of Enterprise Business Intelligence, top BI expert Mike Biere presents a complete blueprint for creating winning BI strategies and infrastructure, and systematically maximizing the value of information throughout the enterprise.
This product-independent guide brings together start-to-finish guidance and practical checklists for every senior IT executive, planner, strategist, implementer, and the actual business users themselves. Drawing on thousands of hours working with enterprise customers, Biere helps decision-makers choose from today’s unprecedented spectrum of options, including the latest BI platform suites and appliances. He offers practical, “in-the-trenches” insights on a wide spectrum of planning and implementation issues, from segmenting and supporting users to working with unstructured data.
Coverage includes
• Understanding the scope of today’s BI solutions and how they fit into existing infrastructure
• Assessing new options such as SaaS and cloud-based technologies
• Avoiding technology biases and other “project killers”
• Developing effective RFIs/RFPs and proofs of concept
• Setting up competency centers and planning for skills development
• Crafting a better experience for all your business users
• Supporting the requirements of senior executives, including performance management
• Cost-justifying BI solutions and measuring success
• Working with enterprise content management, text analytics, and search
• Planning and constructing portals, mashups, and other user interfaces
• Previewing the future of BI
Introduction to Business Intelligence Today
Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 1 and Index)
Chapter 1 Introduction to Business Intelligence Today 1
Setting Expectations 3
The Face of Business Intelligence Now 5
The Characteristics of a BI Vision and Strategy 8
Setting the Stage for BI Success 9
Within the IT Organization 9
Within the End User Community 11
Summary 12
Chapter 2 Defining Business Intelligence Today 13
Defining Business Intelligence within Your Organization 13
Platform Implications 15
What Is “Mission Critical”? 17
BI Solution Elements 18
Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse: Are They Synonymous? 21
Business Intelligence as a Key Differentiator from Competition 22
Productivity Factors–Working Smarter 25
Summary 27
Chapter 3 The History of Business Intelligence within Your Organization 29
Mapping Your Environment to the BI Evolutionary Tree 29
Creating an Internal Record of BI Usage 34
Analysis of Displacement 38
Summary 40
Chapter 4 The Scope of BI Solutions Today and How They May Relate to You 41
The BI Infrastructure 41
BI Drivers, Trends, Sources, and Deployment Options 44
Mergers and Acquisitions–The Emergence of BI “Mega-Vendors” 45
BI Suites/Platforms versus Independents 46
Open Source BI Tools 47
Software as a Service (SaaS) 48
Cloud Computing 49
BI Appliances 51
Dynamic Warehousing–Extending Beyond Structured Information 52
Operational and Real-Time BI 54
ETL and Change Data Capture–Their Impact and Importance on BI 55
Master Data Management (MDM) and Its Role within a BI Infrastructure 58
The Impact of XML Data 59
BI Provisioning Models–What Is Best for You? 61
Establishing a BI Competency Center (BICC) 62
Creating an Information Agenda 62
Summary 64
Chapter 5 Elements of BI Solutions: The End User Experience 65
End User Assumptions 65
Setting Up Data for BI 67
The Functional Area of BI Tools 69
Query Tools and Reporting 69
OLAP and Advanced Analytics 71
ROLAP Solutions Versus OLAP 73
Understanding the Critical Role of Time Dimensionality 74
Data Mining 76
Text Analytics 77
Spreadsheets–Effective Use and the Implications on Security/Compliance 79
Executive Information Systems (EIS) 80
Operational BI 83
Embedded BI and Event-Driven Processes 86
ETL/ELT and Real-Time Change Data Capture (CDC) Options 87
Summary 90
Chapter 6 The Impact of Business Intelligence on Roles within the Enterprise 93
End User Categories 93
End User Management 96
Skills Definitions 98
IT Support Roles 100
BI Tools Support Staff and Business Analysts 101
The Executive/Managerial Role 102
Non-Technical and Casual Users 104
Summary 105
Chapter 7 Corporate Performance Management and the Executive View of Business Intelligence 107
Defining CPM 108
Elements of a CPM System 109
Vision 111
Strategy Map 111
Balanced Scorecard 112
Dashboards 113
Feedback 114
The “PM”s Available Today 115
The Executive View of BI 117
Summary 118
Chapter 8 Enterprise Content Management, Unstructured Data, Text Analytics, and Enterprise Search 121
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) 123
Enterprise Search 125
Using RSS as a Conduit for External Information 129
Text Analytics 130
The Search and Text Analytics Project 132
Text Analytics as a Part of the Complete BI Picture 133
The Impact of XML on BI 134
Summary 135
Chapter 9 Key Influencers in the Enterprise 137
User Segmentation Reality Check 138
Identifying the Power Brokers–Key Influencers 140
Attributes of Key Influencers 143
Extending BI Beyond the Enterprise 144
Summary 145
Chapter 10 Justifying Business Intelligence Solutions and Measuring Success 147
Justification Scenarios 148
BI Roadmaps 148
Articulating Potential Benefits 150
Business Unit Impact on Justification 151
Big Purchase No Plan 153
ROI, TCO, and TCA 156
Measuring BI Success 158
BI Clouds and Outsourcing 160
Summary 161
Chapter 11 Platform Selection, Technology Biases, and Other “Traps” 163
Platform Selection for BI Tools–The Database View 164
Platform Selection for BI Tools–The Tools View 166
Technology Biases 168
Other BI “Traps” 170
Handling Biases 170
Summary 172
Chapter 12 Intelligent Responses to an RFI/RFP and Setting Up a Proof of Concept/Technology 175
Creating a Better RFI/RFP 176
Get into the Details 176
Coordinating IT and Business Users–Ranking the Proper Criteria 179
Data Access and Performance Aspects of an RFI/RFP 179
Documenting RFP/RFI Information for the Future 181
The PoC/PoT Scenario 182
Matching RFI/RFP Checklists to a PoC/PoT and Documentation 184
Summary 185
Chapter 13 End-User Support and Productivity 187
WYNTK–What You Need to Know About BI Support 188
Centralized Support–A BI Competency Center (BICC) 191
Methodology of Work Submission and Success 195
Vendor BICCs 196
Productivity–A Valuable Offshoot of Effective BI 197
What Is End-User Productivity? 197
Summary 199
Chapter 14 Implementation of Business Intelligence Solutions 201
Setting User Expectations Early and Coping with the First Project 202
How to Scope the First Project 203
BI Skills Required 205
End-User Provisos 207
BI Solution Elements–Query, Reporting, OLAP 208
Query and Reporting Application Elements 208
OLAP Application Elements 210
System Sizing, Backup, and Recovery Issues 212
System Sizing 213
Backup and Recovery 214
Summary 215
Chapter 15 The Impact of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) on Business Intelligence Solutions 217
SOA So What? 218
Is SOA Practical for BI? 220
Getting Started with a BI SOA 221
BI SOA Frameworks 225
Summary 227
Chapter 16 Enterprise Portals, Mashups, and Other User Interfaces 229
The Enterprise Portal–Its Purpose and Potential 230
Mashups–A Perfect BI Delivery Model 234
Understanding BI in the Context of Portals, Mashups, and Collaboration 235
Summary 239
Chapter 17 An End User Survival Guide 241
BI Basics 242
Ease of Use, Leprechauns, and the Yeti 243
Interacting with BI Tools and Features 244
The BI Skills Conundrum 247
So Who Are You? 248
BI Skills Assessment 250
Do You Have a Standard for Naming BI Objects? 253
White Board the Data Sources and Combinations 254
Summary 256
Chapter 18 Checklists for BI Planning 257
An Enterprise Checklist 258
The Business Unit Level Checklist 260
A BICC Checklist 262
An IT Checklist 264
Summary 266
Chapter 19 Speculation on the Future of Business Intelligence 269
Emerging BI Technologies 270
Technology Gaps 274
Trends to Monitor 276
Responding to Trends 278
Summary 279
Index 281