If you ask a BI professional about the core of business intelligence concepts, they’re likely to break them down into specific segments or layers. However, for the purpose of this article, I will explain the 4 basic components within business intelligence.
- The data itself (raw data)
- The data warehouse
- Data access, analytics, and presentation
- Data dashboarding and reporting
1) The Raw data
The first component of an integral BI solution is the data itself. This data could be anything like sales records for the year, the keywords implemented in your latest advertising program, salary and benefit tables, or profit and loss statements.
A company’s data is typically stored across a host of databases, depending on how each specific data set is collected (through CRMs, ERPs, flat files, APIs, etc.). As a result of this fragmentation, today’s BI solutions are developed with various data connectors that let users consolidate all of their databases into one centralized data warehouse, allowing them to work on each insight conjointly and enhancing cross-database analysis.
2) The data warehouse
As mentioned, the data storage warehouse is the logistics platform that connects all of your different databases together and allows you to create relationships between them. This is an area that has seen great advances recently with the introduction of cloud-based BI tools.
The legacy approach to a data warehouse was often a mishmash of different Excel sheets, old mainframe style databases , paper-based records, and proprietary program databases.
After realizing how difficult it was to make use of all of these scattered data sources, people began to integrate databases through the use of warehouses and systems. Modern systems are also superior to the legacy systems in that they often update in real time, as opposed to having to be manually updated – a process which often required the IT department.
3) Data access, analytics, and presentation
Once all of your data is connected and can ‘talk to each other’(Relationship with table), one of the next key business intelligence concepts is to make use of that data. This involves accessing the data, analyzing it for important trends, and presenting it in a way that is immediately understandable.
These steps can often blend together, especially if you use interactive dashboards that let you zoom in and out of your data according to your business need. Data presentation has also come a long way since the Excel days. Now there are beautiful, intuitive dashboard examples that can give you the information you need at a glance.
4) Data dashboarding and reporting
Building on our previous point, the fourth and perhaps most pivotal component of an interactive dashboard is the ability to continuously track, monitor, and report your data.
By having access to a flexible, customizable, data-driven online-dashboards, you can to set targets, identify patterns, spot trends, and uncover insights that foster growth and improvement. Though initiative functionality and seamless data visualization, it’s also possible to share your discoveries with others within the organization in a way that’s inclusive as well as digestible.
Moreover, today’s BI-based dashboard reporting is portable, meaning that it’s possible to log in, analyze data, and share information wherever you may be in the world, 24/7, on a multitude of devices.
BI Developer specialized in SQL Query Development/ SSIS/ SSAS/ SSRS /Power BI/ MS Office. Enjoy working in data analysis and presentation, challenging projects where I can uncover valuable business insights for an organization from previously under-utilized data sources and creating custom made reports and interactive dashboards
