I was pondering recently all the different kinds of BI reports that exist.  I've worked with several businesses at various levels of business intelligence and have identified my own pattern of report progression.  These aren't necessarily a maturity model, nor are they mutually exclusive.  Read my report generations and let me know what you think!

Generation One
These reports are collected and delivered by an IT department from data stored in a transactional system.  They are typically run weeks after the event.   For example, a department store runs a promotion.  The promotion ends and relevant data is transferred to IT from the point of sale system.  Someone in IT gets a massive data set and does some “black box” manipulation of the data.  Eventually, multiple datasets are delivered as “reports” and after a bit more manipulation, the success of the promotion is determined.

Generation Two
We’re still getting reports directly from the transactional system, but now, the reports are closer to real-time.  Snapshots of the previous day or extreme detail of transactions are available.  There’s no analysis going on, simply reporting.  These are the types of reports we all get when we log into an online store and take a peek at our order history.

Generation Three
There’s a big leap between Gen 2 and Gen 3.  At Generation 3 we now have moved away from the transactional system and are getting our data from a data mart or data warehouse.  These reports are essentially the same Gen 1 and Gen 2 reports, only now you consistently get them “on-demand” and can perform some simple analysis on the data sets you receive.   The reports are very close to real-time, typically within a day or a week at most.  

Generation Four
Here’s where the fun begins!  Reports are coming from a data warehouse, only now you have a BI tool that is providing you analysis on the data.  No longer are you getting long, cumbersome data sets, now you receive concise bits of data that provide you with actionable information.  This is where your Scorecard exists as well as grid reports with red, yellow and green “traffic” symbols.    You might also be getting operational data in real-time.  This is when you are monitoring transactions and receiving alerts to your Blackberry.   Gen 4 reports provide pretty sophisticated analytics that do all the thinking for you, and send you only the information you need.

Generation Five
Some may consider this to be the same as Gen 4, but I consider visual dashboards and other data visualization techniques as Gen 5.  At this level, you are receiving volumes of complex data analysis in very easy to digest visualizations.  When you look at a visual dashboard, the action you need to take and reason why are immediately apparent.  

So, those are my Five Generations of Business Intelligence reporting.   Share with me your thoughts on the topic!

The great scientist and mathematician Lord Kelvin is quoted as saying, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it." 

Using Business Intelligence to measure processes and performance in the workplace can have significant impact on the workplace.  Here are a few ways this can happen.

1. Gauging the success of business processes leads to process improvement.   
2. When employees feel empowered to create, manage and distribute ad-hoc reports, they feel more engaged in the business and workplace.  
3. Benchmarking performance indicators provide employees with a yardstick which they can use to improve their output.    
4. Employees can align their objectives with corporate goals and track their progress through personal scorecards.    
5. Distributing intelligence about the business increases transparency and trust with employees.

I enjoy telling people I’ve just met that I am in “Business Intelligence.”   I watch their face as they try to decipher the term.    They know about the Central Intelligence Agency, they understand Military Intelligence, and of course they know James Bond, but they have never heard of “Business Intelligence.”  I think they envision me running around office buildings in stiletto heels flashing my BI badge and acting cool while I sniff out wrong doers. 

In reality, Business Intelligence is probably the most powerful tool a business can have.   It utilizes applications, technologies, practices and processes in order to provide the information necessary to make competent, fact-based decisions in a timely manner.  In short, it is the thumb on the company’s pulse.   The term Business Intelligence is an umbrella term that includes other umbrella terms; most notably:  Business Analytics, Data Mining, Decision Support, and Enterprise Reporting.  In my opinion this over arching definition can cause confusion.

Frequently, at the core of BI is a Data Warehouse or Data Mart.  These relational databases contain either multiple subject data (data warehouse) or single-subject data (data mart) optimized for data storage (as opposed to supporting a transactional application).  The subjects depend on the business and are typically Sales, Marketing or Production.  A reporting application gathers data from the data base and distributes it through reports, dashboards or scorecards.  Distribution can be any number of venues:  a Web or OLAP application to view and manipulate reports, via an email address, blackberry or printed and manually distributed.
  
A huge value of having a BI program is that the decision makers in the company are receiving the data they need in a timely manner.   I’ve helped companies with legacy systems where they don’t see fiscal year-end data until several months after the end of the fiscal year.  The BI program delivers fiscal year-end data and analysis the day after the year ends or closes.    Fraud prevention obviously benefits from receiving timely results.  By setting thresholds of a normal transaction, when those thresholds are exceeded then the information is delivered immediately and action can be taken. 

Everyone in your organization can benefit from a BI program.   It’s clear to see how Executives benefit by making business-wide decisions with a concise Dashboard, for example, but a very popular trend in the BI industry right now is what’s called Operational Business Intelligence.   This addresses daily operations and delivers reports in real-time or near real-time to all levels of employees to improve business performance.  Information Builders has a very good flash graphic that depicts who uses and benefits from BI. 

In a future blog, I will discuss the steps needed to implement a BI program.   I hope the information I provided here has helped you understand why you’d want to implement BI.  Please comment if you have any questions.