Business Objects Role in Business Intelligence

Data Warehouse Defined

A data warehouse is a collection of corporate information, derived directly from operational systems and some external data sources. Its specific purpose is to support business decisions, not business operations

Characteristics of a DW

Subject-oriented Data collects all data for a subject, from different sources Read-only Requests loaded during off-hours, read-only during day hours Interactive Features, ad-hoc query flexible design to handle spontaneous user queries Pre-aggregated data to improve runtime performance Highly denormalized data structures fat tables with redundant columns

Architecture
Report

Report

Report

Report

Report

OLTP

OLAP

What do we want to do?

Model depends on what kind of data analysis we want to do: Different Data Analysis Techniques Query and reporting Display Query Results Multidimensional analysis Analyse data content by looking at it in different perspectives Data mining discover patterns and clustering attributes in data

Types of Data Warehouse

Enterprise Data Warehouse Data Mart

Enterprise Data Warehouse

Datamart

Datamart

Datamart

Enterprise data warehouse

Contains data drawn from multiple operational systems Supports time- series and trend analysis across different business areas Can be used as a transient storage area to clean all data and ensure consistency Can be used to populate data marts Can be used for everyday and strategic decision making

Data Mart

Logical subset of enterprise data warehouse Organized around a single business process Based on granular data May or may not contain aggregates Object of analytical processing by the end user. Less expensive and much smaller than a full blown corporate data warehouse.

Dimensions

A dimension is a collection of members or units of the same type of views. Dimensions determine the contextual background for the facts. Dimensions represent the way business people talk about the data resulting from a business process, e.g., who, what, when, where, why, how

Dimension Table

Table used to store qualitative data about fact records Who What When Where Why

Facts A fact is a collection of related data items, consisting of measures and context data. Each fact typically represents a business item, a business transaction, or an event that can be used in analyzing the business or business process. Facts are measured, continuously valued, rapidly changing information. Can be calculated and/or derived.

Fact Table

A table that is used to store business information (measures) that can be used in mathematical equations. Quantities Percentages Prices

Why Would You Build a DW?

Why dont you just build reporting on top of the Transaction system?

Has anyone ever tried this before? Complex and time consuming to build Slow to operate (poor performance) Cumbersome to use (Ad hoc reporting is out of reach of the
average user)

A nightmare to maintain It can be an almost impossible task, and doesnt always work!

Business Objects An Introduction

Agenda
Business Objects BusinessObjects Product Suite Q&A

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to
Create Reports

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to
Create Reports Create Charts

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to
Create Reports Create Charts Extract Data

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to
Create Reports Create Charts Extract Data Analyse Data

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to
Create Reports Create Charts Extract Data Analyse Data Share Data

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to
Create Reports Create Charts Extract Data Analyse Data Share Data

All of the above

What is BusinessObjects?
BusinessObjects is a tool to Create Reports Create Charts Extract Data Analyse Data Share Data All of the above Business Objects is the solution to a problem It empowers end-users

What can it do?

What can it do?

As a reporting tool, BusinessObjects lets you: Build simple, or complex queries that extract data from a database Get answers to questions when you need them Alter your existing reports Share your reports with other users

What can it do?

What can it do?

As a charting tool, BusinessObjects lets you: Turn the results of your queries into graphs and charts Alter the format of charts using drag-n-drop techniques Embed your charts in other documents, e.g. Word or PowerPoint

What can it do?

What can it do?

As a analysis tool, BusinessObjects lets you: Explore data in a dynamic way Drill down, slice & dice to spot patterns in data Display one set of data in different ways to answer questions Use powerful functions and formulae to summarise information

What can it do?s Empowers end-users Get results immediately Reports can be amended and extended at will Enhanced control Designer controls what information can be accessed Also determines who can access it Data quality is maintained Information Sharing By publishing reports to repository. By sending reports to different users.

How does Business Objects work? BusinessObjects uses a semantic layer Translates complex database terminology into plain English Enables non-technical users to construct complex reports BusinessObjects uses a fully graphical interface Drag-n-drop functionality Familiar Windows environment WYSIWYG

Agenda
BusinessObjects BusinessObjects Product Suite Q&A

BusinessObjects Product Suite

BusinessObjects Core Products

Server products RDBMS Web browser: InfoView

Admin tools: Designer Supervisor

Web browser: WebIntelligence BusinessObjects client BusinessObjects client

Business intelligence portal

BusinessObjects InfoView

Query, reporting, and analysis for non-technical users

BusinessObjects: full and zero administration client WebIntelligence: thin client

Quick and easy deployment for administrators

Designer: easy creation of the semantic layer Supervisor: easy setup of security profiles

Easy Access to BI Information

BusinessObjects InfoView: the first business intelligence portal

Centralized All BI content available Any document format Personalized Screen layout/content Personal documents Relevant information Secure Full Business Objects security applied to all documents

Business Representation of Information

Query panel Business representation

End users Corporate databases

Semantic layer maps database to business terms Maps tables and columns to classes and objects Objects are key business indicators Sales revenue, average quantity, sales region

Easy Access to New Information

Section breaks
Available Information

Conditions

Chosen format

  

Industrys easiest query interface Works against business representation of data All query components available in one window

Create Professional Reports

Full-featured, easy-to-use report writer

Production and ad hoc reports HTML reports Multiple data sources Full formatting Alerters highlight exceptions Ranking Templates Conditional formatting

Q&A
Any Question ?