Business Intelligence
Architecture components
A business intelligence architecture is a framework for the various
technologies, an organization deploys to run business intelligence and
analytics applications. It includes the IT systems and software tools that
are used to collect, integrate, store and analyze BI data and then
present information on business operations and trends to corporate
executives and other business users.
The underlying BI architecture is a key element in the execution of a
successful business intelligence program that uses data analysis and
reporting to help an organization track business performance, optimize
business processes, identify new revenue opportunities, improve
strategic planning and make more informed business decisions.
BI Framework
Source systems - These are all of the systems that capture
and hold the transactional and operational data identified as
essential for the enterprise BI program. For example, this can
include enterprise resource planning, customer relationship
management, flat files, application programming interfaces,
finance, manufacturing and supply chain management systems
as well as secondary sources, such as market data and
customer databases from outside information providers. As a
result, both internal and external data sources are often
incorporated into a BI architecture.
Important criteria in the data source selection process include
data relevancy, data currency, data quality and the level of
detail in the available data sets. In addition, a combination of
structured, semi-structured and unstructured data types might
be required to meet the data analysis and decision-making
needs of executives and other end users.
Data integration and cleansing tools- To effectively analyze
the collected data for a BI program, an organization must
integrate and consolidate different data sets to create unified
views of them. The most widely used data integration technology
for BI applications is extract, transform and load (ETL) software,
which pulls data from source systems in batch processes. A
variant of ETL is extract, load and transform(ELT), a technology in
which data is extracted and loaded as-is and transformed later for
specific BI uses. Other methods include real-time data integration,
such as change data capture and streaming integration to support
real-time analytics applications, and data virtualization, which
combines data from different source systems virtually.
A BI architecture typically also includes data profiling and data
cleansing tools that are used to identify and fix data quality
issues. They help BI and data management teams provide clean,
consistent data that's suitable for BI uses.
Analytics data stores- This encompasses the various repositories
where BI data is stored and managed. The primary repository is a
data warehouse, which usually stores structured data in a relational,
columnar or multidimensional database and makes it available for
querying and analysis. An enterprise data warehouse can also be tied
to smaller data marts set up for individual departments and business
units with data that's specific to their BI needs.
In addition, BI architectures often include an operational data store
(ODS) that's an interim repository for data before it goes into a data
warehouse. An ODS can also be used to run analytical queries
against recent transaction data. Depending on the size of a BI
environment, a data warehouse, data mart and an ODS can be
deployed on a single database server or separate business
intelligence systems.
A data lake running on a Hadoop cluster or other big data platform
can also be incorporated into a BI architecture as a repository for raw
BI and data visualization tools-The tools used to
analyze data and present information to business users
include a suite of technologies that can be built into a BI
architecture -- for example, ad hoc query, data mining and
online analytical processing software. In addition, the
growing adoption of self-service BI tools enables business
analysts and managers to run queries themselves instead
of relying on the members of the BI team to do that for
them.
BI software also includes data visualization tools that can
be used to create graphical representations of data in the
form of charts, graphs and other types of visualizations
designed to illustrate trends, patterns and outlier elements
in data sets.
Dashboards, portals and reports- These information
delivery tools give users visibility into the results of BI and
analytics applications with built-in data visualizations and,
often, self-service capabilities to do additional data
analysis. For example, BI dashboards and online portals can
be designed to provide real-time data access with
configurable views and give users the ability to drill down
into data. Reports tend to present data in a more static
format.
Other components that increasingly are part of a business
architecture include data preparation software used to
structure and organize data for analysis and a metadata
repository, a business glossary and a data catalog, which
can help users find relevant data and understand its
lineage and meaning.
Benefits of BI Architecture
In the absence of a BI architecture, businesses and enterprises are at risk of
making costly errors while striving to optimize their data utilization.
A well-articulated BI framework can offer organizations the following key
benefits:
Technology benchmarks A BI architecture articulates the technology
standards and data management and business analytics practices that support
an organization's BI efforts, as well as the specific platforms and tools
deployed.
Improved decision-making Enterprises benefit from an effective BI
architecture by using the insights generated by business intelligence tools to
make data-driven decisions that help increase revenue and profits.
Technology blueprint A BI framework serves as a technology blueprint for
collecting, organizing and managing BI data and then making the data
available for analysis, data visualization and reporting. A strong BI architecture
automates reporting and incorporates policies to govern the use of the
technology components.
Enhanced coordination Putting such a framework in place enables a BI
team to work in a coordinated and disciplined way to build an enterprise BI
program that meets the organization's data analytics needs. The BI
architecture also helps BI and data managers create an efficient process
for handling and managing the business data that's pulled into the
environment.
Time savings By automating the process of collecting and analyzing data,
BI helps organizations save time on manual and repetitive tasks, freeing up
their teams to focus on more high-value projects.
Scalability An effective BI infrastructure is easily scalable, enabling
businesses to change and expand as necessary.
Improved customer service Business intelligence enhances customer
understanding and service delivery by helping track customer satisfaction
and facilitate timely improvements. For example, an e-commerce store can
use BI to track order delivery times and optimize shipping for better
customer satisfaction.
To ensure their needs are met, C-level executives, business managers and
other users who rely on data analysis to formulate strategies and guide
their decision-making should have a stake in creating the architecture.
