139

Business Intelligence Systems: Design and Implementation Strategies

G R Gangadharan
gangadharan_gr@ yahoo.com
IMIT Class of 2004, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
Sundaravalli N Swami
Assistant Professor, Ramarao Adik Institute of Technology, Navi Mumbai, India
sundar1469@ yahoo. com
Abstract Managing an organization requires access to
information in order to monitor activities and assess
performance. Trying to understand what informatian an
organization has can be challenging because the
information systems collect and process vast amount of
data in various forms. To flow in the running stream of
rapidly changing, increasingly competitive global market
scenario and increasingly volatile consumer and market
behavior and rapidly shortening product life cycles,
business enterprises today are necessary to analyze
accurate and timely information about financial
operations, customers, and products using familiar
business terms, in order to gain analytical insight into
business problems and opportunities. Enterprises are
building business intelligence systems that support
business analysis and decision making to help them better
understand their operations and compete in the
marketplace. This paper describes the life cycle
comprising various phases in the development of a BI
system. The paper elaborates the implementation issues of
BI in an organization focusing a case study.
Keywords Business Intelligence, Decision Support
Systems
1. Introduction
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir
men's blood and probably themselves will not be
realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and
work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram
once recorded will never die, but long after we are
gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-
growing insistency. Remember that our sons and
grandsons are going to do things that would stagger
us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon
beauty. Think big."
Student paper
- Daniel Burnham, a prominent Chicago
architect and civic planner.
New and complex changes are emerging that
will force enterprises to operate in entirely new
ways. The interconnected linkage of supply chains,
markets and businesses represents a new challenge
for all enterprises. The key strategy for creating
competitive advantage lies in understanding the data
that will shape the networked marketplace. Finding
ways of bringing together and making sense of the
vast amounts of data flowing within and across the
extended enterprise is becoming a key business
success factor. The path to business insight [I l l
follows the process of integration of data from
disparate internal and external data sources, applying
analysis tools and techniques to understand the
information within the data, making decisions, and
taking actions based on this gained insight.
According to [61, businesses can achieve a true
up-to-the-moment view in which:
The information gleaned is actually current
enough to be useful in managing and
executing business processes,
Efficiency is optimized by choosing among
the hest options available given the
circumstances at the time, and
The organization is able to respond to its
best customers.
In the current emerging highly dynamic business
environment, only the most competitive enterprises
will achieve sustained market success [2]. In order to
2dh Int. Conf. Information Technology Interfaces IT12004, J une 7-10, 2004, Cavtat, Croatia
140
capitalize on the business opportunities, these
organizations will distinguish themselves by the
capability to leverage information about their market
place, customers, and operations. A central part of
this strategy for long-term sustainable success is
business intelligence.
According to [12], BI is a term that
encompasses a broad range of analytical software
and solutions for gathering, consolidating, analyzing
and providing access to information in a way that is
supposed to let an enterprise's users make better
business decisions. The term BI encompasses
software for extraction, transformation and loading
(ETL) [4], data warehousing, database query and
reporting, multidimensional / on-line analytical
processing (OLAP) [I ] data analysis, data mining
and visualization. The key, of course, is
consolidating data from the many different
enterprise operational systems into an enterprise data
warehouse. Due to the vast scope of this effort, few
organizations have a truly enterprise data warehouse.
BI describes the result of in-depth analysis of
detailed business data, including database and
application technologies, as well as analysis
practices. BI is technically much broader, potentially
encompassing knowledge management, enterprise
resource planning, decision support systems and data
mining.
According to [7], BI has different definitions
from different fields of experts. To some CRM
experts, BI is all about seamless integration of
operational front-office applications with operational
back-office applications. To some data warehouse
experts, BI is just a new term for data warehousing;
that is, providing decision support applications on a
new technology platform. To some data mining
statisticians, BI represents the advanced data mining
algorithms, such as neural induction techniques. BI
is an enterprise architecture for an integrated
collection of operational as well as decision support
applications and databases, which provides the
business community easy access to their business
data and allows them to make accurate business
decisions. It is a new "discipline," in which data is
finally treated as the corporate resource, that it is.
Any operational system (including ERP and CRh4)
and any decision support application (including data
warehouses and data marts) are BI, if and only if
they were developed under the umbrella and
methodology of a strategic cross-organizational
initiative.
According to [31, BI technology has coalesced
in the last decade around the use of data
warehousing and OLAP. The various sources for the
relevant business data are referred to as the
operational data stores (ODS). The data are
extracted, transformed, and loaded (ETL) from the
ODS systems into a data mart. An important part of
this process is data cleansing, in which variations on
schemas and data values from disparate ODS
systems are resolved. In the data mart, the data are
modeled as an OLAP cube (multidimensional
model), which supports flexible drilldown and roll-
up analyses. Tools from various vendors (e.g..
Hyperion, Brio, Cognos) provide the end user with a
query and analysis front end to the data mart. Large
data warehouses currently hold tens of terabytes of
data, whereas smaller, problem-specific data marts
are typically in the 10 to 100 gigabytes range.
BI refers to the use of technology to collect and
effectively use information to improve business
potency. An ideal BI system gives an organization's
employees, partners, and suppliers easy access to the
information they need to effectively do their jobs,
and the ability to analyze and easily share this
information with others. BI provides critical insight
that helps organizations make informed decisions.
BI facilitates scrutinizing every aspect of business
operations to find new revenue or squeeze out
additional cost savings by supplying decision
support information.
2. BI Methodology
BI is a strategic initiative by which organizations
measure and drive the effectiveness of their
competitive strategy. BI projects go through the
following phases as depicted in Fig. 1 :
2.1. Analysis
Every BI project should clearly justify the cost
and the benefits of solving a business problem.
Requirement analysis is performed including a
predefined set of the key performance indicators
(KPIs) that are required by the end users. The
analysis phase produces a high level design of the
various components of the solution with the sources
141
of relevant information. Because of dynamic nature
of BI projects, modifications in objective, people,
estimate, technology, users and sponsors can
severely impact the success of the project.
2.2. Designing
Based on the complexity of the solution and the
requirements, appropriate BI technologies are
selected.
Analysis for the functional deliverables is best
done through prototyping. This gives them an
opportunity to adjust their delivery requirements and
their expectations.
database design schema must match the access
requirements of the business.
Depending on the data cleansing and data
transformation requirements developed during
analysis, an ETL tool may or may not be the best
solution. In either case, preprocessing the data and
writing extensions to the tool capabilities are
frequently required. The real payback for BI
applications comes from the business intelligence
hidden in the organization's data, which can only be
discovered with data mining tools. Developing Meta
Data Repository becomes a subproject of the overall
BI project.
2.4. Deployment
Once all components of the BI application are
thoroughlv tested, the aoulication is deployed to the
- . I I _.
user ends. The success of BI project primarily lies
on the quality of end user training and support. This
phase requires an interactive approach, with
extensive user training and adjustments to meet the
user needs. This phase includes the development of
predefined reports and analyses for the business
users, and laying the groundwork for more advanced
analytics in the future.
2.5. Evolution
Measuring the success of application, extending
the application across the enterprise and increasing
cross-functional information sharing are the goals of
evolution.
Figure 1. Life Cycle of SI System
2.3. Development The life cycle of BI system repeats with the
methodology operating at a new level of focus
The full process of flow of information across the consisting analysis, re-evaluation, modification,
optimization and tuning. organization should be modeled.
The requirements for what type of meta data to
capture and store must be documented in a meta
model. In addition, the requirements for delivering
meta data to the users have to be analyzed.
If a meta data repository is purchased, it will most
likely have to be extended with features that are
required by BI applications. If a meta data repository
is built, the database has to be designed based on the
meta model developed during the previous step. The
3. BI Framework
Business intelligence is a boon to enterprises
because they pull together vast quantities of real-
time information from disparate systems and distill
them into focused views of the business. Business
Intelligence needs are not only restricted to multi-
national corporations with huge investments and
human resources. Small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) have intelligence needs and should consider
142
seeking out relevant information. In all business
situations, obtaining intelligence is critical. Gartner
Research estimates that from 2002 to 2006, the
percentage of BI deployments that provide
instantaneous data currency will grow from 11
percent to 29 percent.
The metrics for determining the necessity for
implementing business intelligence within the
organization are as follows:
Generation of huge amount of data in contrast to
small amount of information
Finding history of business records
Busiest IT section with no time for report
generation.
Enhancing business processes to become more
profitable
Unable to organize data in the way by which it
should be organized
Faster decisions making based on factual
information
Organizational structure wise report generation
Measuring time spent in extracting and
analyzing data
The aspects that the organizations need to
consider for implementing business intelligence
solution in a way tailored to the particular
requirements are as follows:
What are the goals for using information and
how are they prioritized?
Who are the users of information in the
organization and how do the information
requirements change among user groups?
Does the organization culture allow information
to be used as a strategic asset? How does the
organization share information with partners and
customers?
What are the corporate goals for implementing
BI strategy?
How are decisions made in the organization?
Does BI support and facilitate collaboration
around data?
How do the competitors use BI for information
sharing with customers and partners?
How will BI deployment add value to existing
applications?
What are the best practices for deploying BI?
Enterprises wishing to implement business
intelligence face the following challenges:
Providing access to extensive resources from
devices with limited capacity.
Benchmarks and performance targets
Creating a new information infrastructure to
support the development and deployment of
multiple applications.
* Integrating to existing enterprise I legacy
systems and connecting with multiple networks.
Creatiing solutions that perform in and out of
both network coverage and managing the
solution.
Enforcing security and role-defined access to the
data warehouse.
Based on [ 9] , the completeness and adequacy of
BI infrastructure is evaluated by the following
guidelines:
a
Effective data integration process to create
required business intelligence on a daily basis.
0 Continuous monitoring processes to allow alerts
to be communicated immediately.
Automated information delivery process.
- Fully automated warehouse administration
infrastructure.
Availability of information on standardized
dimension such as customer, product and
geography.
Delivery of answers to all key business
questions.
Integrated enterprise portal infrastructure [SI to
deliver business intelligence.
Higher end user acceptance having a consistent
look and feel across different applications and
clear help desk and training policies.
By organizing and deploying BI in a manner
appropriate to the organizations own characteristics,
the complete value of the data stored throughout the
enterprise can be unleashed.
4. CaseStudy
Following is a case study of implementation of BI
in an electrical and electronics components
manufacturing company. The company operates
nine production plants that provide products to
retailers across India. The company uses multiple
sales channels, including contract manufacturing,
and direct to store distribution. The sales and
distribution network of the company complicated the
ability to forecast sales, production and distribution
impacts. Poor service and high inventory levels can
lead to significant losses in customer loyalty in
distribution. To meet its customers requirements,
the company needed the flexibility to analyse
business results daily in an efficient and user-
friendly manner. The reporting systems of the
company delivered some data to clients, which were
hard to use, inflexible, and often outdated. Also,
administering and maintaining these systems
required programming expertise.
The first phase of implementation included
exclusive and extensive system analysis followed by
prototypes development. The second phase of
implementation involved actual deployment of BI
with legacy systems. The project intends to create a
central source of information that delivers strategic
business knowledge worldwide in a consistent,
timely manner by the creation of a comprehensive
data warehouse focusing on order processing,
inventory analysis, purchasing, sales and service.
The project begins with the analysis and
determination of information requirements, and
evaluation of key performance indicators that define
overall business drivers. The phase is extended to
examine supporting business processes to determine
the foundation of overall architecture and develop a
logical data model. Based on this information, a
three-tier architecture model facilitating delivery of
source data, supporting data warehouse and data
marts, and accommodating presentation tools to
simplify user access is formulated.
To evaluate information across the key business
areas with the flexibility to perform ad-hoc query
analysis of summary and detailed data, the tools
allowing dynamic, user-friendly, graphical, and
drill-down-enabled analysis are selected. The system
is integrated with web allowing worldwide access.
In order to meet the companys specific
requirements, BI system is implemented using the
following softwares:
RODIN (Coglin Mill), a highly advanced data
warehouse management system, delivers a full range
of essential features to extract, transform, and load
data into the data warehouse. It provides a
consistent, clean, single source of information
facilitating delivery to all user-access and
presentation tools.
DataTracker (Silvon Software) supports subject-
area data marts-providing various dynamic query
and drill-down analysis capabilities through ad-hoc
and predefined templates. Users can access summary
information across all data hierarchy levels.
Crystal Reports (Seagate) offers more detailed
analysis and reporting capabilities from the data
warehouse when users want to investigate
information further.
MetaFrame (Citrix) software enables information
from subject-area data marts to be delivered over an
IntraneUIntemet connection for web browser
integration.
The result of BI implementation enabled decision-
makers to study ways of optimising the business and
to respond quickly and more effectively to issues as
they arise. This BI implementation provided the
opportunity to keep staff on the road aware of the
latest developments, to alert staff the moment a
critical value changes, to enable staff to respond to
the alert with the ability to look up related
information to make a decision and to empower staff
to act on their decisions by interacting with the
application.
Users have access to information that previously
was unavailable including data on profit and cost
drivers that directly impacts the business. Writing
and maintaining complex reporting processes that
deliver inconsistent and inaccurate results are not
required further. Information that used to take hours
or days to report is available instantaneously.
Handling the following business operations
efficiently by the implemented BI system boosted
revenue by 36%:
144
Integrating sales, inventory and financial
systems
Estimating and forecasting sales and
production
Trend analysis - planning and determining
strategies
Order tracking
Profitability analysis
Thus, Business intelligence acts as a source of
competitive advantage turning operational data into
a business asset that drives strategic decisions and
improves performance for the company and its
clients.
Monitoring and compliance to standards and
rules
Exception / ad hoc reporting
All Product names are registered trademarks of their
respective companies.
5. Conclusion
Many industries are using BI applications to reach
beyond the enterprise and share insights off the
platform with vendors and customers IS].
Understanding what BI is, why one would apply it
and the corresponding benefits are important in
implementing BI across the enterprise.
Implementing BI with in the enterprise is not the
destination, but a joumey towards an ideal
enterprise.
6. References
[I ] Alex Berson and Stephen Smith, Data
Warehousing, data Mining, & OLAP, McGraw Hill
Intemational Edition, 2001,
[2] Alex Berson, Stephen Smith, and Kurt Thearling,
Building Data Mining Applications for CRM, Tata
Mc-Graw Hill, 2002.
[3] W. F. Cody, J . T. Kreulen, V. Krishna, and W. S.
Spangler, The Integration of Business Intelligence
and Knowledge Management, IBM Systems
J ournal, Vol. 41, No. 4,2002.
[4] Curt Hall, Data Warehousing for Business
Intelligence, March 1999,
http://www.cutter.com/itreports/RP68E.pdf
[ 5 ] Erik J ohnson, Meeting Industry Specific
Challenges With Business Intelligence Solutions,
DM Review, J an. 2002.
[6] J ohn Bates, Business In Real Time - Realizing
the Vision, DM Review, May 2003
http://www.dmreview.com/portal.cfm?NavID=9 1 &
EdID=6632&Topic=64
[7] Larissa T. Moss and Shaku Atre, Business
Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project
Lifecycle for Decision Support Applications,
Addison Wesley Longman, 2003.
[XI Marco Tilli, Next Generation Business
Intelligence Portals, DM Direct, November 2002.
[9] Mark Robinson, Business Intelligence
Infrastructure, BI Report, May 2002.
[I O] Richard Skriletz, Strategic Insight: Todays
Business Intelligence Landscape, DM Review, J un
2003.
[ 1 I ] Shari Rogalski and Dan Fisher, Business
Intelligence: 360 Insight: Insight: A Powerful
Combination of Capabilities, DM Review, Feb.
2003.
[12] Sid Adelman, Larissa Moss, and Les
Barbusinski, I found several definitions of BI, DM
Review Online, August 2002.