Post on 18-Jul-2015
transcript
Business Intelligence The benefits of using
An online analytical solution
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Beata Green Strategy Director, HeadChannel
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A little bit about me…
Have you ever considered using business
intelligence solutions in your company?
You can find below several important benefits of Business Intelligence
Data analysis is: • Faster • More efficient • More accurate
Reports can be: • More detailed • Wider ranging • More accurate • More useful
Cost savings from: • Greater efficiency • Elimination of
inaccurate data • The ability to more
accurately predict future trends
Excel assisted analysis
There’s no doubt that MS Excel is a powerful tool and there are many positive aspects when using it in Business Analysis:
• Flexibility – possibility to adapt to almost any type of calculation
• Availability – very popular across the world
Excel assisted analysis
However at some key point we start to face issues:
• Length of time required to properly compute reports from multiple data sources, often involving many manual operations
• The requirement for qualified staff • As there are manual operations involved the quality of the
final report may sometimes be questionable and you cannot always rely on it to make the correct business decisions
Excel assisted analysis
And also:
• There is probably a lack of historical data for comparison • Once a report is calculated then to view it from another
perspective (another dimension) you often need to rework the entire model.
• Every update of source data requires re-computing
But how you can mitigate those issues?
The Business Intelligence solution
Business Intelligence software – a type of application designed to retrieve, analyse, transform and report data for business intelligence. Converts and aggregates multiple data sources to present the most important information in a clear and concise manner.
Benefits of Business Intelligence
Eliminate guesswork
Get faster answers to your business questions
Get insight into customer behaviour
Learn how to streamline operations
Improve efficiency
See where your business has been, where it is now
and where it is going
Example of an actual Business Intelligence Solution
To prepare a suitable solution for one of our clients we’ve mapped the current processes for the main reports, listed below, to use as examples of how the BI tools can be applied to their reporting in general.
Generated Costs reports
Item Valuation reports
Yield Analysis reports
Item Valuation Report The current process:
One Excel file with raw data
Raw data from external
software List of excel files
with reports
Output To
Excel 8-10 hours of manual data processing
Item Valuation Report
Main issues:
• Lengthy, labour-intensive data manipulation in Excel required to summarise data by various categories
• The final analysis reports are stored in stand-alone files not suitable for ongoing historic comparison or further analysis
• Limited data analysis
Item Valuation Report
Main opportunities with the BI tool:
• Eliminates the labour-intensive data manipulation required in Excel for summarising data by required categories – immediate time saving of 8 to 10 hours per report
• Historical data comparison, over two or more years, is made easy
• Allows a flexible approach to data analysis for decision making and reporting
Generated Cost and Yield Analysis
The current process:
Output to Excel, 4-5 hours of rewriting
One Excel file with raw data
Raw data from external
software
Manual data
validation and
verification
Manual data
analysis Generated
Cost Report
Item Valuation
Report
Manual Data
Manipulation
Other Data Resources
Yield analysis report
Generated Cost and Yield Analysis
• Calculation and logical operations on raw data and then exporting results to Excel can take a very long time
• Extremely labour-intensive manipulation of data in Excel is required for verification of the large amounts of raw data output
• Labour-intensive manipulation is required to analyse data from various smaller reports and sources and combine into one major report
Main issues:
Generated Cost and Yield Analysis Main opportunities with the BI tool: • Raw data is automatically synchronised with the BI system allowing for
calculation and logical operations to be performed more efficiently in the BI system rather than in the raw data source. No lengthy writing to Excel is required;
• Automated data validation and verification is possible by using logical pre-defined rules within the BI system – eliminates data inaccuracies and saves potential lost revenue;
• BI is a platform for consolidating various data sources in one system and, therefore, enhanced reporting opportunities by using dashboards
• Immediate time saving of up to 40 or 50 hours per report
Data warehousing
The output of all reports which are run from the raw data source are currently stored in different Excel spreadsheets and there is no connection between these spreadsheets. A data warehousing solution will allow data to be congregated from multiple sources into one combined database which can be used to analyse and present data.
Benefits: • Speed up the process of computing complex reports, more
efficient data manipulation • Instant access to historical data • Data can be reorganized independently of raw data source
to deliver the required information • Implementation of validation algorithms will ensure that
data held in raw data source is kept accurate
Flexibility
The BI tool is not based on fixed reports only. It is a toolbox which can be used to define an infinite variety of custom reports and analyses. The system can be designed to give you as much flexibility as possible to generate your own reports.
For example, it can allow you to:
Get any set of data from predefined sources that have already been mapped in previous reports or define new data sources based on import from Excel files.
Define aggregation and…
Filtering, sorting, recalculation and other operations (mathematical, such as sum, division, multiplication; and logical like OR, AND, NOT) on data sets from data sources. All types of operations which were used in previous reports will be available.
Define workflows… …for other users to include manual data adjustments.
Set report output as grids, charts
and cubes
Analytics and prediction BI tools are not only used to analyse data from various perspectives. They can be used to predict future business metrics based on historical data analysis and assumptions that can be set by the user. You can for example:
• Analyse historical costs for a defined set of items
• Set trends and predict how it will look in 5 months
• Based on information that some costs will increase in 3 months set this in the system
• Check how it affects cost predictions in 5 months
• Check how the cost prediction affects predicted revenue results
Visualization The BI tool is web based and can be accessed from any computer with internet access. As soon as you log in you can be redirected to a dashboard with the reports most important for you. All these reports can be visualised by adding charts and controls so the most important information is visible straightaway.
That’s not all you can do…
... using our bespoke Business Intelligence solution. If you have any questions or comments on using
Business Intelligence online tools, call us today on
020 7099 6399 We will be happy to listen, advise or suggest
specific solutions for your needs