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

Theres 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 weve 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.

Thats 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