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Introduction to B.I.

Business Intelligence ( B.I. ) refers to the application software that enables the collection and processing of large quantities of structured or semi-structured data from heterogeneous systems. The goal of business intelligence is to allow executives, managers, and employees to make informed decisions daily using data generated by the company's existing software systems. It helps to answer the following questionsc:

  • What are the current performance levels ?
  • What were the past performance levels ?
  • What decisions can I make based on this information ?

More specifically, business intelligence enables any user of the tool to fully leverage the data in a dynamic manner to answer business questions and also to generate new insights through interactions with the tool. It also allows for the consolidation of information that is often hidden due to the siloed functioning of various departments within a company.

BI software integrates ETL principles by offering features such as connectors to various data sources for extracting information, transforming / preparing it using functions, and modeling tables in a simplified relational schema to improve query efficiency. It also enables the loading of this data into a new environment - making a copy of the data in the tool's memory -. The ultimate goal of B.I. is to present data from one or multiple sources in the form of interactive dashboards, giving users the ability to conduct dynamic analyses and make informed decisions.

The leading BI tools on the market ( recognized as market leaders ) include Power BI, Tableau, Qlik Sense, Looker, Oracle Business Intelligence Suite, and ThoughtSpot.

A BI tool could be compared to a spreadsheet offering more advanced features, particularly those that allow for the preparation and modeling of information. All BI tools incorporate functions that can also be found in a spreadsheet.

The qualitative or quantitative variables extracted from the various data sources are utilized through the creation of visuals that represent these variables as measures or dimensions, highlighting hidden insights.