4 frequently asked questions about business intelligence software

Over the last few years, business intelligence software has become a crucial part of every organization, right from small businesses to large organizations. Every organization now depends on data to make important decisions. Data, historical as well as real-time, is also used to automate specific processes and tasks in an organization.

Also, the data can come from different sources, ranging from legacy systems to real-time servers.

What are some of the must-have features of business intelligence software?

• Cloud and mobile capabilities : Cloud-based business intelligence software ensure that business data is backed up and there is no risk of system crashes and failures. With mobile capabilities, users will always have access to data and reports from any location.
• Simple and easy-to-use interface : A business intelligence software that has a simple and easy-to-use interface is more popular than one with a complicated dashboard. Drag-and-drop features and simple metric indicators make the process of using the software easy for everyone, whether they have technical know-how of the software or not.
• Customized alerts : Different organizations have different key performance metrics. Within each organization, different users will require access to various reports depending on the role of the user in the organization. A business intelligence software should have customized alerts based on the requirements of the specific organization.

What does real-time business intelligence software mean?

• A real-time business intelligence software lets users directly access operation systems to view and get data in real-time. With real-time business intelligence, users can also input business transactions into a data warehouse or business intelligence system that processes data in real time.
• Real-time business intelligence sorts and analyses business data and processes as and when they are entered or stored in the system. With the help of real-time business intelligence software, organizations can make fundamental decisions based on the current business scenario.
• A real-time business intelligence software is useful for those organizations that require live business insights and need to make strategic decisions based on up-to-the-minute data. Such organizations usually have a fast-paced environment that cannot work with business reports derived on a weekly or monthly basis.

What does ETL mean in business intelligence technology?

• ETL stands for Extract, Transform, and Load. These database functions come together and make up a tool that pulls data from one database and pushes it into another database.
• In a business intelligence system, the extract process reads data from various sources such as spreadsheets, operational systems of an organization, and database systems. The extracted data can be in the same or different formats depending on the sources.
• The transform process converts the data collected from various sources into a format that is compatible with the destination database or data warehouse.
• Once data is transformed, it is loaded into the source database or data warehouse. The loading process involves writing transformed data in the target data warehouse or database.

Who is responsible for making data in a business intelligence software intelligible to end users?

• A business intelligence (BI) architect is a business intelligence analyst who develops and handles programs to make the data gathered in a data warehouse intelligible to end users.
• The chief task of a business architect is to develop applications based on business intelligence software to meet specific objectives of the business. These applications should be scalable and maintainable.
• BI architects also perform various activities related to the troubleshooting and maintenance of different business intelligence tools used by the organization. This function also includes diagnosing and resolving capacity issues of various BI tools.

Tags: business intelligence software