Spies without borders.
This is the new reality both governments and businesses face in the aftermath of the WikiLeaks disclosure of hundreds of thousands of classified U. S. military and diplomatic files. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has taken hacking and whistle blowing to a new level by creating a truly independent intelligence agency. WikiLeaks owes no loyalty to any public or private organization, and this has governments worldwide losing sleep.
What does this have to do with business intelligence? Plenty. Mr. Assange, you see, isn't interested in just governments. He's coming after big business too, as he recently disclosed in an interview with Forbes. His vision, when you boil it down, is simple: a world without secrets. And this means greater danger to business intelligence data than ever before, especially for Fortune 1000 companies.
As I write this, pressure on WikiLeaks is mounting rapidly. It's quite possible that Mr. Assange will be closed down before long. But it doesn't end there. There are others who share his vision, even if they don't care for his (ironically) controlling management style. Indeed, some of these people started out with Mr. Assange and are talking about creating an alternative to his web site. WikiLeaks is only the beginning.
What this means for BI is that security will become an even higher priority than before, since BI data are among a company's most sensitive. But the danger isn't only lurking outside the firewall. The U. S. believes the damaging military leaks of spring 2010 resulted from the actions of a single private, who had access to the data from the inside. If you are in a small or medium size business you may not need the same sense of urgency - yet. But it's never too late to start thinking about the security of your BI data.
Spies without borders. They're coming. Is BI ready? Are you?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Introduction to the BI Data Life-Cycle
Business activity generally runs in cycles. For example, in manufacturing there is a cycle that begins when raw materials are received into a factory. Those raw materials are processed to create finished goods, and the finished goods are shipped out to customers. The next batch of raw materials is received, and the cycle goes on. To be sure, this is simplifying things a lot. But the basic idea of a production cycle is sound. In a similar way, there is a sort of production cycle with business intelligence data. Here’s a very simple graphic representation of what I mean.
The middle two of the four components is where most business intelligence activity takes place, but all the components play a role in the cycle.
Next, we'll take a look at each of these components, beginning with Capture.
The middle two of the four components is where most business intelligence activity takes place, but all the components play a role in the cycle.
Next, we'll take a look at each of these components, beginning with Capture.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Business Intelligence "Real" World Story #1
Fairly early in my career I worked for a company that sold corporate-logo apparel to customer locations in the United States. Typically these customers were franchisees or retail outlets for large corporations, which were our “clients.” One of my duties, with help from an assistant, was to make sure our sales force got sales reports for the clients and customers in their territories. When I started, it worked like this: each Monday, our corporate head office sent us a sales report for the week just ended. It was sorted by customer location for each client. It was about the size of the USA’s 2010 health care bill, each week. It was printed on wide-ledger computer greenbar paper. Never heard of that? Lucky you. It took the better part of two days to go through this printout and put it in a format that had any meaning for the sales force. That meant that the week was half over (Wednesday) before they saw numbers for the previous week. Apparently this is how it had “always been done.”
I poked around at the process for awhile, and then I found out about a software tool called Monarch. This tool allowed you to take a formatted text or print spool file, and convert the contents into a form that could be easily loaded into a spreadsheet or a database on your PC. I struck a deal with a friend in the corporate IT department to leave the print spool file from the job that printed the sales report on the network for a while after it had finished printing. I would then download it, convert it using Monarch, and load the numbers into a database program called Paradox (all this was before Microsoft Office came to dominate the world). I wrote a report in Paradox that would add up and sort the data by client from highest sales to lowest. It wasn’t totally automated, but we were able to spit out more useful sales figures on the same day as IT put the sales out. And without realizing it, I had begun my BI career several years before it officially started.
Next time: an introduction to the business intelligence life-cycle.
I poked around at the process for awhile, and then I found out about a software tool called Monarch. This tool allowed you to take a formatted text or print spool file, and convert the contents into a form that could be easily loaded into a spreadsheet or a database on your PC. I struck a deal with a friend in the corporate IT department to leave the print spool file from the job that printed the sales report on the network for a while after it had finished printing. I would then download it, convert it using Monarch, and load the numbers into a database program called Paradox (all this was before Microsoft Office came to dominate the world). I wrote a report in Paradox that would add up and sort the data by client from highest sales to lowest. It wasn’t totally automated, but we were able to spit out more useful sales figures on the same day as IT put the sales out. And without realizing it, I had begun my BI career several years before it officially started.
Next time: an introduction to the business intelligence life-cycle.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Should You Consider Open Source Business Intelligence?
If you're researching your options for implementing business intelligence, you may have run across the concept of open source business intelligence (OSBI). Is this a viable option for you?
What Exactly Does "Open Source" Mean?
Open Source simply means that the software developer has made the source code (all the computer language instructions that tell their software what to do and how to do it) freely available to the public for download. For the benefit of those who just want to use the software and not get into the code, they'll typically make the sofrware itself available for free download. But because the actual source code is available to anyone, developers all over the world can add to the software's capabilities.
If They're Giving It Away, How Do They Make Money?
They're not necessarily "giving it away." They're operating on a different business model.
Traditional software developers keep their code to themselves and charge you a license fee up front to use it. Typically as part of that deal they'll include maintenance (free upgrades and technical support) or they'll sell you those upgrades at a reduced rate (say, 10-15% of the original purchase price per year). When the next major release of the software comes out, they'll typically want to charge you a new license fee for that new release.
Open source developers, on the other hand, don't charge you a license fee up front. They typically make their money on the back end of the deal, especially by charging you for technical support, which includes things like help with installation and troubleshooting.
Is Open Source BI Software Any Good?
According to IT industry watcher Gartner, OSBI products have matured to a point where implementation is poised to increase rapidly over the next few years. Two of the names that are drawing a lot of attention are Pentaho and Jaspersoft.
Should I Consider OSBI Now?
If you have access to technical resources who can troubleshoot installation and other technical support issues, OSBI may be a huge cost saver for you over proprietary BI vendors. If you're on your own or have a thin IT staff, take the time to research exactly what your cost of ownership will be. Otherwise you risk being disappointed when you get what thought was "free" only to pay on the back end for support to get it running or, worse, end up feeling you wasted your time and starting over.
What Exactly Does "Open Source" Mean?
Open Source simply means that the software developer has made the source code (all the computer language instructions that tell their software what to do and how to do it) freely available to the public for download. For the benefit of those who just want to use the software and not get into the code, they'll typically make the sofrware itself available for free download. But because the actual source code is available to anyone, developers all over the world can add to the software's capabilities.
If They're Giving It Away, How Do They Make Money?
They're not necessarily "giving it away." They're operating on a different business model.
Traditional software developers keep their code to themselves and charge you a license fee up front to use it. Typically as part of that deal they'll include maintenance (free upgrades and technical support) or they'll sell you those upgrades at a reduced rate (say, 10-15% of the original purchase price per year). When the next major release of the software comes out, they'll typically want to charge you a new license fee for that new release.
Open source developers, on the other hand, don't charge you a license fee up front. They typically make their money on the back end of the deal, especially by charging you for technical support, which includes things like help with installation and troubleshooting.
Is Open Source BI Software Any Good?
According to IT industry watcher Gartner, OSBI products have matured to a point where implementation is poised to increase rapidly over the next few years. Two of the names that are drawing a lot of attention are Pentaho and Jaspersoft.
Should I Consider OSBI Now?
If you have access to technical resources who can troubleshoot installation and other technical support issues, OSBI may be a huge cost saver for you over proprietary BI vendors. If you're on your own or have a thin IT staff, take the time to research exactly what your cost of ownership will be. Otherwise you risk being disappointed when you get what thought was "free" only to pay on the back end for support to get it running or, worse, end up feeling you wasted your time and starting over.
Friday, November 26, 2010
A "General" History (Part Two)
In the first part of this article, we described business intelligence, such as it was, in the days before computers and data processing were part of everyday life.
Time passed. Markets and populations grew. Manual data processing eventually got to be too slow. So automated data processing was introduced to speed up the pace at which business could be done. The first automated solutions were mechanical, such as cash registers and adding machines. Then along came electricity and computers, and the age of electronic data processing (EDP) dawned. Businesses could now process a much larger volume of transactions than before, making it easier to grow very rapidly.
But there was a downside. Once a company reaches a certain size it becomes too big for one person to manage off the top of his or her head as our general store owner did. There are employees to manage. There may be many stores in different parts of town, or in different countries. An item that was in stock just yesterday is suddenly gone from the shelf. With good bookkeeping you can figure out whether you’re making money or not. But you don’t necessarily know why, or even how, you’re making that money. Worst of all, you couldn’t get answers to these questions from the EDP systems. All you found out from them, if you found out anything, was that you did a whole bunch of transactions. There was a desperate need to get data out of these transaction-based systems and use them to make informed business decisions. As a matter of fact, the term “business intelligence” is often used interchangeably with the term “decision support.”
Next time: a story from the "real" world.
Time passed. Markets and populations grew. Manual data processing eventually got to be too slow. So automated data processing was introduced to speed up the pace at which business could be done. The first automated solutions were mechanical, such as cash registers and adding machines. Then along came electricity and computers, and the age of electronic data processing (EDP) dawned. Businesses could now process a much larger volume of transactions than before, making it easier to grow very rapidly.
But there was a downside. Once a company reaches a certain size it becomes too big for one person to manage off the top of his or her head as our general store owner did. There are employees to manage. There may be many stores in different parts of town, or in different countries. An item that was in stock just yesterday is suddenly gone from the shelf. With good bookkeeping you can figure out whether you’re making money or not. But you don’t necessarily know why, or even how, you’re making that money. Worst of all, you couldn’t get answers to these questions from the EDP systems. All you found out from them, if you found out anything, was that you did a whole bunch of transactions. There was a desperate need to get data out of these transaction-based systems and use them to make informed business decisions. As a matter of fact, the term “business intelligence” is often used interchangeably with the term “decision support.”
Next time: a story from the "real" world.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
If by some chance you took time out from the coffee and pumpkin pie to check and see if there was a new post on this blog today, then bless you! As it turned out I'm having coffee too (my son hogs the pie). I hope your holiday is peaceful and happy. Tomorrow we'll wrap up the "general" history of business intelligence.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A "General" History (Part One)
BI as it exists today grew out of the automated data processing revolution of the late 20th century. “Data” are simply facts about anything that interests us. We “process” the data in different ways and for different reasons, as we’ll discuss later. Before automated tools like computers were common, we were limited in how and how much data we could process.
In the Old West of United States history, the most common type of retail outlet, especially in small towns and outlying areas, was the “general store.” The general store was a one-stop shop for the staple items of the day. The salesperson that worked behind the counter may very well have owned the store. When you bought something, say a pound of coffee, the salesperson/owner would write the details of the business transaction down in a ledger. These might include who you are, what you bought and how much, as well as what you paid or (if you were fortunate enough to have a line of credit) what you owed. It was all done by hand with a pencil, but it was still data processing, and in the slower days of old it was more than sufficient.
Our general store owner had all the business intelligence he needed. He likely knew all of his customers by name, except for the occasional drifter with a fancy six-gun rig (but that’s another topic, not to mention another genre). He knew exactly what his financial position was by checking his cash box. If he wasn’t sure about his inventory status he just checked the storeroom out back.
Next time: The modern age of BI.
In the Old West of United States history, the most common type of retail outlet, especially in small towns and outlying areas, was the “general store.” The general store was a one-stop shop for the staple items of the day. The salesperson that worked behind the counter may very well have owned the store. When you bought something, say a pound of coffee, the salesperson/owner would write the details of the business transaction down in a ledger. These might include who you are, what you bought and how much, as well as what you paid or (if you were fortunate enough to have a line of credit) what you owed. It was all done by hand with a pencil, but it was still data processing, and in the slower days of old it was more than sufficient.
Jones, B., one lb. Coffee @ $ .01 – Paid in Full
Our general store owner had all the business intelligence he needed. He likely knew all of his customers by name, except for the occasional drifter with a fancy six-gun rig (but that’s another topic, not to mention another genre). He knew exactly what his financial position was by checking his cash box. If he wasn’t sure about his inventory status he just checked the storeroom out back.
Next time: The modern age of BI.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Business Intelligence Defined
Professional people in the BI world like to toss around acronyms and technical terms. I like to do that myself. But for most of my career I didn’t really have a good definition for what I was doing. When I would tell people what I did for a living I would focus on the technical parts. They would look at me as if I’d just arrived from a nearby star. So a few years ago I went looking for a useful definition of BI and found this:
Let’s look at a few important things in this definition.
First, successful BI is “integrated and coordinated.” Too often, in companies big and small, people in different business areas have their own little stashes of data that they don’t share with anyone else. Or if they do share, they don’t calculate their figures the same way anyone else does. How often have you heard the boss exclaim: “I wish I knew which of these sales figures is the right one!” How often have you been that boss? So both data and the definitions of what the data mean need to be shared.
Second, successful BI is “comprehensive.” This sort of follows from the “integrated and coordinated” part of the definition in the previous paragraph, but goes farther. The point of sharing data and the definitions for what the data mean is so that you can get the biggest and best possible picture of the whole business. The better you do this, the easier (and cheaper) it will be to understand how the different parts of the business fit together. This doesn’t mean you try to do it all at once, especially if you have time and budget constraints.
Lastly, successful BI is “long-term.” This means it’s not just a project that is done and checked off a list, and maybe you look at it again next quarter or next year. Business intelligence is a program that you commit to for the long haul the way you commit to quality or customer service. You don’t commit to those things? Okay, whatever. The fact that most businesses have to implement business intelligence incrementally, as we hinted at in the last paragraph, makes the long-term commitment aspect that much more important.
Next time: Business intelligence, the very unauthorized biography.
. . . the integrated and coordinated application of business information in order to comprehensively improve products, service, profits and the long-term health and growth of a company.
- Lee DeVries, "Improving Performance with the BI Quotient", DM Review, February 2007
Let’s look at a few important things in this definition.
First, successful BI is “integrated and coordinated.” Too often, in companies big and small, people in different business areas have their own little stashes of data that they don’t share with anyone else. Or if they do share, they don’t calculate their figures the same way anyone else does. How often have you heard the boss exclaim: “I wish I knew which of these sales figures is the right one!” How often have you been that boss? So both data and the definitions of what the data mean need to be shared.
Second, successful BI is “comprehensive.” This sort of follows from the “integrated and coordinated” part of the definition in the previous paragraph, but goes farther. The point of sharing data and the definitions for what the data mean is so that you can get the biggest and best possible picture of the whole business. The better you do this, the easier (and cheaper) it will be to understand how the different parts of the business fit together. This doesn’t mean you try to do it all at once, especially if you have time and budget constraints.
Lastly, successful BI is “long-term.” This means it’s not just a project that is done and checked off a list, and maybe you look at it again next quarter or next year. Business intelligence is a program that you commit to for the long haul the way you commit to quality or customer service. You don’t commit to those things? Okay, whatever. The fact that most businesses have to implement business intelligence incrementally, as we hinted at in the last paragraph, makes the long-term commitment aspect that much more important.
Next time: Business intelligence, the very unauthorized biography.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Microsoft Up To Its Old Tricks?
Microsoft has been tooting its horn lately about the latest new features coming out in it's next Dynamics GP release. Dynamics GP is a set of tools to help businesses with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). ERP is about helping businesses plan out their requirements for money, material, and people. CRM is pretty much what it says, tools to help businesses manage their relationships with customers. So what does any of this have to do with BI?
One of the problems that some of the old line vendors in these businesses, companies like SAP, JD Edwards (now part of Oracle), and PeopleSoft, have faced is that customers quickly exhausted the basic reporting capabilities that came with these packages and ended up going out to look for BI tools to complement them. Different vendors have responded in different ways. For example, SAP bought Business Objects, which is one of the top BI software companies. They're trying to push Business Objects as an integrated (BI) solution to go with their ERP.
Microsoft, in classic style, is trying to head off the customer before he or she starts for the door. One of the big things they're touting in the coming release of Dynamics GP is the amount of business intelligence they're packing in to the product. This is basically the same thing they did with the desktop. Add functionality and call it part of the "operating system." By the time governments in and outside the US caught on to the scheme, it was a moot point. Microsoft had established dominance in the PC operating system market that has persisted to the present day. It'll be interesting to see how this ERP/CRM/BI mash-up plays out. Will Microsoft be able to provide sufficient BI capability in the Dynamics GP package to keep customers from looking elsewhere?
One of the problems that some of the old line vendors in these businesses, companies like SAP, JD Edwards (now part of Oracle), and PeopleSoft, have faced is that customers quickly exhausted the basic reporting capabilities that came with these packages and ended up going out to look for BI tools to complement them. Different vendors have responded in different ways. For example, SAP bought Business Objects, which is one of the top BI software companies. They're trying to push Business Objects as an integrated (BI) solution to go with their ERP.
Microsoft, in classic style, is trying to head off the customer before he or she starts for the door. One of the big things they're touting in the coming release of Dynamics GP is the amount of business intelligence they're packing in to the product. This is basically the same thing they did with the desktop. Add functionality and call it part of the "operating system." By the time governments in and outside the US caught on to the scheme, it was a moot point. Microsoft had established dominance in the PC operating system market that has persisted to the present day. It'll be interesting to see how this ERP/CRM/BI mash-up plays out. Will Microsoft be able to provide sufficient BI capability in the Dynamics GP package to keep customers from looking elsewhere?
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Introducting Business Intelligence
This is a blog about business intelligence (BI). The idea of BI has been with us for some time, but the use of the term has only become popular since around the year 2000 or so. In this and the articles to follow we’ll define some terms, give a little background about how BI developed, and put BI in the larger context of the business by discussing the life cycle of BI data. In the fullness of time we’ll go into this life cycle in greater detail and lay out a strategy for implementing BI based on how human beings relate to data.
If you’ve come to this blog hoping to answer the question “what awesome tech tool should I use?” I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. The fact is that there are many tools in the marketplace and depending on your goals for business intelligence any of several of them could work for you. The purpose behind this blog is not to tell you what to buy, but to help you shape your goals and ask the right questions of potential employees, vendors, and consultants. Wherever I can I’ll try to give examples from my own experience to help you understand better. Of course the names will be changed to protect the innocent (namely me).
I am assuming that you, my reader, are not an information technology (IT) professional. I’m assuming you don’t know ETL from OLAP or ODS (fear not; we’ll get to those and other acronyms in due time). I hope that once we’re finished you’ll be, if not a card-carrying geek, at least knowledgeable enough to put BI to use in business, whether it’s your own or a business unit of your employer’s.
Next time, we'll give a definition of business intelligence that puts BI solidly in a business perspective.
If you’ve come to this blog hoping to answer the question “what awesome tech tool should I use?” I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. The fact is that there are many tools in the marketplace and depending on your goals for business intelligence any of several of them could work for you. The purpose behind this blog is not to tell you what to buy, but to help you shape your goals and ask the right questions of potential employees, vendors, and consultants. Wherever I can I’ll try to give examples from my own experience to help you understand better. Of course the names will be changed to protect the innocent (namely me).
I am assuming that you, my reader, are not an information technology (IT) professional. I’m assuming you don’t know ETL from OLAP or ODS (fear not; we’ll get to those and other acronyms in due time). I hope that once we’re finished you’ll be, if not a card-carrying geek, at least knowledgeable enough to put BI to use in business, whether it’s your own or a business unit of your employer’s.
Next time, we'll give a definition of business intelligence that puts BI solidly in a business perspective.
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