Definition of BI

The purpose of Business Intelligence (BI) is to provide decision makers with the information necessary to make informed decisions. The information is delivered by the Business Intelligence system via reports. This book focuses on the architecture and infrastructure needed to deliver the information. An architecture is a set of rules or structures providing a framework for the overall design of a system or product. The BI system includes the following parts:

  • Interested parties and their respective information needs
  • Input of data
  • Storage of data
  • Analysis of data
  • Automatic and selective dissemination of information

A BI system includes the rules (architecture) providing a framework for the organization of the technologies, platforms, databases, gateways, people, and processes. To implement an architecture the Business Intelligence architect must implement an infrastructure. Technical infrastructures are the technologies, platforms, databases, gateways, people, and processes necessary to make the architecture functional within the corporation.

In sum, decision makers need reports that deliver the information that allows them to understand his/her organization and the world in order to make better decisions.

Given these functions of the BI system the most enduring definition focuses on the system, tools, technology, process, and techniques that compose these four elements that help decision makers understand their world. BI augments the ability of decision makers to turn data into information by aiding in extracting data from data sources, organizing the data based on established business knowledge, and then presenting the information in a manner that is organized in a way to be useful to the decision maker. It merges technology with knowledge in order to provide useful information to management as quickly as possible.

In sum, Business Intelligence system includes the rules (architecture) that outline how to organize the parts of the system (infrastructure) to deliver the information needed to thrive in a competitive market (business) or to provide the best service to the people (government). Regardless of the technology, which are simply tools, the core of a Business Intelligence system has and will not change.