Business Intelligence - In Depth

de Facto S5 Business Intelligence is a powerful set of tools which deliver advanced information gathering and analysis capabilities. S5 Business Intelligence is built on key Microsoft technologies, including SQL Server 2005, SQL Server Analysis Services, and SQL Server Reporting Services.

- Ready availability of information gives your people what they need to make better decisions, based on timely, accurate and comprehensive data.

- Identify trends, find new connections and relationships and draw out hidden significance in your company's performance through BI's powerful analysis features.

- Enables increased alignment and consistency within your organisation. BI's powerful features help you to measure whether the objectives and goals across your company are being met, and to monitor the effectiveness of your business strategy and initiatives.

- The familiar Microsoft Office-like interface means that information is presented in an accessible, familiar and user friendly fashion, reducing the need for training.

S5 Business Intelligence creates 'cubes' of data which provide the basis for subsequent information manipulation and analysis. These cubes are usually created overnight, or at set times. Some companies with rapidly changing business environments choose to create a second cube during the day.

Utilising the prepared cube, the BI administrator would then create a Pivot table. This pivot table would contain a number of fields, representing the various types of data required for analysis. Once created, this pivot table can then be interactively manipulated in various ways to lay bare the various relationships in the data, and to expose significant values and trends.

Users of BI can then take the prepared pivot tables and create various forms of reports for final viewing. For example, a brochure could be created which shows account prices which are being drawn from the database via a dynamic link. Other types of reports could be formatted reports which still allow you to sort columns and show / hide details. An example of this could be a report which shows sales by customer / product, whereby you could hide the products and just show customer data, and then expand one customer out to show the products that they have bought. A further type of report is where you take the pivot table and flat data type of report, and then add various charts or graphs, and custom graphics from the wide variety of in built graphical and graphing abilities of BI.

BI + users could then use Notification Services to generate a report when certain events take place. For example each time a customer places an order or when stock goes below a certain level, a report can be emailed out to relevant parties, or an event in de Facto S5 could be triggered. BI + contains an additional interface to further extend the usability and integration of SQL Server's Notification Services with de Facto S5.

Companies typically vary in how they create and use pivot tables and reports. For some, one or two administrators do most of the work, and mail out final reports. In others a much wider range of people both create and manipulate the reports, such as sales staff, marketing, and various levels of management.

1) User Logins and Security - S5 Business Intelligence gives full and flexible control over access to its analysis and reporting services. Access to functionality and particular data can be defined through group levels as well as individually. Administrators can take people in and out of groups as required, and force password changes for improved security.

2) Folder Structure and Permissions - Users can create folders to store reports. These folders can also be given access permissions, again via individual or group.

3) Report Browser - The report browser allows users to add, upload, delete, move and open any available reports.

4) Filters - Filters can be created and attached to reports so that on opening, they will always open with certain criteria, or a value can be prompted for. For example, if a number of reports need to always open with the current period selected, a filter can be created and attached to these reports.

Filters can be easily created, modified and associated with reports.

5) Field Lists - When the user has a report open, they can access the field lists to customise the components of the report.

Totals (measures) are the numeric values in the cube, and represent such things as quantities, costs and sales values.

Dimensions are used to store the data that will analyse the totals in the way you wish to see them. A dimension is usually a group of fields or levels.

Levels are the individual components of dimensions. In the screenshot above, the Customer dimension contains four levels - Customer Name, Customer Code, Customer Find Key and Customer Own Code. The main dimension can be put onto the report, and this will then show Customer Name. This can then be expanded to show Customer Code, Then Customer Find Key and so on. Alternatively, a single level could be selected and added to the report.

Item Properties are elements of levels. A level can have multiple item properties, and all, some or none of these can be displayed on a report, either as a screen tip, or as a permanent feature below the level data.

6) Pivot Table Reports - There are four areas in which fields can be placed in pivot tables, three for dimensions, and one for totals.

Filter Area (for Dimensions) is used to drop dimensions on in order to filter the entire report by. Multiple selections can be made to each dimension.

Row Area (for Dimensions) is used to drop any dimension or level that the report needs to be sorted / grouped by. All data in this dimension will be displayed on the report and can be drilled down into. Multiple dimensions / levels can be placed side by side in the row area, and will drill into each other, so for example, adding the customer dimension then the product dimension next to it, expanding customer would show all products each customer has brought.

Column Area (for Dimensions) is used in the same way as the row area, but displays at the top of the report rather than the side. A typical example of its use would be to display invoice period/date, so looking along a line can be seen, for example, the turnover of each customer by month. Filtering can also be used on dimensions added to this area.

Data Area (for Totals) is used to display numeric values. When calculated totals are created, these are displayed in this area.

7) Using Business Intelligence from within de Facto S5 - Business Intelligence can either be launched as a separate application, or launched from within S5. When launched from within S5, BI will open and all reports will be filtered down to the record / area that was selected in de Facto S5.

Powerful Database - reliable and scalable SQL Server 2005 provides high performance and security via its relational database management system.

Data integration - SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) enables the integration, transformation and synthesis of high volumes of data at high speed.

Complex analytical models - SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services enable accessible Data Mining and full online analytical processing (OLAP) capabilities.

Comprehensive Reporting - SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services allow you to create and distribute both traditional printable reports and fully interactive reports (available in BI +).

Responsive and Accessible - Notification Services can generate reports when specified events take place (available in BI +).