Introduction to Business

Intelligence

What is
Business
Intelligence ?

What is Business Intelligence?

BI results when organizational culture , business processes

and technologies are designed and implemented with the
goal of improving the strategic and operational
decision-making
capabilities of a wide range of internal and
stakeholders
external
.
- International Data Corporation (IDC)

What is Business Intelligence?

Culture, processes and technologies to

improve decision making for stakeholders.

Business Intelligence history

In 1989, Howard Dresner proposed

"business intelligence" as an umbrella term
to describe "concepts and methods to
improve business decision making by using
fact-based support systems."

Related data disciplines

data mining
statistical analysis
forecasting
decision support

BI is used everywhere

FACTS:
DATAINFORMATIONKNOWLEDGE
Facts are just actual or hypothetical representations.
Data is the individual raw facts that are

out of context, have no meaning, and are difficult to understand

in context, have meaning and can be readily understood.

Information is a set of data in context that is relevant to

one or more entities at a point in time or for a period of
time.
Knowledge is the fact or condition of knowing something
with familiarity gained through experience or association.

OLTP vs. OLAP

OnLine Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems
are used for handling transactional data and
optimized for performance during Read/Write
operations specifically for a faster response
(Relational Modeling).
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) systems are
read-only and are specifically meant for analytical
purposes (Dimensional Modeling).

Small OLTP database

Business Issue:
A customers order was seriously delayed.
Manager: Why?
Order Fulfillment: Supplier issue.
Simple Business Question:
Who was our product supplier?

Small OLTP database

4
3

Large OLTP database

33
11 5
7
1 3
10
8
42
89 2
6
9 28 12 4

The Data Warehouse

A data warehouse is a central repository for all or significant

parts of the data that an enterprise 's various business
systems collect
- Bill Inmon

The Data Warehouse

Central repository for all significant data that

an enterprise collects.

Extract, Transform and Load (ETL)

ETL tools perform three functions to move data
from one place to another:
Extract data from sources such as ERP or CRM
applications;
Transform that data into a common format that
fits with other data in the warehouse; and,
Load the data into the data warehouse for analysis.

Data Warehouse: Data Model

Bill Inmon

Ralph Kimball

Vs.

Star Schema

Snowflake Schema

Data Model: Star Schema

1 to Many

Data Model: Snowflake Schema

to

Many to Many

The
OLAP Cube

Data Warehouse: Fact & Dimensions

Fact Measure

What the business does Business Process

Usually describes an action or event (verb)

Fact Tables: contain measure columns and dimension key columns

Measure: numerical values that can be aggregated
Dimension: group of attributes that describe a business process
Attribute: characteristics of a dimension member

Fact Internet Sales

Sales Amount
Discount Amount
Profit
Profit Margin

Dim Customer
Name
Gender
Yearly Income

Dim Product
Color
Size

Data Warehouse: Relationships

Business Process: Sales

DimCustomers

DimTime

DimProducts
FactOrders
FactOrdersKey
DimProductsKey
DimCustomersKey
DimTimeKey
Measure Quantity
Measure Price
Measure Discount

Dimension: Time

Di
m
en
s

io
n:
Ge
o

gr
ap
hy

Dimension: Product

Measure: Units sold

Fact:
37 Lemons were sold during April in our Chicago stores.

Members, Leaf and Nonleaf Cells

(aggregation)
Members

Dimension

Dimension

Dimension

Calculated by MDX

Data warehouse and data marts

Typical Business Intelligence Lifecycle

Layers of Business Intelligence

Business
Intelligence
In Microsoft

BI Layers at Microsoft
Presentation

SQL Server Reporting Services

SharePoint
Performance Point
Excel

Analysis
SQL Server Analysis Services
PowerPivot

E.T.L
SQL Server Integration Services
Excel

BI Microsoft Tools

SQL Server Data Tools

Microsoft SQL Server Analysis

Services (SSAS)
Delivers business intelligence applications
with:

OLAP (Unified Dimensional Model (UDM))

Data mining.

Design, create, and manage

multidimensional structures that contain
data aggregated from other data sources,
such as relational databases.

Unified Dimensional Model (UDM)

provides a bridge between the
user and the data sources
The user issues queries against
the UDM using a variety of
client tools, such as Microsoft
Excel.
Benefits:

Greatly enriches the user model.

Provides high performance queries

supporting interactive analysis,
even over large data volumes.

Captures business rules in the

model to support richer analysis.

Supports closing the loop: letting

users can act upon the data they
see.

Accessing the Data Sources Directly

SELECT Quotas.QuotaAmount, Quotas.EmployeeId,
HR

FROM OPENROWSET('SQLOLEDB','seattle1'; 'Sales'; 'MyPass',

'SELECT * FROM Forecasts.dbo.SalesQuota ) As Quotas
SELECT Sales.SalesAmount, Sales.EmployeeId,

Sales

FROM OPENROWSET('SQLOLEDB','seattle2'; Orders'; 'MyPass2',

'SELECT * FROM Sales.dbo.EmpSales ) As Sales

Accessing the Data Sources by UDM

UDM contents

Query
Sales Amount and Quota
by Product Category

Multidimensional Expressions (MDX)

Query language used to work with and retrieve multidimensional data in

(SSAS)

Based on the XML for Analysis (XMLA) specification

Used for:

Return data to a client application from a SSAS cube.

Format query results.

Perform cube design tasks, including the definition of calculated members,

named sets, scoped assignments, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Perform administrative tasks, including dimension and cell security.

MDX Sample
SELECT
{ [Measures].[Sales Amount],
[Measures].[Tax Amount] } ON COLUMNS,
{ [Date].[Fiscal].[Fiscal Year].&[2006],
[Date].[Fiscal].[Fiscal Year].&[2007] } ON ROWS
FROM [Adventure Works]
WHERE ( [Sales Territory].[Southwest] )

Thank you