Business intelligence: extracting information from your data

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"To succeed in war, you should have full knowledge of your strengths/weaknesses and full knowledge of your enemy's strengths/weaknesses. Lack of either one might result in defeat".

Sun Tzu's "Art of War"

data > information > knowledge > competitive advantage

Business intelligence (BI) is the process of gathering information in the field of business, sieving through that data and presenting information - both internal (from operational systems) and external (market intelligence) - upon which management can act or build strategies.

Every business intelligence system has a specific goal. Goals could be short term (e.g.: quarterly targets) or long term (shareholder value, target industry share / size etc). Time lines for reporting performance against these goals are continually reducing, with management demanding answers on a daily, rather than monthly, basis.

In developing a Business Intelligence system, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be defined. Data must then be collected and verified so that performance can be measured and reported.

Fenwick Software can assist you to:

• Define these goals and KPIs
• Develop baseline queries and metrics that measure current and
   future performance against the KPIs
• Collect and validate the data required to analyse performance
   against these KPIs
• Develop systems that collate this data into a form that is readily
   understood and used by managers and other key personnel and
   facilitates easy-to-use analysis of performance against the defined
   metrics and KPIs
• Ensure the system continues to be accurate and relevant as
   circumstances change by providing ongoing support, assistance
   and advice