Business Intelligence: Monitor, Analyze, Plan
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence refers to the tools and processes that provide access
to, and allow analysis of the data that is captured through an organization’s
transactional systems. In other words, a Business Intelligence (BI) solution
transforms granular data into useful information.
It is about getting the RIGHT INFORMATION to the RIGHT PEOPLE at the RIGHT TIME.
Business Intelligence can helps companies:
- have a more comprehensive knowledge of the factors affecting their business
- make the planning and budgeting process more efficient and fruitful
- make information-based business decisions
- provide a structure for accountability
- expedite decision-making
- enhance communications amongst segments, departments, and regions
- improve workflow
- align work tasks to corporate strategy and objectives
- respond more quickly to changes in the marketplace
- improve supply-chain and distribution-chain processes
In short, BI can enhance the success of all corporate initiatives because
it is the backbone of providing management with actionable information for
all facets of the organization.
Services
When it comes to Business Intelligence, our clients view as a trusted advisor
to identify areas for attention and improvement based on our familiarity
with the best practices in the marketplace.
They also view us as an experienced service provider to implement and manage the tools necessary to meet all of their BI needs. Squire provides a comprehensive set of BI services:
- Data Warehousing and Consolidation
- Operational and Financial Reporting
- Data Monitoring and Analysis
- Performance Management and Scorecarding
Data Warehousing and Consolidation
It is probable that your organization is like most others:
- Massive amounts of data reside in disparate transactional systems
- Inability to access data that is pertinent to business decisions
- Lack of trust in the consistency of data being reported
- Costly and timely processes to integrate data from one system to another
A data warehouse allows your organization to gather data from disparate systems and bring it all into one sphere. This warehouse not only improves the ability to access data, it also improves the speed at which the data can be analyzed and reported. Additionally, the data can be integrated and consolidated through automated processes, and exported into tools you’re familiar with such as Microsoft Excel.
Operational and Financial Reporting
Whether you have sophisticated reporting needs, or simply desire more timely
data and better access to reports, you would benefit from a more reliable
reporting system—something that gets the right information to the right
people, at the right time.
Our operational and financial reporting services include the following:
- Exporting financial and operational reports from transactional systems
- Establishing server-based reporting that allows for interaction and analysis
- Implementing custom reporting tools that allow your organization to create and analyze ad-hoc reports from your disparate data systems
- Delivering reports to your Intranet, dashboards, and/or emails
- Consolidating financials and generating financial statements
Data Monitoring and Analysis
Informed decision-making is not only based on the WHATs of the organization,
but also on the WHYs. Data Monitoring and Analysis helps information users,
for example, determine why a sales target has not been achieved, or why a
product was less profitable this period versus last period.
Data Monitoring and Analysis allows an information user to slice and dice the data, drill-down on the data, and look at the data from different perspectives and contexts based on a multi-dimensional platform.
Such an analysis is possible through the use of a BI tool such as Microsoft PerformancePoint Server 2007, IBM Cognos, or other business intelligence applications. We are prepared to help you identify the pros and cons of the major BI tools offered in the marketplace. A BI tool can take your organization to the next level of information and performance management.
Some benefits of a BI analytical solution include the ability to do the following:
- Provide a real-time snapshot of company through dashboards and KPIs.
- Allow drill down into different dimensions of measurement
- Enable budget-to-actual comparisons in real-time
- Make fact-based decisions without having to rely on gut-based assumptions
- Make possible quick and easy benchmarking against competitor’s metrics
- Create abstractions of data that provide faster data manipulation during analysis and ease the burden on server systems
- Translation of data into useable terms
- Plan, forecast, and budget in a timely and effective manner
Performance Management and Scorecarding
Performance Management is about strategic alignment, measurement, and analysis.
A Business Intelligence solution is the backbone that allows an enterprise-wide
performance management system to succeed.
Please read our Performance Management and Scorecarding services page to learn how Squire & Company, PC can help you measure the success of your strategic objectives.
