Microsoft® Business Intelligence For Dummies®

Glossary

balanced scorecard:

A type of scorecard application that tracks an organization's progress from various perspectives simultaneously. The Microsoft version of the balanced scorecard tracks Financial, Operational, Sales, and Human Resources objectives. Various Microsoft tools are available for building balanced-scorecard visualizations; they include PerformancePoint, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), and Excel.

business intelligence:

As described in this book, using computer software systematically, throughout an organization, to get a handle on the mountains of data that flow from modern business. BI turns the raw data into ready-to-use business information that becomes an ongoing part of strategic decision-making.

Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS):

When SQL Server is installed there is an option to install Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS). When this option is chosen the installation looks to see if Visual Studio is already installed. If Visual Studio is already installed, then the Microsoft BI development features are added to the already installed version of Visual Studio. If Visual Studio is not installed, then a version of Visual Studio is installed that only contains the Microsoft BI features. This Microsoft BI–only version of Visual Studio is called BIDS.

cube:

A database object that organizes data for accessibility in an OLAP database.

dashboard:

An on-screen array of indicators that show what a business process is doing in real time — presenting ...