Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App

Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App

by Cindi Howson
Released December 2007
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 9780071596145

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Book description

Praise for Successful Business Intelligence

"If you want to be an analytical competitor, you've got to go well beyond business intelligence technology. Cindi Howson has wrapped up the needed advice on technology, organization, strategy, and even culture in a neat package. It's required reading for quantitatively oriented strategists and the technologists who support them." --Thomas H. Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor, Babson College and co-author, Competing on Analytics

"When used strategically, business intelligence can help companies transform their organization to be more agile, more competitive, and more profitable. Successful Business Intelligence offers valuable guidance for companies looking to embark upon their first BI project as well as those hoping to maximize their current deployments." --John Schwarz, CEO, Business Objects

"A thoughtful, clearly written, and carefully researched examination of all facets of business intelligence that your organization needs to know to run its business more intelligently and exploit information to its fullest extent." --Wayne Eckerson, Director, TDWI Research

"Using real-world examples, Cindi Howson shows you how to use business intelligence to improve the performance, and the quality, of your company." --Bill Baker, Distinguished Engineer & GM, Business Intelligence Applications, Microsoft Corporation

"This book outlines the key steps to make BI an integral part of your company's culture and demonstrates how your company can use BI as a competitive differentiator." --Robert VanHees, CFO, Corporate Express

"Given the trend to expand the business analytics user base, organizations are faced with a number of challenges that affect the success rate of these projects. This insightful book provides practical advice on improving that success rate." --Dan Vesset, Vice President, Business Analytics Solution Research, IDC

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. About the Author
  6. Contents
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. 1. Business Intelligence from the Business Side
    1. Business Intelligence by Other Names
    2. How Business Intelligence Provides Business Value
    3. The Business Intelligence Market
    4. Battle Scars
    5. The Research
    6. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  10. 2. Techno Babble: Components a Business Intelligence Architecture
    1. Operational and Source Systems
    2. Data Transfer: From Operational to Data Warehouse
    3. The Data Warehouse
    4. Data Warehouse Tables
    5. The Data Warehouse Technology Platform
    6. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  11. 3. The Business Intelligence Front-End
    1. Business Query and Reporting
    2. Production Reporting
    3. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
    4. Microsoft Office
    5. Dashboards
    6. Scorecards
    7. Performance Management
    8. Analytic Applications
    9. Emerging BI Modules
    10. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  12. 4. Measures of Success
    1. Success and Business Impact
    2. How to Measure Success
    3. Return on Investment
    4. Number of Users
    5. Other Measures of Success
    6. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  13. 5. The LOFT Effect
    1. The Role of Luck
    2. Opportunity
    3. Frustration
    4. Threat
    5. The Role of Time
    6. If There Is No LOFT Is Successful BI Still Possible?
    7. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  14. 6. Executive Support
    1. Executive Support and Success
    2. Which Executive Is the Best Sponsor?
    3. Getting Executive Buy-In
    4. The Role of an Executive Sponsor
    5. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  15. 7. D Is for Data
    1. Data Quality
    2. Successful Data Architectures
    3. Master Data Management (MDM)
    4. Right-Time Data
    5. Data Quality’s Chicken and Egg
    6. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  16. 8. The Business-IT Partnership
    1. Voices of Frustration
    2. The Business-IT Yin-Yang
    3. Meet the Hybrid Business-IT Person
    4. How to Be a Better Partner
    5. Alignment
    6. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  17. 9. Relevance
    1. Relevance Brings Clearer Vision
    2. Relevance Improves Patient Care
    3. Relevance to Continental Gate Agents
    4. The Role of Incentives
    5. Personalization
    6. Requirements-Driven BI
    7. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  18. 10. Agile Development
    1. Waterfall Development Process
    2. Agile Development Techniques
    3. Sharper BI at 1-800 Contacts
    4. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  19. 11. Organizing for Success
    1. Enterprise vs. Department BI
    2. The BI Steering Committee
    3. Business Intelligence Competency Centers (BICC)
    4. BICC Guiding Principles
    5. BI Shake-Up at Corporate Express
    6. BI Team Leaders as Level 5 Leaders
    7. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  20. 12. The Right BI Tool for the Right User
    1. The Importance of BI Tools
    2. The Role of BI Standardization
    3. The Right Tool for the Right User
    4. The Most Successful BI Module
    5. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  21. 13. Other Secrets to Success
    1. The Role of Culture
    2. Promoting Your BI Capabilities
    3. Training
    4. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Numbers
    5. Best Practices for Successful Business Intelligence
  22. 14. The Future of Business Intelligence
    1. Emerging Technologies
    2. Predicting the Future
    3. BI Search & Text Analytics
    4. Advanced Visualization
    5. Rich Reportlets
    6. The Future Beyond Technology
    7. Words of Wisdom
  23. Appendix A: This Successful BI Survey
  24. Appendix B: Recommended Resources
  25. Notes
  26. Index

Product information

  • Title: Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App
  • Author(s): Cindi Howson
  • Release date: December 2007
  • Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
  • ISBN: 9780071596145