Basic BI Concepts
What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
Business Intelligence (BI) refers to a collection of processes, technologies, and tools that enable organizations to collect, process, analyze, and visualize data to support timely and informed decision-making.
BI empowers organizations to:
Review historical performance
Understand the current business situation
Forecast future trends using data-driven insights
Objective: Deliver the right information to the right users at the right time, transforming raw data into actionable insights that support business strategies.
Key Components of a BI System
Data Sources
Origin of data such as CRM, ERP, databases, APIs, spreadsheets, etc.
ETL/ELT Processes
Methods for Extracting, Transforming, and Loading data into a central repository
Data Warehouse
A centralized, structured storage optimized for querying and analysis
Analytics Tools
Tools to visualize data through charts, tables, dashboards, etc.
Reports & Dashboards
Interfaces that present data in a user-friendly and interactive manner
Standard BI Workflow
The typical flow of data in a BI system includes:
Data Collection – Gather data from multiple sources
Data Transformation – Cleanse, standardize, and convert data
Data Storage – Save in a structured data warehouse
Data Analysis & Visualization – Create visual reports and dashboards
Decision Making – Use insights for operational or strategic decisions
📌 In FPT Data Suite, this workflow is implemented through:
Data Connector → Data Pipeline → Data Visualization
Benefits of BI for Organizations
Business Intelligence (BI) offers powerful tools to help organizations analyze and make informed decisions through six core functions:
Decision Support Identify business issues and support strategy planning using real-time data.
Querying & Reporting Automatically generate structured, meaningful reports from large data sets.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Rapid multi-dimensional analysis, supporting trend evaluation and financial reporting.
Statistical Analysis Interpret data patterns to uncover underlying trends and business behaviors.
Forecasting Predict future performance and industry trends to proactively plan ahead.
Data Mining Extract meaningful information from large data sets to solve specific business challenges.
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