With operational BI, analysis can take place in tandem with business processing, so that problems can be spotted and dealt with sooner than with conventional after-the-fact business intelligence (BI) approaches. It enables the creation of a performance and feedback loop in which decision makers can analyze what’s happening in the business, act upon their findings and immediately see the results of those actions.
Data must be extremely current, which isn’t always possible with the traditional bounds of both enterprise reporting and data warehousing. However, most business processes at a typical company don’t require real-time data. With that in mind, a key part of every operational BI project is determining which business users need up-to-the-minute data for BI purposes and how they will handle getting data delivered to them in that fashion.
What It Takes
- Efficient, powerful integration technology to access and interconnect all data
- Scalability to support large deployments and volumes
- Intuitive information delivery to people at all tiers of responsibility
