Business Intelligence For Dummies

You’re intelligent, right? So you’ve already figured out that Business Intelligence can be pretty valuable in making the right decisions about your business. But you’ve heard at least a dozen definitions of what it is, and heard of at least that many BI tools. Where do you start?

Business Intelligence For Dummies makes BI understandable! It takes you step by step through the technologies and the alphabet soup, so you can choose the right technology and implement a successful BI environment. You’ll see how the applications and technologies work together to access, analyze, and present data that you can use to make better decisions about your products, customers, competitors, and more.

You’ll find out how to:

• Understand the principles and practical elements of BI
• Determine what your business needs
• Compare different approaches to BI
• Build a solid BI architecture and roadmap
• Design, develop, and deploy your BI plan
• Relate BI to data warehousing, ERP, CRM, and e-commerce
• Analyze emerging trends and developing BI tools to see what else may be useful

Whether you’re the business owner or the person charged with developing and implementing a BI strategy, checking out Business Intelligence For Dummies is a good business decision.

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction and Basics
Chapter 1. Understanding Business Intelligence
Chapter 2. Fitting BI with Other Technology Disciplines
Chapter 3. Meeting the BI Challenge

Part II: Business Intelligence User Models
Chapter 4. Basic Reporting and Querying
Chapter 5. OLAP. Online Analytical Processing
Chapter 6. Dashboards and Briefing Books
Chapter 7. Advanced / Emerging BI Technologies

Part III: The BI Lifecycle
Chapter 8. The BI Big Picture
Chapter 9. Human Factors in BI Implementations
Chapter 10. Taking a Closer Look at BI Strategy
Chapter 11. Building a Solid BI Architecture and Roadmap

Part IV: Implementing BI
Chapter 12. Building the BI Project Plan
Chapter 13. Collecting User Requirements
Chapter 14. BI Design and Development
Chapter 15. The Day After. Maintenance and Enhancement

Part V: BI and Technology
Chapter 16. BI Target Databases. Data Warehouses, Marts, and Stores
Chapter 17. BI Products and Vendors

Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18. Ten Keys to BI Success
Chapter 19. Ten BI Risks (and How to Overcome Them)
Chapter 20. Ten Keys to Gathering Good BI Requirements
Chapter 21. Ten Secrets to a Successful BI Deployment
Chapter 22. Ten Secrets to a Healthy BI Environment
Chapter 23. Ten Signs That Your BI Environment Is at Risk