Business Intelligence also includes tools for presenting findings from the analyzed data:
Interactive Dashboards. A dashboard is a set of high-level reports on key metrics, typically for managers. There may be multiple reports on a single dashboard, much the same way that a car’s dashboard has multiple gauges and displays on it. With a dashboard, users can gain an at-a-glance understanding of key trends and metrics. Dashboards can be customizable to work for anyone in an organization, from a sales rep or frontline operations manager to a middle manager or senior executive.
An "interactive" dashboard allows users to take those dashboard reports and filter information to more deeply analyze trends and results, or to "drill down" into deeper and more detailed analysis of the data. That is, by clicking on the particular reports or results, they can explore more detailed information to find root causes of results.
- Customizable Reports which can present high-level findings as well as enable a user to drill down to find specific details. Most BI systems either come with report templates and/or provide the capability to create and customize reports; and
- Alerts notifying users to changes selected as key to meeting user goals. Alerts can be set to warn users on an imminent event, changes to data, or that new data needs to be entered into the system.
| Traditional Method: |
Reporting packages need to be implemented from multiple solutions, since only some of them provide pixel perfect reporting, while another provides banded reporting, and so on. IT needs to build and publish unique dashboards and reports for each different type of user in the organization. |
| Integrated SaaS method: |
A fully integrated reporting package is ideal, so that IT does not have to integrate multiple systems. Advanced reporting techniques such as banded reporting, drag and drop formatting, and pixel-perfect reporting are all included in one solution. |
Continue to Benefits of SaaS Business Intelligence versus Traditional Business Intelligence Software
