Trickle-down BI

For example, a BI tool such as Cognos ReportNet uses Composite Software’s Composite Information Server, which allows ReportNet to extract information from data repositories spread across an organization and compile it into a single report.

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But it’s important not to play fast and loose with the word “report” when discussing operational BI. Until recently, “BI” and “report” have been joined at the hip. But not everyone needs pages and pages of analysis. “You don’t want to give reports to a call-center person,” Rodwick says. “You want to give them a nugget of information that changes what their screen tells them to do.”

And that information “has to be so simple, my mother can use it,” Forrester’s Gile quips. “Because who do we have in the call centers? Generally, they aren’t trained in BI, nor should they have to be.”

Rodwick suggests that operational BI turns the venerable software category on its head. “Most traditional BI solutions are about driving masses of reports to people who have to go through them, figure out what interests them, and then decide what action to take,” he says. “The major trend for BI [applications] is to drive select information to individuals when they need it, be sure that it’s already relevant to what they have to accomplish, and then guide them toward what action to take.”

IT rolls up its sleeves

For IT, operational BI requires an exhaustive understanding of the requirements of workers in addition to myriad business processes. “It all goes wrong if IT makes the wrong decisions about what to provide users,” says Michael Corcoran, vice president and chief communications officer at Information Builders. His company recently unveiled WebFocus 7, a product designed to push BI to the operational level and to tailor it accordingly.

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“We’re no longer talking about power users, so when IT pulls together its test group, it has to be absolutely sure [the members] represent the needs and skill level” of users in the real world, Corcoran says. Software to serve this diverse group also needs to be capable of pulling in data from across the enterprise. WebFocus 7 provides native access to more than 200 data sources and data formats, including relational and legacy data. WebFocus 7, which is scheduled to ship on April 25, strengthens ties with connectivity software from Information Builders subsidiary iWay Software, a vendor of application adapters.

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Gartner’s Gassman urges IT to pay careful attention to how data from disparate systems is captured and integrated. “This is one of the inhibitors” of embedded BI, he says. “If you say, ‘I’m going to buy an analytic application from XYZ Company and use it to pull data together from Siebel and SAP to make wonderful decisions,’ immediately you end up with a data-quality issue. If you just throw data from operational systems together and the data’s not accurate, you’ll start to run into trouble when people make decisions based on Canadian dollars instead of U.S. dollars.”

In a recent report on best practices for developing BI applications for broad use, Forrester’s Gile says IT should approach rollouts by separating technical functionality -- such as OLAP, visualization, or predictive analytics -- from a BI application’s roster of functional requirements -- such as customer segmentation, supply-chain optimization, or forecasting.

This simplifies the process of targeting the appropriate organizational layer. Where employees are characterized by minimal training and maximal turnover, the report continues, analytic functionality built into the procedural UI goes a long way in assisting operations such as customer service, shipping, and manufacturing. It also reflects a gradual shift toward putting relevant data into the hands of more workers.

That evolution may be gradual, but the cumulative effect on BI and its expanded range of users is dramatic. “It’s changing whole cultures, but I think it’s a positive change,” says Rich Clayton, vice president of product marketing at Hyperion, a BI platform vendor and BPM software provider. “With all this accessible data comes a tremendous amount of clarity. When a salesperson knows that the manager can look at day sales outstanding, down to the minute, a whole different mind-set develops. That kind of visibility is a powerful development.”