Dynamics Day '11 - Business Intelligence Now and in the Future

Derek Lamb & Anna Tarasoff 10 August 2011

BI now and in the future


Current reporting problems

A Different Approach

Real Life Example

Microsoft SQL Denali

Questions

Agenda


What Problems?


Management Reporting Problems

People turn up to meetings with different versions of

the truth

It takes accounting a week to turn around month end

reports

Information is too late to make business decisions

I end up getting reports from different areas and

combining in Excel

I have to trawl through lots of reports to identify the

information that is meaningful


Finance Reporting Problems

People don’t have access to the ERP system so have to

ask us for data

Too much time spent answering routine questions

Time spent reconciling multiple systems at month end

I get asked for analysis of data which I end up dumping

data into Excel

It takes our reporting department a week to create a

report and by the time I get it I want a different view


IT Reporting Problems

Our users don’t understand the complexity of the data

We already have a corporate BI tool that is not used

Business logic in reports has to be recreated

Too much time spent creating or modifying reports

We don’t want to roll out another application for our

users to learn


Approach needs to change… Data Warehousing Institute found on average 18% of

potential BI users actively use BI tools, which flies in the face

of vendors talking up “Pervasive BI”

Traditional implementation approach has seen promised

benefits either not delivered or only partially delivered

A different Approach


Make BI more Pervasive

Self Service BI – ad-hoc reporting

critical The availability of

BI through standard, familiar

tools

Reduced complexity of access and

aggregation of Data

Access to up to date,

timely information

Confidence in reporting on data that is consistent and high quality

Centralised Portals for collaboration


Improve quality & availability of Data

Reduce complexity of

data to end users

Centralised data repository with standardised

business logic

Reduce reliance on IT for report

writing

Small iterations for

quick wins

Greater access to quality and

timeliness of data

Utilise existing IT investment

Real Life Solution


Westland Milk Products


The line of business systems were siloed.

Bespoke systems had been developed to address

specific business requirements

Some good MS Office skills but internal IS resources

were technically ‘light’ or non-existent

Fast Growing company

Issues


Centralised Repository & Business Logic

Centralised Portal, Self Serve Access, Collaboration

CRM Milk Logistics ERP

Self Serve Access, Data , Exploration & Analysis

BI now and in the future Excel Services

BI now and in the future KPI’s & Reports

BI now and in the future Chart Parts


Improved decision

making

Single source of truth

Easier, quicker access to

information for decision

makers

Reduced demand on

report writing resource

BI Benefits


“Our Business Intelligence environment is outstanding.

Intergen used the WhereScape RED tool to rapidly build

SQL Server Analysis Services cubes over our

Dynamics NAV, plant control, milk collection and CRM

systems. This is presented through Excel 2007 and

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to our users,

providing them with the information they need to make

decisions to improve the performance of our

organisation.”

Wayne Leach, CFO, Westland Milk Products

The Gain


BI Semantic Model The new centralised repository

Credible, consistent data

Project "Crescent” Data Visualisation tool

Rapid data discovery

SQL DENALI BI FEATURES

Anna Tarasoff


Pervasive BI with familiar tools like Excel

Utilise a centralised repository for Data

model

Small Iterations provide best returns

Great Tools are coming

Summary

Questions

Thank you

Dynamics Day '11 - Business Intelligence Now and in the Future

Technology

Transcript of Dynamics Day '11 - Business Intelligence Now and in the Future