What is Business Intelligence?

For the purpose of producing this resource we have defined Business Intelligence (BI) as:

Evidence-based decision-making and the processes that gather, present, and use that evidence base. It can extend from providing evidence to support potential students' decisions whether to apply for a course, through evidence to support individual faculty and staff members, teams and departments, to evidence to support strategic decisions for the whole institution.

What is a Business Intelligence System?

For the purpose of this project we have defined a Business Intelligence System (BIS) (a BI system, a management dashboard) as:

"A system that compiles and presents key internal and external information in a concise, pictorial format, to support decision-making, planning and strategic thinking. It provides easy interactive access to reliable, current, good quality interdepartmental information, when needed. It allows senior management to be confident in the integrity and completeness of the information as they move between an overview and a detailed view. Advanced BI systems provide reliable, comprehensive information to all interested parties and include flexible user-defined views for senior managers and planning staff, and fixed views for public access and other users."

Other definitions

We should acknowledge that whilst the above definitions have proved robust and useful during the conduct of this project, and are probably as accurate and useful as any such definition can be, they are not intended to be definitive. Many other descriptions have been applied to both BI and BIS, just a few of which are included below:

'Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of application programs and technologies for gathering, storing, analysing, and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. BI applications include the activities of decision support, query and reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP), statistical analysis, forecasting, and data mining.' Mirum.net

'A popularised, umbrella term used to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with briefing books and executive information systems.' Noise Between Stations

'BI normally describes the result of in-depth analysis of detailed business data. Includes database and application technologies, as well as analysis practices. Sometimes used synonymously with "decision support," though business intelligence is technically much broader, potentially encompassing knowledge management, enterprise resource planning, and data mining, among other practices.' IT Toolbox

'Business intelligence (BI) is the process of gathering information in the field of business. It can be described as the process of enhancing data into information and then into knowledge. Business intelligence is carried out to gain sustainable competitive advantage, and is a valuable core competence in some instances.' Wikipedia

This term was used as early as September, 1996, when a Gartner Group report said:

'By 2000, Information Democracy will emerge in forward-thinking enterprises, with Business Intelligence information and applications available broadly to employees, consultants, customers, suppliers, and the public. The key to thriving in a competitive marketplace is staying ahead of the competition. Making sound business decisions based on accurate and current information takes more than intuition. Data analysis, reporting, and query tools can help business users wade through a sea of data to synthesize valuable information from it - today these tools collectively fall into a category called "Business Intelligence.' Tech Target

A Wordle based on the contents of the above definitions

Checklist of attributes

However, it is worth noting that no such definition should ever be seen as prescriptive. Those contemplating a BI project (or managing a BI system) should note that each institution must decide on its own requirements and select an approach to management information that is fit for the purposes of that institution. Local solutions will inevitably often diverge from a single definition in one way or another. As a result it may be more instructive to consider what does or does not constitute a BI system by the degree to which it conforms to an agreed checklist of criteria. Some of which can be classified as 'required' (that is to say if the system in question is not able to demonstrate the attribute in question then it is questionable how appropriate it is to describe it as a 'BI system' and those which are 'desirable' (which it is not necessary for a system to demonstrate in order to still be described as a BI system, but some or all of which it might still be expected to display)).

Stages of maturity

In assessing the above checklist it may be helpful to think of the stages in a BI project, or in the development of mature BI capabilities. These might be defined as:

• Stage 1 - Data are fragmented and distrusted - scattered among traditional, often locally held data sources; manual reports are available to departmental, faculty and institutional management.
• Stage 2 - Information is increasingly coherent, held in centrally managed system(s) with clear local responsibility for data entry and data quality. Most reporting is still manual.
• Stage 3 - A Business Intelligence (BI) Project is started, and a vendor and system are selected.
• Stage 4 - An initial BI System is put in place which allow managers at each level to access data when they need to.
• Stage 5 - The BI system and its links to data sources are increasingly automated; reporting becomes more sophisticated and spreads to a wider user population.
• Stage 6 - Systems are used for evidence-based decision-making and for predictions, models and assessment of future options.

The 'Required' attributes from the above checklist are probably present in any mature BI system (at Stage 4, 5 or 6). The 'Desirable' attributes probably aid the breadth and maturity of a full BI system, which should support local (public, student,departmental or faculty) decisions as well as institutional (university or college-wide) decisions.

Further detail on these stages of BI maturity, plus hypothetical case studies of what each may look like in practice are included within this section of the infoKit.