Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Updating Your Cube Data
The ability to create "hypothetical" what-if scenarios is central to busi-
ness intelligence because it enables the executive to explore contingen-
cies associated with the financial landscape. In this way, the executive
can seek out the profit maximizing potential of the firm while minim-
izing risk and generally mitigating threats. Because these concepts are
so much better explained by way of example, here are two specific ex-
amples to help you understand what is meant by what-if scenarios.
In the first example, a company president is considering her options in
terms of resource allocation for the coming fiscal year. Her BI team has
astutely developed UDM that calculate key business drivers for the com-
pany. Because the user can writeback new values into those seed meas-
ures, new configurations of company resource allocation can be tried and
the results assessed. The key business metrics will be recalculated due
to new values entered into the system. The sorts of questions that can
be "asked" of the system through the use of these simulations depend on
how many measures are designed to act as seed values. Typical ques-
tions include, "What if we increase our advertising budget for the next
fiscal year?" "What if we charge more (or less) for our product?" and
"What if we take on more debt to expand production facilities and there-
fore enhance manufacturing capacity?" Keep in mind that not just any
question could be asked of the system. Only those questions that have
the required measures available for use as seed values and underlying
calculations or KPIs in support of cascading correct changes will provide
meaningful results.
The second example considers the needs of a bank. The vice-president is consid-
ering strategies for the coming year regarding appropriate risk distribution for com-
mercial loan application acceptance. The bank has good metrics from which to base
calculations on successful loan repayments versus defaults and those metrics have
been entered into the relevant cubes. If banks are anything like most bureaucratic
organizations, they likely have regulations that mandate certain minimum distribu-
tions of loans to different risk categories. For example, in the interest of economic
development and creating new active bank customers in the future, a certain per-
centage of high-risk loans should be accepted. The vice-presi-dent is most likely
looking to give loans so as to maximize income from loans for the bank; with a fund
of $500 million from which to make loans, the president can consider the manipula-
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