Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
If an organization has yet to start with Reporting Services, this stage is a common place to intro-
duce it to users. The first set of reports is usually based on department-level standard reports that
were developed in earlier stages with parameterization and drilldown capabilities built in so that
casual users can successfully explore the data. Behind the scenes, the BI team builds a data mart and
possibly an Analysis Services cube or tabular model as data sources for these reports.
To support the ad hoc analysis requirements of power users, the BI team gives users access to
cubes or tabular models by using Excel. In addition, these users continue to employ Power View in
Excel, PowerPivot in Excel, Power View in SharePoint, or PowerPivot in SharePoint to get answers to
questions that can't be answered by the data mart.
Stage 3: Teenager
Having successfully implemented BI at a department level during the Child stage, many companies
next take steps in an attempt to prevent each department from setting up its own data mart. In the
Teenager stage, the company establishes a formal data warehouse not only to consolidate resources
but also to bring consistency to BI processes and company metrics. By adding experienced BI prac-
titioners to the team or by engaging consultants, the company begins to formalize BI across depart-
ments and to adopt best practices.
During this stage, the BI solution grows to accommodate more casual users, but this growth also
results in an increased demand for standard parameterized reports that can be filtered and dash-
boards that can be tailored to specific audiences. Also during this stage, the use of BI expands to
include KPIs to help management monitor progress toward goals.
Reporting Services continues to be a dominant technology in this stage, with greater emphasis on
developing reports that can be used in multiple ways by the addition of parameters, including filters
that tailor information to the user. Team BI communities also begin to emerge, with power users
publishing shared datasets and report parts with which casual users can build their own versions of
reports. To promote collaboration, the BI solution expands to include the use of SharePoint for dash-
boards and possibly PerformancePoint Services for scorecards.
The Chasm
Unfortunately, The Chasm is a more challenging obstacle to cross than The Gulf. If the problem of
spreadmarts and independent data marts across the comp have not been addressed by this point, the
next step in the maturation process will be exceedingly difficult to obtain. Any change in the compa-
ny's business strategy can also pose problems for the BI team, but ironically, that's when the organiza-
tion needs BI most of all.
To successfully move to the next stage, developing a flexible architecture for the company's BI
solutions is mandatory. As difficult as it might be, the company must commit a key group of users
to the development of a common glossary for terms and calculations used in reports, workbooks,
and other BI-related documents. Support from the top down is necessary. One characteristic of The
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