Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
data warehouse does not have all of the required data yet, so the old
system continues to run until the data warehouse can fully support the
functionality.
With the many different possibilities for navigating, presenting, and deliv-
ering results from the BI application, it is important to understand who the
audience is for your BI application. There are typically multiple types of users
of the data warehouse. BI applications are often tailored to meet the specific
needs of these different types of users.
Supporting Different Levels of Use
The project team needs to have an understanding of the different audiences
who will be using the data warehouse. Depending upon the audience, different
data delivery methods can be used to target each group's specific needs. There
will be differences between groups based upon frequency of use and/or job
function. Each organization must determine which business roles and/or
groups need access to data and what the expectations are for them to perform
analysis. Using this input, the BI application can be tailored to meet these
different audiences. The following list describes several different types of DW
users in order to illustrate some of the possibilities:
Mainstream users:
These are users who access the data warehouse
business intelligence application on a regular basis. The data is needed
to help these people complete their day-to-day responsibilities. These
regular users become very adept at using report templates to create their
own reports. They often save these as new reports for themselves and/or
their co-workers. Mainstream users do not perform advanced analysis,
but use the results of analyses developed by others to support their work.
They generally prefer to use structured navigation to get to the reports
that they need. This may be by using a BI portal or by using a web
interface of the BI application.
Business analyst:
This is someone who needs to track what is happening
in the business and to understand the reason for changes in the business.
This job requires them to go beyond looking at reports. They need
to perform analyses on a regular basis, perhaps to support business
reviews. Business analysts also work on requests to look into fluctuations
in business results. These are the people who create new reports. However,
a business analyst does not usually have the ability to change the building
blocks of the BI application itself. Business analysts can have a wide range
of preferences for diving into the BI application. BI portals and structured
navigation work well, but the business analysts must be able to modify
and extend the starting reports to address their requirements.
