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The heart of any business intelligence function is the data infrastrucure.  This typically includes databases, ETL (extract, transform and load) processes, statical analysis tools and reporitng technologies.  A complete data infrastructure will include, at a minimum: 

• Logical and physical data models 
• Database servers and databases 
• ETL scripts and automated jobs 
• Queries and reports, schedules and work processes 
• Maintenance procedures 
• Data governance processes to ensure data quality and compliance

BlDT recommends setting up infrastructure using cloud-based technologies such as Amazon's Web Services Cloud or Microsoft's Azure Cloud.  These services provide quick and cost-effective setup, advanced capabilities and unlimited scalability.

After building the data infrastructure, data will be sourced, cleaned, and stored in the data warehouse.  This data may be located across the organization in accounting systems, databases, ERP/Sales systems, and even spreadsheets.  Automated data feeds can be built to pull the data from its source, clean and/or tranform it, and load it into the data warehouse.  This centralizes and standardizes the data for analysis and reporting.

This crucial step will eliminate data silos, increase visibility, and eliminate the spreadsheet culture that pervades many organizations.

Creating descriptive and predictive analysis is then possible using data collected and stored in the data warehouse.  The analysis may be as simple as providing means, standard deviations and distributions of observations, and as complex as building predictive models of business performance using machine learning.  Analytic procedures may include but are not limited to: 

• Determine appropriate criterion measures for various measurement areas (e.g. revenue, order size, accuracy,  downtime, etc.) to ensure consistency across reports and models. 
• Create models to assist in describing as well as predicting performance in various contexts (hardware and software design, location selection, product designs, revenue projections, marketing projects etc.) 
• Building machine learning models. 
• Perform data mining 
• Analyze trends, time series and econometrics

BIDT can produce reports for you using reporting tools such as Sql Server Reporting Services, Power BI and Tableau.  Reports may be as simple as lists of locations and as complicated as functional area dashboards.  Our analysts will provide expert consultation to you to help you design reporting and data visualizations that will assist and improve decision making. 

• Create and manage report server and subscription-based report pushes 
• Create custom ad-hoc reporting for business clients 
• Develop interactive dashboard applications to track key performance indicators and trends 
• Manage dashboards and reporting across functional areas including sales, marketing, finance, supply chain, field services, manufacturing and customer support

BIDT can create educational and training materials and provide consulting to develop data-driven decision making skills in your business.  This may include online educational materials, training courses in data/statistical analysis, business consulting and individual coaching of clients.  Services provided may include: 

• Decision making consulting based on an assessment of functional area/department vision, mission, strategy, structure, business goals and data collection processes 
• Creation of department Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 
• Performance, process, and reporting development and optimization 
• Data analysis, reporting, and data visualization training
• Use of reporting and analysis tools such as PowerBI