Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? Setting up a business intelligence (BI) program takes more than just installing the technology. A successful BI program involves a set of concepts and methods designed to improve the business decision-making process by putting targeted information into the hands of those who need it most. This course provides a multitier process to design and implement an effective BI solution that maximises your organisation's business opportunities. Who will benefit from this course? This course benefits those interested in implementing a business intelligence (BI) program in their organisation. Often, those involved in the implementation process are program and project managers, business and statistical analysts, and marketing directors. This course is valuable for those throughout an organisation looking to apply a BI program. What background do I need? Prior BI experience is not required. I've heard about Business Intelligence, but I'm not sure what it is. Will this course give me a good overview that I can take back to my business? Yes. This course covers setting up a BI program and a Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC). You learn about key business analytics tools, which include dashboards, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and scorecards. This course offers excellent preparation for managers who would like to gain familiarity with key BI concepts and tools in order to brief key decision makers in their organisation. Our entire team, including executive management and IT personnel, needs assistance in building a BI solution. How can this course help? An effective BI solution is the sum total of the efforts of every member within an organisation. This course introduces a BI methodology that begins with managers defining the goals of the organisation and ends with the implementation and the utilisation of a technology system to render data that will assist the managers and other team members in making the best decisions to accomplish these goals. How is this course different from other BI courses on the market? Most BI courses focus on the specifics of the underlying technology and data collection. Technology is a major component of a BI solution, but a complete BI solution requires a process that will assist managers in asking the right questions and getting the right answers. This course introduces such a solution, incorporating an outcome-focused methodology that can be used with a wide range of technology. The methodology is focused on establishing the value to the business at the start of the BI process and will deliver immediate benefits to your organisation. Will I see how other organisations have used BI to achieve success? Yes. Several case studies of organisations that have implemented BI solutions are used to demonstrate both optimum and sub-optimum BI systems so that you can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of others. Will I learn how to structure SQL queries to extract information from our data warehouse? No, this course focuses on the business analysis process that is needed to deliver BI benefits. For information on structuring SQL queries, please see Course 534, Developing SQL Queries for SQL Server: Hands-On, and Course 234, Developing SQL Queries for Oracle® Databases: Hands-On. This course does not address the mechanics of BI-related tools, but it does demonstrate the utility of these tools to extract meaningful data to aid in the decision-making process. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Defining business intelligence (BI) 3.0 Building a road map 4.0 Designing and planning BI processes 3.0 Implementing and fine tuning the BI solution 5.5 Putting BI to work for you 1.5 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. My organisation already has a BI system. How can this course help me? Many BI systems deliver little benefit to the enterprise. This course provides a clear methodology for re-engineering your existing system to give more timely and accurate information and actionable outcomes. We currently don't have much of anything related to BI in our organisation. We are essentially starting from scratch. How can this course help us? This course helps you define the appropriate questions to ask regarding the implementation of a BI solution. You can then take the proper actions to invest resources in the acquisition and implementation of an effective BI solution for your organisation. This course focuses on an iterative process that allows you to start small and grow your BI process at a rate you are comfortable with so that small successes will mature into large ones. How much of this course is hands-on? Approximately 65 percent of the course is spent participating in hands-on exercises, which include Applying a multitier BI process Analysing successful systems to identify what works Building a simple BI system Combining simple systems to create a complex BI solution Creating an information flow diagram and business rules Organising a Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC) Incorporating BI tools to evaluate data quality Mapping operational data to a data warehouse How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? Course 211, Introduction to Business Analysis: Defining Successful Projects, provides the foundational knowledge of the role and function of the business analyst Course 212, Building an Effective Business Case, provides the knowledge and skills to analyse initiatives to construct a clear business case that enables organisations to make better decisions Course 213, Introduction to Knowledge Management, offers the skills to build a Knowledge Management solution that leverages organisational and individual knowledge Course 315, Developing User Requirements: The Key to Project Success, offers the knowledge to enhance your requirements development processes and develop individual skills for getting the right information from your stakeholders Course 218, User and System Requirements for Successful Software Development, provides the knowledge and skills needed to capture software requirements using clearly defined processes

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