the four critical elements for smarter decisions - strategic … · 2010-12-21 · for smarter...

A White Paper

The Four Critical Elements for

Smarter Decisions

Introducing WebFOCUS 8

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

2 The First Element: Data Integrity – The Importance of Real-Time Data Quality Initiatives

3 Why WebFOCUS 8 for Data Integrity

6 The Second Element: Performance Management – Creating, Communicating, and

Measuring Strategy

7 Why WebFOCUS 8 for Performance Management

9 The Third Element: Business Intelligence

9 Why WebFOCUS 8 for Pervasive BI and Real-Time Activity Monitoring

12 The Fourth Element: Advanced Analytics – Knowing What to Expect and Making

Smarter Decisions

13 Why WebFOCUS 8 for Advanced Analytics

15 Conclusion

The Four Critical Elements for Smarter Decisions

WebFOCUS 8

Information Builders1

Executive Summary

Organizations recognize that the data they collect is, quite possibly, their most valuable asset. Each

day, companies gather volumes of corporate data, which they need to be able to retrieve quickly

for key operational activities, such as creating invoices or bills of materials, cutting paychecks,

or generating balance sheets. Core business applications or enterprise resource planning (ERP)

environments handle many of these functions. However, as more and more information is

collected, processed, and transformed, and companies leverage it in different ways, they tend to

move through four stages of solution development in an effort to gain reliable, useful information

for smarter decision-making:

1) Business Intelligence – As companies grow, they typically employ business intelligence (BI)

tools to gain insight into their operations by analyzing the data they collect. Dashboards, reports,

and various types of analytical tools are made available to business users, so they can better

understand what has happened.

2) Performance Management – An organization may then realize that its data can be used to

measure the achievement of strategic goals – a discipline known as performance management.

Companies can formulate, communicate, and monitor critical strategies with performance

management systems that include a series of dashboards, scorecards, and strategy maps to drive

performance at every level of the organization.

3) Advanced Analytics – At this point, advanced analytics are likely being leveraged across

many areas of the business. Analytics allow companies to look at historical data and automatically

determine what information elements are most important. In other words, they can learn which of

the things that they currently measure are the best indicators of future trends in their market. This

is known as advanced analytics.

4) Data Integrity – One of the last things companies recognize as their information strategy

grows, is the importance of the quality of the data being collected. Reports and queries generated

through a BI product, metrics exposed in performance management systems, and predictions

made using analytical software will all be negatively affected by corrupt, invalid, or incomplete

information. Dirty data can dramatically reduce confidence in the information produced

throughout each stage of an information strategy, and can cause companies to make decisions

that hinder performance and profitability.

Information Builders’ latest release, WebFOCUS 8, is a powerful, fully integrated BI platform that

provides a broad array of cohesive components to help organizations manage every aspect

of their information strategy – from data inception and operational reporting, to analysis and

performance management, through the prediction of future outcomes.

Designed and built by a single vendor with a proven track record of success, WebFOCUS 8 delivers

a single, comprehensive platform that supports the four main elements of an information strategy

– data integrity, business intelligence (reporting and analysis), performance management, and

advanced analytics. Now, instead of moving through each stage and experiencing the pitfalls of

an incomplete information strategy, companies can rely on a single framework that delivers faster,

more tangible results, and helps them realize a more immediate return.

The Four Critical Elements for Smarter Decisions2

It can cost a company 10 times as much to process an incorrect or incomplete transaction as it does

to process a perfect transaction, according to Thomas Redman in his book Data Driven.1 Business

transactions are the most common source of the data a company collects. In the past, these

transactions were processed by data entry clerks, who manually entered information into systems

to create a new sales order, add an employee, update an account, etc. These manual entries have

always been the cause of mistyped zip codes, incorrect salutations, and other bad data.

Each error, no matter how small at first, can contribute to company-wide data pollution. Today,

business transactions occur at a very fast pace, with thousands of data records being passed from

business to business each day, so the problem is even greater. Computers process this information

and dynamically enter related records into the appropriate systems. This automation does not,

however, correct the errors. In fact, it tends to compound them. One business partner may not

collect the data with the same diligence as others. They may not collect the complete record or

even all the information needed to process a transaction properly. All of this wreaks havoc on the

integrity of corporate information, and significantly increases the cost of doing business.

Some of the more common data integrity problems include incorrect customer addresses, multiple

addresses for a customer, multiple entries for a customer, and missing or incorrect e-mail addresses.

In some cases, these issues are easy to identify and fix. But, if the data is not corrected, then every

report, analysis, scorecard, dashboard, and prediction will have some level of inaccuracy. For

example, multiple entries for a single customer may lead a company to believe that it has more

clients than it actually does. This can skew corporate-performance assessments and lead to bad

decisions about sales, support, and other customer-facing activities.

Some data integrity problems are easy to find and fix. Companies can employ a data-cleansing

service to correct invalid, inaccurate, or missing information. Their data is sent to a service provider

who compares it to their own huge database of names and addresses, to find and correct the

errors. They can also rectify incomplete records by filling in any missing data.

This method will only keep data clean for a short period of time. In fact, sending data out for a

cleansing is like pouring a glass of contaminated water and then sending it out to be filtered and

purified. Eventually, another glass of water will be needed, but sending it out for cleansing every

time someone wants a drink simply isn’t feasible. A more logical approach would be to install a

filter to the water tap, under the sink. This will stop contaminated water before it enters the faucet,

ensuring that every glass of water is filtered and purified.

Like water from a contaminated tap, data needs filtering before it makes its way into data

warehouses and applications. Because information is inevitably copied, duplicated, and entered

into multiple systems as it is used during the course of business transactions, a single error can

quickly multiply in various systems throughout an organization.

Therefore, companies urgently need to implement upstream data integrity initiatives. They must

listen and watch for errors within transactions as they are occurring, before data is propagated and

delivered to various systems for processing.

The First Element: Data Integrity – The Importance of Real-Time Data Quality Initiatives

1 Redman, Thomas. “Data Driven: Profiting from Your Most Important Business Asset,” Harvard Business Press, September 2008.


Why WebFOCUS 8 for Data Integrity

WebFOCUS 8 is the first business intelligence platform on the market to incorporate data profiling,

real-time data quality control, and master data management (MDM) components.

Data Profiling

Also referred to as data discovery, data profiling is the process of gathering statistics about

enterprise data:

Profiling is one of the most effective means of obtaining an in-depth understanding of corporate

data. This kind of insight makes it easier to precisely determine overall data integrity; identify, prioritize,

and correct any issues or errors (some may be expected, others may be surprises); and rectify the

underlying causes. Once an initial profile has been created, ongoing monitoring of profile-related

metrics allows companies to be more proactive in detecting and fixing future quality problems.

Data Quality

Data quality, the measure of data accuracy, completeness, and consistency across a business, has

become the focus of information management efforts among many of today’s organizations.

Problems with data quality continue to plague corporations of all types and sizes. According to a

PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, 75 percent of large enterprises currently face major challenges due

to bad information.2 A separate study from SiriusDecisions claims that – even at process-optimized

companies – approximately 10 percent of customer and prospect records contain critical data

errors, such as incorrect demographics or outdated dispositions. And, at companies without formal

data management strategies in place, that number can skyrocket to as high as 25 percent.3

What are its primary characteristics? ■

How was it created and by whom? ■

Which users access it most frequently? ■

For what purposes is it primarily used? ■

And, most importantly, what kind of shape is ■

it in?

2 “The Global Data Management Survey,” PricewaterhouseCoopers, April 2001.3 “The Impact of Bad Data on Demand Creation,” SiriusDecisions, December 2008.

iWay Data Profiler allows anyone in an organization to easily view, monitor, compare, and report business data without any additional client software, plug-ins, or report viewers.


With the data quality components contained within WebFOCUS 8, companies can efficiently

and effectively cleanse, standardize, enrich, match, and merge their data. Although these steps

are seemingly unrelated, they are all integral to achieving and sustaining optimum levels of data

quality. Cleansing eliminates mistakes within information sources by locating and altering existing

corrupt data, based on pre-defined business rules and criteria.

Enrichment improves comprehensiveness, dynamically extending and enhancing information by

comparing it to third-party content – such as consumer demographics or geographic distributors

– and appending its attributes when appropriate. For example, missing zip codes are determined

based on existing addresses, and are added as a separate field in each record.

Merging and matching promote consistency by automatically uncovering related entries within and

across systems – then linking, matching, or merging as needed. Advanced matching capabilities

closely assess the data contained in each record to determine which ones are redundant and which

are distinct. Merging then consolidates the matched data into a single, comprehensive record.

Householding, a technique similar to merging in which related information from disparate systems is

collected and stored in a data warehouse or other central location for easy access, also falls into the

category of merging and matching. With householding, companies can consolidate similar infor-

mation about a family, company, etc., to provide the most complete picture possible to end users.

iWay Data Quality Center (DQC) not only evaluates, monitors, and manages data quality in different systems, but also prevents bad data from entering these systems in the first place.

Master Data Management

As companies expand, merge, and/or globalize, corporate technology becomes increasingly

sophisticated. A larger and more complex network of diverse systems are frequently housed in


geographically dispersed locations, maintained by different teams, and seldom well-integrated

or synchronized. The results of this can be disastrous. Outdated or inaccurate data will be used to

make critical business decisions or develop important strategies. Users won’t be able to access the

data they need, when they need it, to perform day-to-day business activities. Cross-department

collaboration will be nearly impossible due to inconsistent versions of the truth.

Master data management (MDM) is a combination of processes and technologies that enable the

creation of a single system of record. This “golden record” provides a set of validated, universally

recognized values, derived from the various sources that house similar information. These values

are then reconciled and stored in a centralized hub, to be used as a primary frame of reference

by all enterprise users. This hub also feeds complete, consistent, and correct data back to all

applications and databases across an entire business.

iWay Master Data Center’s end-user interface for visualization and job management for master data management.

Data quality is so important in MDM initiatives because so many disparate information sources and

types of data are involved. For example, the application data contained in back-end systems, the

transaction data collected during live events, even the metadata and reference data used to describe

the data attributes will play a huge role in the creation and administration of a single set of values

and records across the business. If the initial source data is bad, then the master data generated

from it will be too. This, in turn, will negate the benefits of MDM, causing problems throughout the

business as incorrect or outdated information is leveraged during the course of core operations.

By integrating a complete data quality solution directly into WebFOCUS, Information Builders is

helping customers to dramatically improve all aspects of the way they use their enterprise data.


The second element of any successful information strategy is the effective use of performance

management to define, communicate, measure, and drive critical business strategies.

A performance management solution that can effectively link strategic financial goals to key

operational or tactical initiatives, and effectively measure and communicate achievements

towards those objectives, can go a long way to improving overall corporate performance.

Many solutions address performance management requirements from only a financial perspective.

They effectively track progress towards goals, such as revenue and profit, but lack the ability to

easily tap into the operational systems that hold the truth about the performance of the key

activities contributing to those goals.

Financial measures tend to be lagging indicators of business performance. When a company is

underperforming financially, it may mean there are problems throughout the entire enterprise,

and the opportunity to implement effective improvements in the tactical processes that led to

those subpar financial results may have already been missed.

In an Information Builders white paper titled How BI Should Work, we discussed how strategic BI

(performance management), analytical BI (ad hoc query and online analytical processing [OLAP]),

and operational BI (operational, production, and financial reporting) all work together to help

organizations of all types and sizes succeed.

How do these three “levels” of BI relate to each other? In a sense, they perform as a cycle. Strategic

business intelligence, or performance management, drives the productivity and profitability of an

organization as a whole, as well as the individual departments and business units that produce,

sell, and deliver its products or services. Functionality like strategy maps, scorecards, reports, and

dashboards are used to set a mission, and translate it into measurable metrics that facilitate the

communication and tracking of a strategy throughout all levels of the business.

Within that strategy, several critical success factors often exist. For example, the ongoing tracking

of indicators like customer satisfaction, market share, profit margins, or overhead will be vital

to ensuring that the strategy becomes a reality. The status of those factors at any point in time

reveals progress – or lack thereof – that the company is making towards achieving its core mission.

This approach is much like the dashboard of a car, where gauges in the red zone or flashing lights

alert the driver that something is wrong, and where the problem may lie. The driver can fix the

problem before the car breaks down or becomes inoperable.

By closely monitoring predetermined factors, companies can immediately detect where problems

exist, and take swift corrective action before the ability to implement a strategy is hindered.

Once a strategy is defined, analytical BI comes into play. While strategic BI sets the foundation in

the form of key performance metrics, analytical BI identifies the source of an issue once it has been

uncovered. Tools like analytic dashboards, OLAP, predictive analytics, and ad hoc queries are used

to determine the location or cause of a major problem. For example, if profits are declining, is it

because of low sales or increasing expenses? If customer churn rates are on the rise, is it because of

The Second Element: Performance Management – Creating, Communicating, and Measuring Strategy


poor product quality or lack of successful customer loyalty programs? With analytical BI, companies

can investigate the factors that impact business performance from many different angles.

The results obtained from analytical BI activities will then drive operational initiatives. Operational

business intelligence facilitates the kind of day-to-day decision-making that happens at the lower

levels of an organization, and ultimately enables the attainment of strategic goals. For example, if

customer churn rates are rising because of low customer loyalty, marketing campaigns and other

promotions aimed at preventing clients from doing business with competitors, as well as post-

sales support activities, must be more closely investigated.

To initiate and execute this cycle of activity between the three levels of BI, a company must have a

performance management solution that is well integrated with its business intelligence platform

and supports both analytical and operational reporting. In most cases, performance management

tools are strictly one-off solutions intended for management-level stakeholders. Rarely do they

integrate or share information with the BI solution used by the company’s line of business and

operational workers.

Why WebFOCUS 8 for Performance Management

Information Builders’ Performance Management Framework (PMF) is a next-generation platform

that enables holistic and pervasive operational performance management (OPM).

PMF provides a comprehensive platform for creating and managing an organization’s performance

and accountability objectives. It goes far beyond traditional performance management tools,

combining innovative, cutting-edge capabilities – such as metric blogging, print-quality publishing,

mobile alerts, deep analytics, strategy authoring, easy-to-use setup wizards, customizable end-

user dashboards, and more – right out of the box. Tasks such as managing and communicating

strategies to employees or partners, or presenting progress or results to the executive board, can

all be handled directly from any Web browser.

PMF is built on the solid foundation of the WebFOCUS BI platform. This allows it to be easily

adapted, enhanced, and directly synchronized with other operational systems to fit changing

business needs, as they emerge.

In WebFOCUS 8, PMF has been fully integrated into the BI platform. Performance management

functionality is seamlessly linked to analytical and operational reporting features, blending

them together to allow companies to achieve all three levels of BI. PMF scorecards, dashboards,

and strategy maps can drill down directly to the detail-level data contained within WebFOCUS

operational reports. Operational data from any back-end system can easily roll up into metrics that

appear within PMF. As a result, companies have complete linkage from the highest strategic levels

of the organization, down to the smallest process or tactical detail.

With PMF, business users no longer have to wait weeks, or even days, for IT staff to build and

deliver their dashboards. End users at any level – from power users to business users to front-line

workers – are empowered to create their own dashboards and mashups using the most innovative

and modern technologies available today. From drag–and-drop assembly of content from inside


and outside the enterprise to complete report, chart, and dashboard composition, PMF provides

users with the full gamut of dashboard creation options, so they get the information they need,

whenever they need it.

In PMF one click on any dashboard gadget provides direct access to alerts, manual metrics, or answers to any questions you may have. Plus, executives or stakeholders get a complete picture of the organization’s performance.

WebFOCUS provides end-user customization capabilities that allow pre-built gadgets – such

as various charts, reports, and information utilities – to be quickly assembled into interactive

dashboards that deliver timely and useful metric and strategy information. Dashboard users can

drill down to detailed metric information or change preferences for these information gadgets to

best serve their needs, without the need of IT assistance.

Customization capabilities within WebFOCUS enable end users to quickly and easily enhance and

tailor their dashboards with powerful features, such as:

The ability to add existing enterprise content like reports, charts, and Adobe Flex charts ■

Drag-and-drop assembly ■

Support for third-party Web 2.0 gadgets ■

Broadcasting and synchronization of preferences to other dashboard objects ■

Smart caching of dashboard data ■

Export/import of gadgets, such as Wikis, RSS feeds, and more ■


Widely deployed business intelligence impacts every corner of an organization – benefitting

everyone from the highest-level executives to front-line workers, partners, and customers.

Business intelligence is the third element of any successful information strategy, providing the

underlying technology to enable delivery of information to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Its fully

integrated components provide all the tools companies need for performance management and

predictive analysis, as well as analytical and operational reporting.

Back-office analysts, who perform sophisticated data manipulation, have traditionally used

business intelligence technologies. While this type of analytical BI is vital to an information

strategy, most organizations have now come to recognize that the impact of BI can be multiplied

when corporate data is also made available to front-line workers, customers, and even external

business partners.

However, reaching large numbers of operational workers presents its own challenges. For

example, in large organizations, these employees are often distributed throughout locations

across the globe. Their needs are diverse, and they may not have the time or the skill to use a BI

tool. Customizing solutions to address their specific individual requirements is impossible. And,

as information is deployed to large numbers of users worldwide, effective security is harder to

implement and maintain.

If BI is to permeate all facets of an organization, reaching not only every internal process, but also

those that extend beyond the walls of the enterprise, the supporting solution must meet certain

criteria. It must be easy and intuitive, so non-technical workers can instantly access information

on their own without the need for extensive training. It must be cost-effective, minimizing the

expenses related to licensing and training. It must be customizable, allowing individual users to

tailor information to meet their unique requirements.

Unlike the scorecards and dashboards used in traditional BI, which delivers information that is at

least a day old, today’s BI solutions must incorporate tools that allow for real-time data access to

address information needs at the operational level. This is particularly important when it comes

to monitoring and tracking day-to-day activities, where problems must be detected instantly to

implement effective changes.

Finally, the BI solution must provide security that is flexible enough to work within existing

infrastructures, yet powerful enough to address individual security and keep confidential or

sensitive information fully protected at all times.

Why WebFOCUS 8 for Pervasive BI and Real-Time Activity Monitoring

Information Builders has always abided by the premise that everyone makes decisions that can

greatly affect and influence an organization’s success. We have invented technologies like guided

ad hoc and Magnify Search to simplify information access for non-technical users. We have also

introduced concepts like active reports and active dashboards to bring powerful business intelli-

gence capabilities to any user – inside and outside your organization – via any device that can access

e-mail. These technologies have broken down the barriers to pervasive business intelligence.

The Third Element: Business Intelligence


With WebFOCUS 8 we’ve added an enhanced level of security to provide hacker-proof protection

for any information application, especially those that deliver information to customers, partners,

and citizens outside your firewall. Specifically, WebFOCUS 8 is the only BI platform with OWASP

Application Security Verification Level 3 certification. OWASP, the Open Web Application Security

Project, is a group of government and commercial organizations that are defining standards for

built-in security in software products. WebFOCUS is also third-party certified as 508-compliant.

We are also pushing forward with our efforts to make the WebFOCUS development environment

(Developer Studio) the industry’s most comprehensive and powerful BI development tool. Developer

Studio allows developers to rapidly design, test, and deploy easy-to-use BI applications. WebFOCUS 8

extends this development environment with new, rich AJAX-based controls that can be leveraged

in any WebFOCUS BI application. These controls allow you to develop thin Web-based applications

with the robust interface of a desktop Windows application.

Granular, role-based customization and personalization options help users understand their

business and automate business processes so they can make smarter and timelier decisions.

WebFOCUS 8’s expanded role-based security architecture not only meets an organization’s

current needs, but also can grow as requirements change and expand. Richer analytic, reporting,

and dashboard tools leverage animation, advanced visualization, and social networking

capabilities to address longstanding challenges of all-or-none skill-set requirements imposed by

tool-based solutions.

The level of customization and personalization available to IT and other users in WebFOCUS 8

extends from the WebFOCUS BI Portal view and InfoAssist to dashboards and individual reports.

IT professionals can customize the InfoAssist interface to deliver options at runtime based on a

user’s role and security permissions. Analysts and power users may have access to the full feature

set, empowering them to create the gamut of business intelligence assets and functions – from

reports, charts, and cube browsing, to full guided ad hoc applications and strategic, analytic,

operational, and portable dashboards. Partners and other external customers may have access to

the more simplified view of InfoAssist – InfoMini – that could simply include output reformatting

(PDF, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Flash and Active Technologies with built-in portable

analytics) virtually negating the need for training.

Dashboards and individual reports are also highly customizable. IT and other users can create

dashboards, mashups, reports, and charts, and then customize built-in report options, such as

global filtering and output reformatting, that can be shared with other users. These assets can

then be personalized by other users – adding more filters, for example – to meet their own needs.

Finally, WebFOCUS 8 is one of the first BI platforms to offer true real-time dashboarding. It has a

number of interactive Flash components that instantly react to nearly any technology event. This,

in turn, empowers users with a real-time view of business activities.

WebFOCUS 8’s iWay CEP Enable unites business activity monitoring (BAM) and business intelligence

technologies in a simple, yet powerful way. It enables administrators to view, monitor, and report

on iWay Software processes, capturing end-to-end transaction and workflow data across multiple


applications and business units, and then summarizing and displaying related metrics to help

managers make informed decisions.

As IT organizations move steadily towards automated operations and straight-through processing

(STP), they need better tools to more accurately monitor the flow of information. Because these

online business processes send and receive millions of messages each day via electronic data

interchange (EDI) and other methods, administrators must be able to quickly identify which

messages didn’t get through, or which ones didn’t get a response.

Some integration platforms incorporate BAM tools to monitor transaction-processing activity.

These solutions do little more than maintain information in textual event logs. Administrators must

manually review these logs to ensure that service levels are being met. They cannot customize

their activity monitoring processes, nor can they proactively track core operations in real time.

iWay CEP Enable facilitates the creation of highly intuitive, visual, and interactive dashboards for complex event processing (CEP) and business activity monitoring (BAM).


The fourth and final element of an information strategy is advanced analytics. Analytics is the

ability to look at many historical factors, determine which are most important, and enable the

precise prediction of future outcomes.

As a company’s information strategy matures, and the organization masters the use of historical

data for tracking performance metrics and generating operational reports, it will eventually reach

a plateau. If it wishes to continue to tap into its vital information assets for strategic advantage, the

next logical step is to leverage the clean data it has collected to forecast future conditions and

events. This, in turn, will empower the company to make smarter decisions.

Traditionally, advanced analytics software was completely separate from business intelligence

solutions, and was most often used by just a handful of statisticians in the back office. These users

served as the “information butlers” for corporate executives, providing the insight that would strongly

influence their actions and choices. Even though these tools were used by just a few, they were very

expensive due to their potential impact on setting corporate strategy and decision-making.

More and more companies understand that decision-making is no longer limited to executives

and senior managers. To more proactively shift course and impact the outcomes of key

activities and initiatives, companies need to better influence all decision-makers. Today, nearly

all employees, regardless of their role, make multiple decisions every day – decisions that affect

corporate performance in a profound way. If advanced analytics software is leveraged by all

employees in making these decisions, the achievements will be enormous.

While many types of users can benefit from the ability to more accurately predict the future, it is

operational users who will realize the greatest advantages. For example, a marketing professional

must decide which prospects to target when planning campaigns or mailing product catalogues.

The typical response rate for a direct mail campaign is two percent. Some catalogues are quite

expensive, costing as much as $50 or more to produce. If only a few sales are made each time

catalogues are mailed – two sales for every 100 catalogues sent, according to the industry averages

– then this approach becomes rather cost-prohibitive. However, if advanced analytics are used to

precisely target three customers based on their likelihood to purchase, of which two respond to the

campaign, then customer acquisition costs can be reduced by as much as 97 percent.

So the question is, how can the benefits of predictive modeling be achieved without scaring off

managers, or turning every operational user into an analyst? In the past, because of its esoteric

nature, advanced analytics was the domain of a few experts, including mathematicians and

statisticians. Related projects were one-offs and the results were distributed as research papers

or files containing scored records. It was a slow, time-consuming, and resource-intensive process

that was not at all systematic, with projects and data files being shuffled between different

people. In order for predictive modeling applications to be well suited to business users, this

complexity must be eliminated. Traditional processes must be simplified and replaced with a more

intuitive and system-oriented approach. This can be achieved by giving operational users scoring

applications, which allow them to generate predictions by selecting a few parameters from an

easy-to-use Web form.

The Fourth Element: Advanced Analytics – Knowing What to Expect and Making Smarter Decisions


Why WebFOCUS 8 for Advanced Analytics

WebFOCUS 8 introduces two new analytic components: Visual Discovery 8 for visual analytics

and RStat 8 for predictive analytics. Visual Discovery can now leverage the 64-bit architecture of

desktop computers, to represent millions of rows of data in interactive visual displays. Users no

longer have to search for the proverbial needle in a haystack. With Visual Discovery 8, they can

review years of historical data, and in just seconds identify the relationships within the data that

are most important, and which factors are most likely to affect their business.

WebFOCUS Visual Discovery enables the quick design of executive consoles and scorecards to keep management apprised of metrics and their effects on goals.

Once those users have a clear understanding of what is important, WebFOCUS RStat can be

leveraged to compile predictive modules and embed them into operational reports and dash-

boards. This allows everyone across a business to understand what matters most, forecast the

events that are likely to impact company operations, develop better strategies, and make

smarter decisions.

While operational users are scared of statistics, IT managers are frightened by the cost and deploy-

ment of predictive-modeling applications, which is why most enterprises choose to implement a BI

suite and a separate statistical or data-mining solution. Different user groups often manage these

two distinct tools, resulting in fragmented analysis and increased administration requirements, since

multiple applications are being used and maintained. Without a consistent and unified approach,

as is promoted in business intelligence competency centers (BICCs), end users will be forced to go

to one place for one type of information, and somewhere else for other kinds of data – leading to

inaccuracies and inconsistencies that can hinder productivity and profitability.


WebFOCUS RStat bridges the gap between backward- and forward-facing views of business opera-tions, so any business user can make decisions based on accurate, validated future predictions.

WebFOCUS 8 includes integrated predictive-modeling capabilities, resolving a variety of issues

by providing a single environment where people with diverse skills can collaborate to develop

applications for operational users. It also simplifies implementation and reduces maintenance

costs, while facilitating the reusability of resources.

One final benefit – and perhaps the most substantial – of integrating predictive modeling into

a BI suite is that users will be able to run analyses against the output of a statistical process. For

example, the marketing professional mentioned earlier can run a direct mail list through a scoring

application to determine the best targets for certain promotions. The resulting report would

include all targets, and the predicted probabilities of each – ranging from 0 (not a likely buyer)

to 100 (a likely buyer). BI can then be applied to further segment those prospects by probability

range (for example, 100 to 90 or 89 to 90). This will enable users to gain more precise knowledge,

so they can plan accordingly and optimize campaign results.


The four critical elements of a sound information strategy are separate and distinct. To date, they

have survived as standalone solutions. However, in the most successful BI implementations, they

all work together, influencing and complementing each other. For example, data integrity affects

business performance through the accurate measurement of progress towards strategic goals. It

impacts the operational reports viewed by front-line workers by guaranteeing the accuracy and

consistency of the information being analyzed. It also influences expected outcomes that are

derived from advanced analytics software.

Performance management facilitates the definition, communication, and monitoring of critical

goals throughout an organization. It will help front-line workers understand the factors that are

most important to a company’s success, and enable them to use operational reports to monitor

critical business processes in a way that will ensure the desired outcomes. Business intelligence

defines how, when, and where information is shared and viewed by everyone internally, as well

as with partners, customers, and other stakeholders outside the organization. It provides the

critical foundation for delivering key performance measures to executives, as well as invoices and

shipping information to factory workers. It also provides the ability to embed predictive analytics

in operational processes.

The point is that a company can buy individual pieces of software in each of these areas

to support its information strategy. However a single integrated platform will provide a

comprehensive infrastructure that works like a four-piece puzzle. Each element is separate,

supporting a different corner of the puzzle. When they link together, companies can see the

complete picture.

WebFOCUS 8 empowers businesses to most effectively manage the four elements of a successful

information strategy, simultaneously, from a single point of view. It is the one platform that

manages the way information is leveraged from start to finish.

Its data quality capabilities manage information as it flows into a company, as it is used during the

course of live business processes, as it makes its way into operational databases and applications,

and as it is accessed by end users.

Robust performance management serves as the conduit for defining, measuring, and

communicating critical strategies, so that everyone in the organization from top to bottom is

working towards the same goals and objectives.

Market-leading business intelligence functionality provides the infrastructure that enables opera-

tional workers, customers, and partners to easily access, analyze, and leverage real-time information.

Innovative advanced analytics offer analysts a simpler way to tap into historical information and

make accurate forecasts and decisions about the future. These outcomes can then be embedded

directly into business processes and operational reports, so information workers can take action

based on a high probability of success, instead of relying on their gut.

Conclusion

Worldwide Offices

Corporate Headquarters Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2898 (212) 736-4433 Fax (212) 967-6406 DN7506428.0410

informationbuilders.com [email protected]

Canadian Headquarters 150 York St., Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M5H 3S5 (416) 364-2760 Fax (416) 364-6552

For International Inquiries +1(212) 736-4433

Copyright © 2010 by Information Builders. All rights reserved. [91] All products and product names

mentioned in this publication are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Printed in the U.S.A.

on recycled paper

North America

United StatesAtlanta,* ■ GA (770) 395-9913Baltimore, ■ MD Professional Services: (703) 247-5565Boston,* ■ MA (781) 224-7660Channels, ■ (800) 969-4636Chicago,* ■ IL (630) 971-6700Cincinnati,* ■ OH (513) 891-2338Dallas,* ■ TX (972) 490-1300Denver,* ■ CO (303) 770-4440Detroit,* ■ MI (248) 641-8820Federal Systems,* ■ DC (703) 276-9006Hartford, ■ CT (860) 249-7229Houston,* ■ TX (713) 952-4800Los Angeles,* ■ CA (310) 615-0735Minneapolis,* ■ MN (651) 602-9100New Jersey* ■ Sales: (973) 593-0022New York,* ■ NY Sales: (212) 736-7928 Professional Services: (212) 736-4433, ext. 4443Orlando,* ■ FL (407) 562-1852Philadelphia,* ■ PA Sales: (610) 940-0790Phoenix, ■ AZ (480) 346-1095Pittsburgh, ■ PA Sales: (412) 494-9699St. Louis,* ■ MO (636) 519-1411San Jose,* ■ CA (408) 453-7600Seattle, ■ WA (206) 624-9055Washington,* ■ DC Sales: (703) 276-9006 Professional Services: (703) 247-5565

Canada

Information Builders (Canada) Inc.Calgary ■ (403) 437-3479Montreal* ■ (514) 421-1555Ottawa ■ (613) 233-7647Toronto* ■ (416) 364-2760Vancouver ■ (604) 688-2499

Mexico

Information Builders MexicoMexico City ■ 52-55-5062-0660

AustraliaInformation Builders Pty. Ltd.

Melbourne* ■ 61-3-9631-7900Sydney* ■ 61-2-8223-0600

EuropeBelgium* ■ Information Builders Belgium Brussels 32-2-7430240France* ■ Information Builders France S.A. Paris 33-14-507-6600Germany ■ Information Builders (Deutschland) Eschborn* 49-6196-77576-0Netherlands* ■ Information Builders (Netherlands) B.V. Amsterdam 31-20-4563333Portugal ■ Information Builders Portugal Lisbon 351-217-217-400Spain ■ Information Builders Iberica S.A. Barcelona 34-93-344-32-70 Bilbao 34-94-452-50-15 Madrid* 34-91-710-22-75Switzerland ■ Information Builders Switzerland AG Dietlikon 41-44-839-49-49United Kingdom* ■ Information Builders (UK) Ltd. London 44-845-658-8484

RepresentativesAustria ■ Raiffeisen Informatik Consulting GmbH Vienna 43-12-1136-3870Bahrain ■ InfoBuild Middle East Dubai 973-17-536-222, ext. 312Brazil ■ InfoBuild Brazil Ltda. São Paulo 55-11-3285-1050China ■ Information Builders China (IBC) Beijing 86-10-5128-9680 Beijing Xinrong Software Technology Co., Ltd. Beijing 86-10-5873-2031Denmark ■ InfoBuild AB Kista, SE 46-735-23-34-97Egypt ■ InfoBuild Middle East Abu Dhabi 971-2-627-5911 Dubai 971-4-3914391Ethiopia ■ MKTY IT Services Plc Addis Ababa 251-11-5501933Finland ■ InfoBuild Oy Espoo 358-207-580-840Greece ■ Applied Science Athens 30-210-699-8225Guatemala ■ IDS de Centroamerica Guatemala City 502-2412-4212India* ■ InfoBuild India Chennai 91-44-42177082Israel ■ SRL Group Ltd. Tel Aviv 972-3-7662030Italy ■ NessPRO Italy S.p.A. Genoa 39-010-64201-224 Milan 39-02-2515181 Turin 39-011-5513-211

Japan ■ K.K. Ashisuto Osaka 81-6-6373-7113 Tokyo 81-3-5276-5863Jordan ■ InfoBuild Middle East Abu Dhabi 971-2-627-5911 Dubai 971-4-3914391Korea ■ UVANSYS Seoul 82-2-832-0705Kuwait ■ InfoBuild Middle East Dubai 965-22322926Lebanon ■ InfoBuild Middle East Dubai 961-4-533162Norway ■ InfoBuild Norway Oslo 47-48-20-40-30Oman ■ InfoBuild Middle East Abu Dhabi 971-2-627-5911 Dubai 971-4-3914391Poland/Central and Eastern Europe ■ InfoBuild SP.J. Warsaw 48-22-657-00-14Qatar ■ InfoBuild Middle East Dubai 974-467-7311Russian Federation ■ FOBOS Plus Co., Ltd. Moscow 7-495-926-3358Saudi Arabia ■ InfoBuild Middle East Riyadh 996-1-2180280Singapore ■ Automatic Identification Technology Ltd. Singapore 65-6286-2922South Africa ■ InfoBuild South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. Gauteng 27-83-4600800 Fujitsu Services (Pty.) Ltd. Johannesburg 27-11-2335911Taiwan ■ Galaxy Software Services Taipei 886-2-2586-7890Thailand ■ Datapro Computer Systems Co. Ltd. Bangkok 662-679-1927, ext. 200Turkey ■ InfoBuild Middle East Ankara 90-312-266-33-00 Istanbul 90-212-325-4114United Arab Emirates ■ InfoBuild Middle East Abu Dhabi 971-2-627-5911 Dubai 971-4-3914391Venezuela ■ InfoServices Consulting Caracas 58-212-763-1653

Toll-Free NumberSales, ISV, VAR, and SI Partner Information ■ (800) 969-4636

* Training facilities are located at these branches.

the four critical elements for smarter decisions - strategic … · 2010-12-21 · for smarter...

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