Bime Glossary
Business Intelligence and Analytics do not have to be difficult to understand.
Here are some common terms explained.
Analytics
The simplest definition of Analytics is “the science of analysis”. A simple and practical definition, however, would be how an entity (i.e., business) arrives at an optimal or realistic decision based on existing data. Web analytics is one of our passions, and we follow closely the gurus in the industry, namely Avinash Kaushik.
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence is the use of data to better inform decision makers within a company. Perhaps it would be better referred to as Business Knowledge as it is really about understanding the way your company, customers and competitors work to allow better decisions. This is achieved by combining internal data (sales, financial data) with external data (market data, public data) and using a tool to display and explore it. In its simplest case, Excel could be used as a BI tool, but Bime offers way more in terms of hybrid data connectivity, more powerful analysis, better visualization, better version control and collaboration features.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand. Bime is a BI tool in the cloud, which means that it is delivered online and has a multi-tenant architecture. This refers to a principle in software architecture where a single instance of the software runs on a server, serving multiple client organizations (tenants). In simple terms, it basically means that we can deliver the same updates to all our clients at the same time, at no cost to the customer. This is particularly useful as we roll out new and improved features every few weeks. Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies is someone we look up to in the cloud computing space and we like to follow his research in the SaaS domain.
Dashboard
A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance. They provide intuitive indicators, such as gauges and charts, and show the state of the business at the exact instant the dashboard is viewed or refreshed. Go to the showcase section to see our selection of example dashboards.
Data Visualization
Data Visualization is the visual interpretation of complex relationships in multidimensional data. At Bime HQ we have a strong focus on dataviz and this is evident through Bime’s range of advanced visualizations. In this space, we closely follow dataviz gurus such as Stephen Few.
Dimension
Dimensions are categories of attributes organized for ease of data visualization – initially the schema will be organized with three dimensions for geography, time, and ‘axis of analysis’ (everything else!) but you can add dimensions to organize your attributes into further categories and hierarchies. For a Sales database, the dimensions could include Product, Time, Store, and Promotion.
Drill Down
The term “drill down” is the process of finding more detailed data by displaying data at a lower level than was previously shown; for example: Category > Sub-category > Product name. Likewise “drill up” finds data by going up through the layers. (See “Hierarchy” below for more details).
Drill Through
Drill through enables you to display underlying data by examining results across dimensions; for example: Category > Men’s, Women’s, Children’s.
Hierarchy
Organization of data into a logical tree structure. Data is organized by dimensions into parent-child relationships, for example “Quarter‟ is the parent of “Month‟ in a Time Dimension. Moving between the levels of a hierarchy is called drilling up and drilling down. Check out our Bime Tip post on hierarchies for more information.
OLAP Engine
OLAP is a database technology that has been specially designed to deal with high performance querying and reporting. OLAP data is organised hierarchically and stored in cubes instead of tables. Bime’s proprietary, award-winning in-memory OLAP engine allows you to handle millions of lines of data in a single web browser, to make complex calculations and to create stunning visualizations using the results. This will breathe new life into your existing investment in technologies such as Microsoft Analysis Services™, Mondrian OLAP Engine or Oracle Essbase™.
Query
A request for information placed to a computer system or database. For example, for a sales database, the query could be: “Top 10 stores by turnover for Q1 in 2010 in each country where there is more than 10 stores”.
Relational Database
Also known as RDBMS, it is a method of structuring data in the form of records so that relations between different entities and attributes can be used for data access and transformation. For example: Oracle™, PostgreSQL™, Mysql™, Microsoft Sql Server™, FireBird™, Informix, SADAS™ and IBM DB2™ are all types of RDBMS that Bime connects to.
SaaS
SaaS stands for Software-as-a-Service and is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. It is a new delivery model where the software is delivered and used through a web browser only. More than this, SaaS provides a new relationship model between the client and the vendor. Traditional software and server vendors sell servers and statistics to IT professionals whereas SaaS vendors are only selling a service to the end user, meaning that they are 100% focused on end user experience. The new delivery and relationship model brings with it a number of advantages:
- SaaS removes limitations of what you can achieve using your in house IT hardware and support. All you need to do is work out what you want your software to do and how much you want to pay for it, then find the product that fits best
- Most SaaS products are lightweight and designed to complement the investment in data storage and manipulation that you already have. For example, Bime plugs directly in to online and traditional sources to extract data, then allows creation of visualizations and dashboards with a few clicks
- SaaS payment structures mean that you have no CapEx and only pay for the amount you use the product. If half your users find that they aren’t deriving any value from the software, they can easily cancel their subscriptions at the end of the month, halving the cost
- Access and sharing were the original drivers of this cloud computing model so applications make it easy to get useful visualizations to the right people quickly by inviting people to your dashboard’s URL or embedding it in a website or blog
- Scalability is one of the big features of SaaS – you can start with 1 user or license and scale up or down as your needs require, making it a low-risk investment
- Finally, as there is no software to install, there is no daily maintenance or routine tasks to be done, so nothing to require extra IT hands or expertise. This frees IT professionals to concentrate on strategic IT and growing your business
