Business Intelligence Glossary
Common Language Drives Clear Communication
Discover key Business Intelligence (BI) terms with Digital Culture Advisors. Learn how our BI implementation services transform raw data into actionable insights for data-driven decision-making.
Glossary Terms
- Ad Hoc Reporting
- Advanced Analytics
- Analytics
- Balanced Scorecard
- Benchmarking
- Big Data
- Business Analytics
- Business Intelligence (BI)
- Business Performance Management
- Cloud-Based BI
- CRM Analytics
- Dashboard
- Data Cleansing
- Data Collection
- Data Governance
- Data Integration
- Data Lake
- Data Mart
- Data Mining
- Data Modeling
- Data Pipeline
- Data Quality
- Data Source
- Data Visualization
- Data Warehouse
- Decision Support System
- Descriptive Analytics
- Drill-Down
- End-User Analytics
- ERP Analytics
- ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
- Executive Information System
- Forecasting
- Geospatial Analysis
- Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
- Machine Learning
- Metadata
- O.A.S.I.S. BI System
- OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)
- Operational BI
- Predictive Analytics
- Prescriptive Analytics
- Query
- Real-Time BI
- Reporting
- Scorecard
- Self-Service BI
- Sentiment Analysis
- Slice and Dice
- Structured Data
- Unstructured Data
Ad hoc reporting enables users to create custom, on-demand reports for specific business questions without IT support, fostering flexible data exploration and informed decision-making.
Advanced analytics uses sophisticated techniques like machine learning and predictive modeling to uncover deep insights, complementing BI for forecasting and strategic planning.
Analytics involves systematically analyzing data to identify patterns and trends, forming the core of BI to generate actionable insights for business decisions.
A balanced scorecard aligns business activities with strategic goals, visualized in BI dashboards to track performance across financial, customer, and operational metrics.
Benchmarking compares an organization’s performance metrics against industry standards using BI tools, identifying opportunities for improvement and competitive gaps.
Big data refers to large, complex datasets that require advanced BI tools to process, enabling comprehensive insights from diverse sources for strategic decisions.
Business analytics focuses on predictive and prescriptive insights for future growth, differing from BI’s emphasis on current operational data analysis for decision-making.
Business Intelligence (BI) uses technology to collect, analyze, and visualize data, transforming it into actionable insights for informed decision-making and competitive advantage.
Business performance management uses BI to monitor and manage performance through KPIs and metrics, aligning operations with strategic objectives.
Cloud-based BI delivers scalable, accessible BI solutions hosted on cloud platforms, reducing infrastructure costs and enhancing data analysis flexibility.
CRM analytics applies BI to customer data, optimizing sales, marketing, and service strategies by analyzing behavior and preferences.
A BI dashboard visually displays KPIs, metrics, and data in real time, simplifying complex information for quick, data-driven decisions.
Data cleansing corrects errors and inconsistencies in datasets, ensuring high-quality data for accurate BI analysis and reporting.
Data collection gathers information from databases, APIs, or real-time streams for BI, ensuring accurate insights for strategic decisions.
Data governance establishes policies for data quality, security, and compliance, critical for reliable BI outcomes and trustworthy insights.
Data integration combines data from multiple sources into a unified view, enabling comprehensive BI analysis and reporting.
A data lake stores raw, structured, and unstructured data at scale, supporting advanced BI analytics and big data processing.
A data mart is a subset of a data warehouse tailored for specific business functions, optimizing BI reporting for departments like sales.
Data mining uncovers patterns and anomalies in large datasets using statistical techniques, enhancing BI with hidden insights.
Data modeling creates conceptual data structures for BI, organizing data for efficient analysis and reporting.
A data pipeline extracts, transforms, and loads data into BI systems, streamlining data flow for analysis and reporting.
Data quality ensures data accuracy, completeness, and reliability, foundational for effective BI and trustworthy insights.
A data source, such as databases or IoT devices, provides raw data for BI analysis and reporting.
Data visualization uses charts, graphs, or maps to present BI insights clearly, aiding decision-making in sales and finance.
A data warehouse stores structured, historical data, optimized for BI reporting and complex analytical queries.
A decision support system uses BI insights to assist complex decision-making, integrating data analysis and visualization.
Descriptive analytics analyzes historical data to understand past performance, forming the basis of BI reporting.
Drill-down allows users to navigate from summary to detailed data in BI tools, enabling deeper metric analysis.
End-user analytics provides BI tools for non-technical users, enabling self-service reporting and data exploration.
ERP analytics applies BI to ERP data, optimizing supply chain, finance, and HR processes for efficiency.
ETL extracts data, transforms it for analysis, and loads it into a data warehouse, enabling BI reporting.
An executive information system provides high-level BI dashboards for senior leaders to monitor performance and strategy.
Forecasting uses historical data and models in BI to predict trends, such as sales or market demand.
Geospatial analysis examines location-based data in BI, visualized through maps to identify geographic trends.
A KPI measures progress toward business goals, visualized in BI dashboards for real-time performance monitoring.
Machine learning enhances BI by identifying patterns and predicting outcomes, automating data-driven decisions.
Metadata describes data attributes, such as source or format, aiding BI in managing and understanding datasets.
O.A.S.I.S. Business Intelligence System (Observation, Analysis, Strategy, Implementation, Scale/Sell) is a full-scale, data-driven business intelligence (BI) framework designed to help companies maximize efficiency, growth, and scalability. Through its five-phase methodology, O.A.S.I.S. provides a comprehensive evaluation of a business’s current data, systems architecture, and operational processes. By combining real-time business insights with strategic planning and execution, the O.A.S.I.S. BI system helps organizations unlock hidden opportunities, improve decision-making, and build a roadmap to scale or sell their business. Whether you're a growing company or preparing for acquisition, O.A.S.I.S. delivers the intelligence and structure needed to achieve measurable success.
OLAP enables multidimensional data analysis in BI, supporting complex queries for strategic insights.
Operational BI supports daily operations with real-time data, optimizing processes like inventory or logistics.
Predictive analytics forecasts trends using historical data and machine learning, enhancing BI for proactive decisions.
Prescriptive analytics recommends actions based on data, extending BI to guide strategic and operational decisions.
A query retrieves specific data from a database, used in BI to generate reports and insights.
Real-time BI analyzes and visualizes data instantly, enabling immediate decisions in dynamic environments.
Reporting organizes and presents data in structured formats, communicating BI insights to stakeholders.
A scorecard tracks KPIs in BI, monitoring progress toward strategic goals with visual metrics.
Self-service BI allows non-technical users to create reports and dashboards, accelerating data-driven decisions.
Sentiment analysis evaluates text data in BI to gauge customer opinions, enhancing marketing strategies.
Slice and dice breaks down data into segments in BI, enabling detailed, multi-perspective analysis.
Structured data, organized in tables or databases, is commonly used in BI for reporting and analysis.
Unstructured data, like text or images, is increasingly integrated into BI for advanced insights.
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