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Figure 1-22. Decision Support System DW033.1

Notes:
As previously discussed, there are two general parts of this process; having the data, and
getting answers from the data.
Data Warehouse Environment is the collection, transformation, organization, storage,
and maintenance of informational data, the data warehouse management services, and
maintenance of the metadata.
Decision Support Systems contain all services/processes to select, manipulate, and
analyze informational data and present the results. It should allow basically transparent
access to data in various parts of the data warehouse and provide common interfaces
for associated groups of users.
A Decision Support System can be defined in a general sense as a computing system
designed for supporting the decision support processes (planning, managerial, and
operational) throughout a business. This includes many types of systems from simple
query to complex data mining functions. A Decision Support System is the user's window to
the informational data stored in the Data Warehouse Environment.

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Figure 1-23. Decision Support Processes DW033.1

Notes:
This chart lists the four major classes or groupings of decision support processes and their
relative sophistication in terms of complexity and degree of automation. The less
sophisticated techniques are usually utilized for tactical or operational decisions while the
strategic decision-making processes require a high degree and complexity of analysis
which is more efficient when automated.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1999, 2002 Unit 1. Overview of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and 1-27
Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the prior written permission of IBM.
Student Notebook

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Figure 1-24. Decision Support Users DW033.1

Notes:
These are examples of typical business users of a Decision Support System and their
primary characteristics.

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Figure 1-25. Another View of User Types DW033.1

Notes:
These are definitions of the end user or business user originally presented by Bill Inmon.
Tourist -- casual users, managers, executives. Primarily perform queries, run reports,
use Executive Information Systems (EIS). They have a broad business perspective but
little depth. They know how to find information.
Farmer -- sales analysts, finance analysts, marketing campaign managers, accounting
analysts. Primarily utilize detail DSS functions, Online Analytical Processing, detail
reports, detail visualization techniques, applications with embedded data mining. They
have well-defined requirements and know what data they need. It is usually data
specific to their business functions. They utilize standardized reports and queries on a
regular, scheduled basis with the only difference being the data values.
Operators -- customer support, manufacturing personnel, inventory control managers.
Utilize standardized queries, prepared reports, and data visualization techniques. They
have a tactical requirement, are concerned about current operations, need detailed
information, require immediate access.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1999, 2002 Unit 1. Overview of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and 1-29
Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the prior written permission of IBM.
Student Notebook

Explorer -- actuaries, process control engineers, marketing analysts. Will need

heavy-duty Online Analytical Processing tools, data mining functions, sophisticated
visualization techniques, high functionality query capability. They do not know what they
want, are outside-of-the-box thinkers, examine lots of detail from different perspectives
looking for the spectacular results, heuristic processes.
Miner -- expert marketers, risk controllers, logistics specialists, statisticians. Use
statistical languages, basic data mining techniques, queries, and sophisticated
visualization techniques. They methodically scan lots of data to confirm or disprove a
hypothesis, determine a new hypothesis, find suspected patterns.

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Figure 1-26. DW + DSS = Business Intelligence System DW033.1

Notes:
Business Intelligence is the discipline that combines consulting and services, applications,
and technologies to gather, manage, and analyze data, transform it into usable information
to develop the insight and understanding needed to make informed decisions.
Intelligence is the key to this definition. It signifies the application of information, skills,
experiences, and reasoning to solve a business problem. The primary activities are
gathering, preparing, and analyzing data. The data itself must be of high quality or the
results are suspect, so we need a process to accomplish that state. We call that a data
warehouse. But this high-quality informational data must be available to the business user.
Thus the need for a decision support system for data access and data mining.
The data and the information residing in a carefully managed data warehouse is the raw
material for the knowledge environment. Decision support systems provide the facility for
business workers to mine and process the raw material to develop knowledge for
supporting business strategies.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1999, 2002 Unit 1. Overview of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and 1-31
Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the prior written permission of IBM.
Student Notebook

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Figure 1-27. Business Intelligence DW033.1

Notes:
The DW contains historical facts and derivations which are analyzed with a DSS to provide
an understanding of what happened in the past to cause or effect current conditions, but
also analyzed in different ways to develop a picture of what future conditions might be if
certain actions are taken. After extraction and analysis of the data, the combined results
can be presented, using DSS tools, in a way that facilitates the understanding of the
information which may lead to better-informed decisions.
The goal is to use the Business Intelligence System to understand the past in order to
optimize the future business conditions.
The Data Warehouse Institute has said that "BI is a process of turning data into knowledge
and knowledge into action for business gain."

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Figure 1-28. Business Intelligence Products DW033.1

Notes:
This chart lists some representative products for each step in the Business Intelligence
System process. We will discuss many of these products and will view introductory
demonstrations of several of them throughout the course.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1999, 2002 Unit 1. Overview of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and 1-33
Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the prior written permission of IBM.
Student Notebook

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Figure 1-29. But, There Is More DW033.1

Notes:
As previously discussed, we need a high-quality informational data resource combined with
high-function information access and analysis tools and techniques. But all this is of little
value without a critical third component; a high-quality human resource to discover,
develop, accumulate, and use the knowledge that can be gained from the other two
components of the knowledge environment. It requires all three to achieve successful
business intelligence.

1-34 Introduction to BI and DW © Copyright IBM Corp. 1999, 2002

Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without the prior written permission of IBM.