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Why Choose Microsoft SQL Server as Your BI Platform?
The main reason is that their SQL server has such a good track record. It is a proven and reliable tool that provides all your organisation needs from a Business Intelligence Platform.
Microsoft SQL Server Provides:-
- Faster Results
With it's new "Management Studio" and improved integration with Visual Studio 2005, together with the common .NET language, your development staff can build, debug and operate applications far faster and more efficiently than with other offerings.
- Data Integration, Analysis and Reporting
SQL's built in support for Business Intelligence, allows you to turn "insight into action".
- Trusted Platform
As stated above, SQL server is a platform trusted by many, and it's high level of inbuilt security only goes support this even further.
Enterprise Data Management
The one crucial area that any BI platform must address is availability, as the best system in the world is of little use if it is always down or offline. Other major requirements are that the underlying system is both scalable and offers high performance. Security, an increasingly important area is also a vital ingredient.
Microsoft's' SQL Server meets all of these requirements:-
- Availability
Enhanced back up and restore / replication capabilities are standard, other "high availability" features such as database mirroring and failover clustering also being supported. Also, many maintenance operations can be carried out while the system is operating, all of which minimise downtime.
- Scalability
Advances have been made in this area, with table partitioning, snapshot isolation together with true 64 bit support, all adding to the ability of SQL server to grow to meet any requirements.
- Manageability
The new "Management Studio", improved self tuning capabilities and a powerful new programming model give database administrators the flexible control they require.
Developer Productivity
The base on which Business Intelligence is built is the databases that hold the data of the organisation, and in turn this means that developing these databases to cater for new needs is something that must be supported on any BI platform. If this development can then be made easier, the organisation will benefit from having these changes delivered more quickly. Therefore any tool that speeds development must be a useful addition to any business seeking to use BI.
Such a tool is SQL server, as it provides:-
- Improved Developer Tools
One tool now covers Transact-SQL, XML, Multidimensional Expression (MDX), as well as XML for Analysis (XML/A). The improved integration with Visual Studio also makes for faster more efficient development and debugging.
- Language Support Expanded
A common language runtime (CLR) is built into the database engine, which in turn means that your developers can choose from a large range of languages.
- XML and Web services
XML is increasingly being used to connect internal and external systems, thus SQL's support for both relational and XML data allows enterprises to store, manage and analyse their data in the format of their choice. Communication across extended enterprise systems is further enhanced by SQL's support for standards such as HTTP, XML, XQuery and SOAP.
Microsoft Business Intelligence
Microsoft Business Intelligence offers decision makers the power to drive increased business performance at strategic, tactical and organisational levels. By reaching every single employee of an organisation, from information worker to the Chief Executive and adding value to every single decision and supporting the integration of processes and promoting collaboration, Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions will enable all of your employees to "deliver more".
Microsoft Business Intelligence offers the complete suite of integrated products, providing uninterrupted access to widespread applications and reports, thus supporting all aspects of the decision making process.
Contemporary - The Business Intelligence Experts
Contemporary can provide you with all the software, training and consultancy services that your organisation requires.
The result, higher efficiency and an improved decision making process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Business Intelligence- what is it and what does it offer my organisation?
Q: What is business intelligence?
A: Business intelligence is really about taking all of the information assets from the business, whether it is held in databases or documents and really getting the relevant information in the right format out to the organisation that allows them to make better business decisions and drive business efficiency.
Why should I work with a business intelligence partner?
Q: What benefits would an organisation get from working with a business intelligence partner?
A: Well, from our experience there are a number of benefits from working with a specialist in this area. Really getting someone who has done this and worked in this area before is invaluable. Some of the areas that need to be addressed such as data integration and reporting performance management, are things that can only be achieved through people that have done that process many times with many organisations. Many of the organisations that have supplied business intelligence solutions will have adopted processes and methodologies that will support this as an implementation in the project, so it’s not about re-inventing the wheel. It is about having been there before.
What should I look for in a potential solution?
Q: I am looking to get Business intelligence going what should I look for in a solution?
A: Well, one of the important things is that business intelligence is not just a one size fits all solution. It’s very much a scalable solution and should be requirements driven. The start point is what you are trying to address, who you are trying to get information to, and what their needs are. Then we can look at what is involved with getting the data, the reporting and maybe the performance management and the scorecards to the right people. Now, how much of these you need depends on the scope and scale of what you are looking to achieve, but the important part is how you want to bring these together in terms of how the user reacts. So typically, we would be looking at some kind of portal environment which can bring together not only all of the data but the knowledge of the business and share and collaborate that information. So, it is truly unique to that organisation. We can scale from a very small organisation with just a handful of people right up to blue chips with thousands of employees.
Q: Can I use my existing software or technology to use this?
A: There is a high probability that you can, most of the organisations that we work with already have this technology in place. There is an example many of the reporting solutions that we find have their foundations in Microsoft sequel server and that is now pretty ubiquitous technology across the board.
We’ve talked about how a consultant might help me but how ..?
Q: Does it make sense to take a consultant approach to understand the bigger picture?
A: It certainly does, businesses have problems, it’s a fact of life, businesses change, customers change, you will have to adapt. It is very important that you ensure that before you try to solve a problem you genuinely internally decide within the organisation and build a consensus to understand what the problem is. Only then will you find a solution to that problem. Sometimes an individual from outside the organisation with experience of working within other businesses but working in the sector can help you to understand that problem and maybe even recommended a relevant solution.
Why might I choose one or the other?
Q: The difference between consultancy and solution is?
A: Lets focus on solution, first of all as the answer is actually in the question funnily enough. A solution is all about answering a specific problem. Now, it's not predetermined in the way that it will be answered, so it can cover anything from training software, people skills, indeed anything that you think may be required within a project. If that’s all encapsulated together you have a solution. On the other hand consultancy is more about perhaps adding specific skills into an area, we say this as often the effort that you are expending is "light" in a particular area, or you need some key business analysis or maybe some strategic consultant to get your project kicked off. Those sorts of things are more "point" efforts and come in at the early parts of the project.
What do you do if the solution you have taken is worse?
Q: Perhaps as an organisation, you had a problem and the solutions is worse than the problem what do you do then?
A: This is not an unusual situation, problems are often caused when people try to make changes themselves internally or they try to buy something off the shelf that doesn’t do what they need. Very often it’s worth taking a breather taking a step back and perhaps using an external resource, perhaps some consultant to come in and give you a very quick over view of where you are and perhaps draw up a road map of where to go to move forward, so just accept where you are and move on from there.
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