Blog
Categories
Best Practices
OLAP & BI Solutions
Data management
Finance and Business Use Cases
Dashboards
Predictive Analytics
Subscribe
Get the latest on OLAP and Business Intelligence straight in your inbox.
FROM OUR SPONSORS
Featured Story
The Importance of Planning and Forecasting in BI
From PARIS Technologies
The budgeting and forecasting process for most organizations is long and tedious and occurs on an annual basis, at least. Companies try to do it more often to improve accuracy and aim to ultimately implement a procedure for continuous planning, rolling forecasts, and driver-based planning.
Unlike any other business process, budgeting and forecasting is unique because it is forward thinking. Business processes like accounting, inventory tracking, invoicing, shipping, etc. are based on actual events from the past and present.
This is a fundamental difference as it also defines how the data from these processes are managed. Essentially, actual events are captured as transactions in ERPs, supply chain systems, invoicing and accounting systems, etc., and data related to it is effectively stored in its databases. On the other hand, budgets and forecasts typically reside in spreadsheets where aggregate data is entered by several people in the organization.
Latest Posts
Hot
Infographic: Why BI is Key for Competitive Advantage
A great infograhic from the Master of Science in Computer Information Systems program at Boston University. The BU researchers focused on: growth of business intelligence, management of data, decision-making and budgeting. Enjoy! {Originally posted...
Big Data Collection: What’s in it for Me?
Many of us stand to benefit from certain types of big data collection. In the medical field, big data can be applied in numerous ways, for example: predictive modeling for R&D, enhancing clinical trial design, or conducting Comparative Effectiveness Research...
How Excel-Friendly BI Teaches Business Analytics
By Bill Tastle, our newest OLAP.com contributor As a Professor at an AACSB accredited business school, I am responsible for preparing business students who are eager to enter the marketplace upon graduation. Naturally, I spend a lot of time researching about what...
3 Reasons Everything in Business is About to Change
There are three important patterns happening in the world that will ultimately change business in fundamental ways: where it is done, how it is done, and who does it. An article from McKinsey Quarterly, Management Intuition for the Next 50 Years, documents these...
2 Questions to Ask about Your BI Project
If you are considering a Business Intelligence Project, there are two questions you should consider. These questions will help you pinpoint what exactly you may need to do with your BI project, as opposed to simply getting "analytics" or "implementing a BI tool"....
Constructing an Optimized Project Performance Management Solution
With the World Cup over–and what a great final match it was!–Brazilians (once they get over their team’s collapse) will surely refocus on the huge overruns in cost and un-readiness of the building projects associated with the event. The projects you manage may not...
Best Practices for Effective Business Dashboards
The survival of any business depends on three basic principles—continuously increasing sales, operating efficiently by finding ways to cut costs, and increasing productivity. Achieving this ultimate business mission involves the cooperation of different operative...
New Study: Big Data Analytics Will Improve Patient Health Care
Big Data is making waves in almost every industry. On top of the list of crucial industries that Big Data analytics and intelligence could transform is Healthcare. According to a recent study by MeriTalk —The Big Data cure, Big Data will present many changes to the...
Top Requested Business Intelligence Software Features
According to recent research and a report by BI review company Software Advice in their Business Intelligence Software BuyerView for 2014, the image above depicts the most sought-after features in the BI market right now. There are a number of things to learn here: 1...
Learn OLAP
Resources
Types of OLAP Systems
MOLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP... what's the difference? And modern OLAP for this century.
History of OLAP and BI
Learn about the history of OLAP technology with this comprehensive inforgraphic