Best Practices for BI

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All organizations believe that their procedures and practices can be improved. After all, no one thinks that they are perfect.  But, it's not always easy to envision the how, when, where, and what – the specifics of what needs to be done in order to become better.

The word better in our context means better practices, with the idea that this leads to improvements. At least in the area of Business Intelligence we have some advice to offer on the how, when, where, and what of better practices. Our solution is packaged in a series of 10 subject modules, in our new Best Practices services offering.  It is not a recipe book. In most areas it is a discussion of the alternatives that are available to you, to solve specific problems.

Every organization has its own unique culture, and addresses problems in its own way. So the style in which problems are addressed will differ from organization to another. And what appears to be a good alternative for one organization may be inappropriate for another.

As you read the many articles in this edition of Information Builders Magazine, you will see that each enterprise faced a different set of challenges and found the best solution for them. I particularly liked the comment in one article that says, "User access to information has grown tenfold." You may wonder, how does this company, or any of the businesses highlighted in this issue, manage the process of continual improvements. This is a worthwhile discussion, and you will be hearing more about it in future issues of the magazine.

Our goal is to help our customers get the fullest value from their investment in Information Builders products. We realize that our customers seek agility in responding to and handling new situations. When the proper organization is in place, the time-intensive process of evaluating and installing new products, training people to use these products, and designing the procedures and constructing the solutions, can be drastically reduced.

We aim to make sure that WebFOCUS, for example, has the widest functionality in the industry so our customers can always rely on it. Now, we want to help them manage the rest of the process so that ultimately they can all say, "User access to information has grown tenfold."