In 2003 IDC reported that over half of large North American companies surveyed
were using Business Intelligence solutions (BI) and 30% were evaluating it or
in the process of implementing a BI solution. BI solutions not only
empower managers and executives, but all employees. This leads to
organizations that are better, faster and more able to make and execute
relevant decisions.
It is estimated that the world currently produces approximately two billion
gigabytes of unique information per year. Whether your company's
allocation of that new data is one gigabyte or a thousand gigabytes means
nothing if you cannot use that valuable information to manage and improve your
business decisions.
Using Microsoft technologies, Intertech Consulting can implement a
comprehensive BI solution that offers robust performance management, rich
reporting, analysis, and collaboration capabilities that can help employees
retrieve and share the data they need in real time.
Reporting Solutions
SQL Server Reporting Services is an integral part of Microsoft's Business
Intelligence Framework, combining the data management capabilities of SQL
Server with the familiarity of Microsoft Office applications. This
powerful combination of tools provides a solution that can deliver real time
information to support daily operations and strategy.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
Extending the power and flexibility of SQL Server, Analytical Services provides
an organization with complete, integrated, Web-enabled data analysis
functionality. The OLAP technology toolset enables the rapid,
sophisticated analysis of large and complex data sets using multidimensional
storage from any OLE DB data source provider, including SQL Server, Oracle,
DB2, Sybase, other relational databases, and even text files.
By employing a middle-tier server component, SQL Server Analytical Services
enables users to perform sophisticated analyses on large volumes of data with
exceptional data-retrieval performance times. Combine this power with the
ability to perform the analysis over HTTP via web browsers and you've extended
that power to everyone in your organization no matter where they are.
Data Transformation Services (DTS)
SQL Server Data Transformation Services provides the ability to extract,
transform, and load (ETL) data from heterogeneous sources using OLE DB, Open
Database Connectivity (ODBC), or text files into any supported OLE DB database
or multidimensional data store. DTS services can be scheduled on a
regular basis, automatically giving the organization the data necessary to
plan, predict and execute better business decisions.
Microsoft has improved DTS processing capabilities through a multiphase
processing approach, allowing users to access and manipulate the data during
the ETL process. This enables a far greater flexibility in the handling
of data errors, and enables failure and restart triggers based on parameterized
select statements and error logging.
Allowing DTS packages to interact creates an environment for performance and
flexibility, saving development and maintenance time. DTS packages are
typically developed in Visual Basic- to simplify the development process. In
conjunction with a version control system such as Microsoft Visual SourceSafe,
built in versioning and backups are provided.
Data Mining
Data-Mining is another powerful building block integrated with SQL
Server. The Data Mining technology helps organizations uncover patterns
and trends that can be used to make more accurate predictions. Out of the
box, SQL Server Data Mining includes two data-mining algorithms developed by
Microsoft Research (Microsoft Decision Trees and Microsoft Clustering) and can
support algorithms developed by third parties.
Microsoft Business Intelligence Solutions:
Data Warehouse
Business Intelligence System
Business Intelligence Solutions leverage the reliability and availability of
these technologies:
Microsoft SQL Server
