What Is The Quality Of Your Business Intelligence Data?
Lots of business intelligence users will tell you that business intelligence projects really help organizations make practical and productive use of their data stores, turning a mess of database elements into useful information which can be used to advance the business. But not every business intelligence strategy ends up being as successful as it could be, and this is because the data used from the beginning isn’t of the best quality.
Is your business intelligence source data consistent?
The problem is that data can often be inconsistent. If you have layers of data to start with, many users will just plug it all in. But taking a look at the data you are starting your business intelligence project with and peeing back the layers can often reveal inconsistent data – perhaps figures are wildly different from one year to the next? For consistent business intelligence needs, this data is far from ideal. It could prove disastrous when it comes to using the business intelligence results for important decision-making. So what can we do to ensure we have high quality and consistent data to use with business intelligence?
Ways to create high quality business intelligence data
A translation matrix can be the answer for some. If there are different sets of data and layers, and the data is fairly consistent, then a translation matrix can be created which maps data from individual layers and then business intelligence systems can use a common set for all data. Having a business intelligence that can integrate data warehouses is a huge bonus because it does this automatically.
Scrub your data: though this is a difficult option, a way to handle inconsistent data is to go back through historical data and do some data scrubbing. Make it consistent from start to finish. This will help to streamline reporting in the business intelligence end of the process.
These are just a couple of ways to improve your data quality for a business intelligence project. Start with the right data and your results will be superb. For more advice on running a business intelligence project, contact MXI today.
Don’t be afraid to use data to tell great stories. Being factual, detail-oriented and data-driven is critical in today’s metric-centric world but it does not have tomean being boring and lengthy. In fact, by finding the real stories in your data and following the best practices above, you can get people to focus on your message—and thus on what’s important.
Download 5 Best Practices for Telling Great Stories