The most beautiful dashboard or control panel in your business can also be the most dangerous! … If it is not based on reliable and controlled data . As the American author Daniel Boorstin puts it : “the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge”.
In the summer of 2019, Ernst & Young again confirmed that one in four managers did not trust their organization s data ! And yet, one of the main challenges for companies when it comes to controlling their data is first of all to allow decision-makers to increase their chances of making good decisions!
Business intelligence makes it possible to implement a real data quality management strategy : it provides the means to manage it through dashboards . More than that still, the “ETL” functionalities offer a range of control and alert means which make it possible to formalize the management rules that are too little documented or formalized.
4 main axes contribute to better data quality .
Honest data
Finance departments are usually the first aware of the issues of data quality, they who must ensure the sincerity of s accounts they publish . Audit trail, traceability are words often used because they emphasize the explanation to be given of the results obtained.
The automation of existing reporting , if it is still too much built “by hand” is the first benefit of the implementation of a BI solution. This reassures , reduces the risk of errors and in the vast majority of cases induces a much greater level of confidence on the part of users.
Comprehensive data
The marketing department has Does -it all the email addresses of its customers for its campaigns? The nome n clature s articles is she properly informed to correctly calculate the cost?
There are many cases where business intelligence can help improve the completeness of the data in your databases. Prioritizing essential information and setting up an alert panel are simple and very effective means . The alert that critical information is missing can even be given as soon as the data is loaded into the warehouse .
Data accurate
With growing maturity, some companies are implementing so-called “master data” reference data. It ‘s defined as a reference with which to compare operational data. In terms of financial consolidation, for example , the existence of a “group” chart of accounts makes it possible to control correspondence with the charts of accounts of subsidiaries. The management of a repository of customers (or suppliers) makes it possible to compare the information contained in the various business applications and to alert operational staff to any differences.
Could you easily answer this simple question: “How many customers do we have?” ” : Subscribers to your services? whose address you have? who were billed this year? etc. Having a repository also allows everyone to know where to find the answer.
Up-to-date data
Data is by nature a perishable good! to come back to the example above: “is a customer who has not ordered for 3 years still a customer?” ” But also:” is the reporting up to date with the latest data “? the answer to these questions s highlights the time, decisive element in the quality of your data. There again, no ready-made answer but you have to ask yourself this question , depending on the professions and their needs. The e real time is not necessarily THE answer and certainly is not the same between a financial function and a business function or an HR function.
Business Intelligence to make your data more reliable? YES !
Obviously, the quality of the data depends on what we do with the data, how we use them. From this point of view, implementing a business intelligence solution constitutes a real opportunity to really improve the quality of your company’s data:
- ETL incorporates d es quality rules and alerts you as soon as the source of inconsistency s,
- The warehouse contains your reference data with which you compare the reality of your operational processes,
- And finally, the dashboards do not only concern management results, but make it possible to manage the indicators of your data quality and to sensitize all the employees who contribute to them on a daily basis.
So many additional good reasons for choosing to implement a business intelligence solution .
