Date warehouse and business intelligence (DW & BI)
Business intelligence constitutes a separate group of application and technology solutions for collection, storage, cleansing, unifying, analysis and enables the client's independent access to information with a view to better decision-making. A condition and a technological solution serving as database for BI applications is data warehouse (DW).
Business intelligence system as a rule provide: decision-making support, ad-hoc analyses and reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP), statistical analyses, forecasts etc.
Services
The main services that we provide in this business segment can be divided into the following groups:
 | - consulting and analysis - this field refers to services that can be relevant in different product stages. It includes:
- assessment of DW & BI system readiness,
- DW & BI system planning and implementation,
- technology selection,
- existing DW & BI environment assessment,
- data governance,
- data quality analysis
- design and implementation – represents the most extensive field in which following works can be briefly defined:
- organisation of the entire DW & BI system life span
- project initiation – phase definition and delivery
- implementation of all modules (data collection – ETL/ELT, data model, installation and SW & HW environment)
- integration, testing and documentation
- training – is an important part of a DW & BI project and we consider that it deserves special attention. The following combination is recommended:
- predefined standard courses (e.g. Oracle University – often featuring Neos consultants as lecturers)
- tailored user workshops focusing on the specific areas of interest
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Project methodology
Although, on one hand we believe that each DW & BI project is a case for itself – on the other hand, we certainly recommend that the project is organised pursuant to the methodology based on years of experience on similar projects. Thus we can define the basic elements of any DW & BI project:
- analysis – its aim is to set the project bases regarding demands, deliverables, stages, duration etc. The main goals of this stage are:
- definition of user needs
- definition of rough system architecture
- identification of the main subject areas of interest
- setting rough project stages according to priorities
- definition of clear and measurable deliverables
- logical architecture and standards – this stage refers to setting the project framework in terms of logical system architecture and the development stage. This stage is crucial as it reflects on any further stage ane includes:
- data flow definition according to logical system segments (DSA, ODS, EM, TGT, DW etc.)
- documentation and development standards (names, reusable algorithms, documentation bases etc.)
- physical architecture and technology – this stage refers to HW & SW platform dimensioning in accordance with the demands and the expected further system development
- iterative development of specific subject areas – this stage/these stages are focused on deliverables according to the predefined priorities. The basic substages can be seen from the following diagram
A general recommendation is that these stages last for about 3-6 months and that they should lead to results that are evident to the end users. - training – in form of interactive workshops with the end users where the users are made familiar with the system through specific practical problems.
- Neos environment– refers to a set of development and documentation standards and reusable application modules and upgrades for standard tools such as e.g. Oracle Warehouse Builder.
The said environment is used as a framework during the entire project and its aim is to increase productivity and documentation and upgradeability of the system. The main system components are: - module development and documentation standards (document templates)
- reusable modules and algorithms (increased productivity and decreased implementation risk)
- mechanisms for recording of process performance status (enable process restarting/traceability, loading consistency in case of error)
- monitoring and system governance modules (process performance statistics, interdependability, failure removal)
- standardized notification and alarming mechanisms
Experience
Although DW & BI is a relatively young field, we can say that Neos has been involved in th e field from the very beginning and has in the meantime acquired great experience and expertise in implementation of that experience in the following fields: financial institutions, telecommunications industry, leasing and insurance companies, retail and wholesale etc. A proof of our experience is the fact that all our consultants hold OCA or OCP certificates.
The profile of our users includes large companies who have recognized the need for such systems, such as major Croatian bank (PBZ and ZABA), the largest Croatian pension fund (AZFond), the largest Croatian leasing company (Hypo Leasing), the largest Croatian insurance company (Croatia osiguranje), Hrvatska elektroprivreda, Croatian Institute for Health Insurance, Makedonski Telekom etc.
The result of years of experience is our ability to offer predefined data models and reports for different fields of business (banks, telecommunications industry etc.) that represent the so-called best practices, which can significantly speed up the implementation pace and decrease the risk of project failure.
