Rationale For Linking Business Function Areas With BI Planning Software

Cognos.com Tip: Establish key goals and metrics for business function areas (marketing, finance, human resources, etc.) because these are important pre-requisites for data mining and manipulation in business intelligence software. This foundation-laying process leads directly to analysis of the information to facilitate planning, forecasting, and decision-making.

The planning process links them with the relevant dimensions, ensuring that resources are allocated and expectations set against financial and operational goals. In this way, the planning process ties back from decision-making processes through the assorted business functions of the organization, and eventually into the reporting process and, eventually, the financials. This illustrates how BI can serve an entire business enterprise and can permit management to monitor performance, allocate resources, and set plans for future financial targets.