BI Architecture

Components of BI Architecture

1. Data Sources
2. Data Transformation Tools
3. Data Stores
4. Data Query and Analysis Tools
5. Data Presentation and Visualization Tools
Data Sources

• Internal Data Sources: ERP, CRM, Internal departments

• External Data Sources: Business partners, Internet
• Important criteria in the data source selection process
• data relevancy, data currency, data quality and the level of detail in the available data
sets
• Examples of data sources:
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – stores a large amount of transactional data, which
can be used in BI environments
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – an excellent source of data for BI since these
systems store and analyze customer behavior and important data, such as purchase
activity
• E-Commerce Apps – these apps can be a great source of data for BI since they offer real-
time sales activity
• Other sources are numerous company databases, flat files, web services (apps), etc.
Data Transformation Tools

• Data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tools collect,

filter, integrate, and aggregate data to be saved into a data store.
• This component extracts the data, filters the extracted data to
select the relevant records, and packages the data in the right
format to be added to the data store component.
• Popular data transformation tools: Power Query, IBM DataStage,
Informatica, SAP Data Services…..
Data Stores

• This encompasses the various repositories where BI data is stored and

managed
• For example, data warehouse, which usually stores structured data in a
relational, or multidimensional database and makes it available for querying
and analysis
• An enterprise data warehouse can also be tied to smaller data marts set
up for individual departments and business units with data that's specific to
their BI needs
• A data lake running on a Hadoop cluster or other big data platform can
also be incorporated into a BI architecture as a repository for raw data or
unstructured data
Data Query and Analysis Tools

• This component performs data retrieval, data analysis, and data-mining

tasks using the data stored in the data store.

• This component is used by the data analyst to create the queries that access
the database.

• This tool advises the user on which data to select and how to build a
reliable business data model.

• Examples: SQL, Oracle RDBMS

Data Presentation and Visualization Tools

• This component is used by the data analyst to organize and present the
data to the end user.

• It helps the end user select the most appropriate presentation format,
such as summary report, map, pie or bar graph, or dashboards.

• The query tool and the presentation tool are the front end to the BI
environment.

• Example: Power BI
Ready-Made BI Tools
Read-Made BI Tools

• BI tool providers usually supply users with data integration, ETL,

reporting tools (dashboards), as well as warehousing services.
• Popular Ready-made (Self-service) BI Tools
• Power BI
• Tableau
• SAP
• Qlik
• Sisense
• Zoho Analytics
Data Types
Structured Vs. Unstructured Data
Structured Data
• Highly organized and formatted
• Easily used by business users
• Sources: online forms, network logs, web
server logs, OLAP systems, etc.,
• Storage: Stored in tabular formats (e.g.,
Excel sheets or SQL databases) that
require less storage space. Generally
stored in Data warehouses
• Tools: OLAP, MySQL
• Examples: dates, names, addresses,
credit card numbers, etc.
Unstructured Data
• No pre-defined format
• Can’t be processed/analyzed via
conventional data tools/methods
• Sources: email messages, word-
processing documents, PDF files, etc.
• Storage: Stored as media files or
NoSQL databases, which require more
space. Generally stored in Data lakes
• Tools: Non relational databases
(NoSQL), Hadoop
• Examples: text data, images, social
media posts, audio files, etc.
Structured Data
 Types of Data

Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

Nominal Data

• Categorical data

• Data placed in categories according to a specified

characteristic

• Categories bear no quantitative relationship to one another

• Examples:
• customer’s location (America, Europe, Asia)

• employee classification (manager, supervisor, associate)

Ordinal Data

• Data that is ranked or ordered according to some relationship

with one another

• No fixed units of measurement

• Examples:
• college football rankings

• survey responses (poor, average, good, very good, excellent)

Interval Data

• Ordinal data but with constant differences between observations

• No true zero point or fixed beginning (lack of absolute zero)

• Only allows you to see the direction and the difference between the values,

but you can not make statements about their proportion and correlation.

• Examples:

• temperature readings (in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius)

• dates
Ratio Data

• Numeric values

• Continuous values and have a natural zero point

• Ratios are meaningful

• Examples:

• monthly sales

• delivery times
Comparison
Examples

• Length of arm
• Mode of transportation to office
• Travel time to office
• Money spent at restaurants last year
• City of residence
• Postal code
• Hours slept at night
• Duration of a movie
• Favorite sport
• Date of birth

Classify the above variables as Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio.

Exercise 1: Salary Packages of Graduating
Students
The data in the given table has been
selected from a management college
that indicates the salary packages and
other details of students who have
graduated from the college.
The variable descriptions are as follows:
• Gender: 0=female; 1=male
• Batch: 2018=1; 2017=2
• Specialization: Marketing=1;
Finance=2; Operations=3; HR=4
• Salary: in INR
Identify the categorical and numerical
variables
Exercise 2

Classify the variables as Nominal/Ordinal/Interval/Ratio.