Assessing Your Information System Using the Business Intelligence BSC

Business Intelligence is a key technology now used by many companies. While some companies still utilize the old and dependable transaction processing systems to gain business information, many companies now prefer the database and application design technology. A wide array of business information is beneficial to companies that cater to competitive markets. Business intelligence is not limited to gathering information. It includes proper channeling and dissemination of the information, and could even extend to analysis of the data gathered. The business intelligence BSC or balanced scorecard is an extensive guideline of evaluating your business intelligence capabilities and processes.One of the most important aspects of business intelligence is data gathering. A scorecard will help you determine how effective the system you are employing is in gathering the necessary data for your business. Data gathered by means of the Internet and those coming from documentary research are of equal weight. The scorecard will not only determine how effective the methods you use are, but also how useful the data that you have gathered are.How you manage the vast wealth of data you have accumulated is another story. Data management is a perspective included in the scorecard because it is important that information should be stored properly and is well protected. The data should be easily accessible by those authorized to view and use them but it should be secure from unauthorized people, too.ETL is another important aspect graded by the scorecard. ETL is a series of processes in data warehousing. E stands for extracting information from outside sources. T is for transforming data to achieve certain quality that can be applied to your business needs. L is for loading the data into the warehouse which completes the whole cycle. These three processes are very vital in business intelligence.Production Management and Support is another perspective graded by the scorecard. How your data will be used during production and how it will support management is an end product of business intelligence. Data is gathered for company use and production management and support should benefit from these data.The scorecard also provides guidelines for rating organizational roles and responsibilities in the business intelligence. The whole process needs manpower. Every aspect is done by humans and those involved in gathering, transforming, loading and managing data should know their responsibilities. Each process should be assigned to different people to ensure efficiency and focus in their given organizational role.The scorecard also gives premium on project management. Business intelligence is a whole company project in its own right and how the whole process and the staff involved are managed is an essential aspect of its success.The business intelligence balance scorecard is designed in such a way that the results are easy to understand and interpret. The scorecard is unique in its structure because it will assess how a company’s business intelligence system and data warehousing compares with the best in the industry. It helps you establish IT standards, identifies what kind of data you need to gather, and evaluates the history of business intelligence within your company.