Really want to get BI-started

Question

Folks,
I was just assigned to the Business Intelligence application development team in my company. Oh! what a great deal there is in Business Intelligence.
Though we make use of BusinessObjects, I want to relaly get started with Business Intelligence using Oracle.
So, can anyone refer me to a book or my first-step to get started using Oracle for Business Intelligence development.
Thanks in advance.
Michael E.

Answer 1

Hi
BI is vast, really vast, so don't try and get your mind around it all at once. You'll end up with a headache. What you need to do is ask this question:
What do we need to put together to allow our users to see the data in a way that they want to see it.
This question should always be at the heart of any BI solution. Unfortunately, too many techies get involved and design the ultimate, smart, clever, wiz bang of a system that works brilliantly except for one thing - it fails to provide the answers that the users want to see in a format the users want. In other words, the users were left out of the discussions until the thing had been designed. Techies know best right? Wrong! Techies know absolutely nothing about running a business.
Now I appreciate that this might sound far-fetched, but believe me it is not. The BI world is full, and I mean full, of failed projects where this happened. The best way to design any BI solution is from the front end (the users) to the back (the source database), one step at a time. Start with the users' needs and work backwards. Find out what they want (perhaps they already have some reports which they develop in Excel) and then try to see if you can design a structure that would support those reports. You also need to be planning for your reporting tool at this point.
Having designed the target structures, suitable adjusted to support the nuances of the chosen reporting tool, now you have to see if you can find the items that you need in one or more of your source systems, mapping the source(s) into the target.
So, what's the best way to do it? Ahh - what a question. Well, Keith has given you a pretty good explanation of the Oracle approach and pointed you in the way of some good blogs. He also mentioned my book, the Discoverer 10g Handbook, which I am grateful for.
In my opinion, you will have to go a long way to find a complete solution that betters what Oracle has to offer. Starting with their superb database, moving on to a great warehouse builder tool (OWB), with a great reporting tool (Discoverer) you have all the building blocks you need to get you off the ground. Oracle also have all the tools you need if you want to go down the OLAP route. Guess what? Both OWB and Discoverer can handle that too.
Are there better individual tools than OWB and Discoverer? Sure, although it really depends who you ask. Informatica is a very solid, reliable data warehouse tool. Its got hooks into every database under the sun. Based on the 80:20 rule though, OWB has at least 80% of Informatica's features, with the rest being mostly bells and whistles. Cognos and Business Objects (see Discoverer vs Business Objects below) are sound reporting tools. When all is said and done, I think the Oracle combination, plus the fact that you have a single vendor, and as you say, great forums too, you'll not go wrong if you choose Oracle.
As for Discoverer vs Business Objects, there have been many different discussions about this in here and other places over the last year or so. I have used both and I have to say that Business Objects has a slight edge over Discoverer when it comes to the GUI front end. However, Discoverer's EUL tool (Administrator) is so much easier to work with than Business Objects, better by a long way in fact, that this sways my vote in Oracle's favor. I also know that down the line Discoverer will be interfacing with BI Publisher so that's something to consider too.
So, the choice is yours, as it always is. Of course, you might say I'm biaised towards Oracle and the truth is - I am. However, the only reason I'm so heavily into Oracle in the first place is because I believe in my heart that Oracle have it right.
By the way, I don't work for Oracle, I never have, I don't own shares in them, and I don't get paid for answering questions in this forum. I do it because I love my job, I like helping people, and I believe in Oracle's approach.
I hope this helps
Regards
Michael