Using Open Source Platforms for Business Intelligence: Avoid Pitfalls and Maximize ROI

Front Cover......Page 1
Using Open Source Platforms for Business Intelligence......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 16
1 Introduction and market overview......Page 18
Why is there a need for this book?......Page 20
What to expect in this book......Page 21
An introduction to BI......Page 23
The components of business intelligence......Page 26
Why understanding OS matters......Page 30
A historical look at the broader OS market......Page 31
The general appeal of OS......Page 34
Personal thoughts about OS expansion......Page 36
OSBI gaining popularity......Page 38
The expansion of OS offerings and positioning......Page 40
Breakdown of OSBI technology......Page 41
OS data warehouses......Page 42
Analytics......Page 43
Data integration......Page 44
General considerations for organizations......Page 45
Introduction......Page 48
The OSBI market – a general overview......Page 49
Traditional OS communities......Page 50
Adopting OSBI......Page 51
Why OS?......Page 54
OSBI transition and the expansion of OSBI into BI......Page 55
OSBI within the OS market......Page 56
Where OSBI solutions will/should be in the future......Page 57
Implications for businesses......Page 58
2 A deeper look at OSBI......Page 60
A look at BI drivers......Page 62
Price comparability......Page 63
Licensing models and the issues surrounding them......Page 65
Looking at subscription licenses independently of individual offerings......Page 66
Extensibility......Page 67
BI in the cloud and SaaS offerings......Page 68
Collaboration and social networks......Page 69
Putting it all together......Page 71
Internal development......Page 72
Community collaboration......Page 73
Looking at community and commercial OS models......Page 74
OSBI models......Page 75
Free software with separate purchases......Page 76
Commercial offerings......Page 77
Looking at the community/commercial focus in the broader market......Page 78
The drivers of commercial OS for BI......Page 80
The bottom line......Page 81
7 Business benefits and challenges of OS for BI......Page 82
How business and IT approach BI......Page 83
Are benefits and challenges different or similar for business and IT worldviews?......Page 85
Quick deployment times......Page 86
Customization options......Page 88
OS framework......Page 89
A look at OSBI challenges......Page 90
Long-term costs......Page 91
Business and IT collaboration and project sponsorship......Page 92
What all of this means for business justification......Page 93
3 BI strategies for success – tying in OS adoption with BI success......Page 94
8 The strategy behind BI adoption......Page 96
Goals of consolidating information across disparate data sources......Page 97
Better business visibility......Page 98
Metrics/KPIs......Page 99
Why these factors matter......Page 100
Already familiar with OS......Page 101
Why go traditional......Page 102
No Java expertise in-house......Page 103
Takeaways......Page 104
9 Implications for users......Page 106
A practical guide to selecting OS......Page 107
Business factors of adoption......Page 108
Technical factors......Page 109
Considerations......Page 111
Price and maintenance breakdown......Page 112
IT development......Page 113
Checklist for software selection and implementation......Page 114
4 Justifying OSBI projects......Page 116
10 Selling an OSBI project to the business......Page 118
A closer look at ways of selling OSBI......Page 119
Who benefits on the business side from using OSBI?......Page 120
Why should the business side of an organization consider community OS as an option?......Page 121
What benefits does switching from a free model to commercial OS provide to the business unit(s) involved?......Page 122
Who chooses commercial OS over traditional BI models?......Page 123
How are the benefits of this model sold to the business?......Page 124
Why consider OS over traditional BI when new?......Page 125
Why do organizations choose to expand with OS?......Page 126
Who decides to replace their BI offerings with something new?......Page 127
What should a company’s expectations be regarding a rip-and-replace model?......Page 128
Sorting out the different models and what it means to business units......Page 129
Why sell to the business......Page 130
Why IT has to work with business units and why business units need to collaborate with one another......Page 131
The bottom line for OSBI adoption in organizations......Page 132
Developing valid definitions of ROI and TCO......Page 134
Return on investment......Page 135
Total cost of ownership......Page 136
Why ROI and TCO are important to software selection......Page 137
Software costs......Page 139
Professional services or outside consulting......Page 140
New hardware requirements......Page 141
Licensing fees......Page 142
Putting everything together......Page 143
A look at long-term ROI and TCO......Page 144
General TCO/ROI models – a look at what exists in the market......Page 146
Applying these models to ROI for OSBI......Page 153
Evaluating TCO for OSBI......Page 154
ROI and TCO calculations......Page 155
Looking at commercial versus community offerings......Page 157
5 Understanding the technology behind business value......Page 158
13 A look at technical considerations......Page 160
How do technical considerations help with the evaluation process?......Page 161
Evaluating the current IT infrastructure......Page 162
Technical differences between community and commercial......Page 163
New to OSBI......Page 164
OSBI expansion......Page 165
Implications of trends......Page 166
Looking at data integration......Page 167
Internal unstructured/semistructured data......Page 168
Social network data......Page 169
Takeaways......Page 170
14 Understanding integration and data preparation......Page 172
Looking at the components of BI......Page 173
Limited capabilities......Page 174
Integration......Page 175
Evaluating the current BI environment......Page 176
The reality of the market......Page 177
Introduction to developers......Page 180
A word about Java......Page 181
Development within a community OS environment......Page 182
Development within a commercial OS environment......Page 183
Awareness of future commercial OSBI focus......Page 184
Support available to developers......Page 186
Community involvement and vendor differences......Page 187
Participating in vendor software development......Page 188
Upgrades, bug fixes, and the list goes on......Page 189
Looking ahead at developer requirements......Page 190
Technical skills......Page 192
Java Programming......Page 193
Network and database optimization......Page 194
Data modeling......Page 196
Business skills......Page 197
Business requirements......Page 198
Business sponsor......Page 199
Navigating the political maze......Page 200
Tying it all together......Page 201
17 Technical benefits and challenges......Page 202
Open standards and integration......Page 203
Customization potential......Page 204
What about commercial OS and free software trials?......Page 205
Weighing the benefits against the challenges......Page 206
Understanding technical challenges......Page 207
Potential learning curves in relation to programming languages......Page 208
Addressing multiple developers within a single development environment......Page 209
Developing a strong data management structure......Page 210
Hardware and cost limitations......Page 211
Transferring from traditional solutions to OS offerings......Page 212
Understanding the real benefits and challenges of software development......Page 213
6 Takeaways/recommendations......Page 214
18 Getting started: A checklist for OSBI readiness......Page 216
Business considerations......Page 217
Technical considerations......Page 218
Putting all the pieces together......Page 219
Important OS factors......Page 220
General conclusion......Page 222
Index......Page 224