IBM eBook Business Intelligence: Best Practices for Implementing BI in ERP Centric Environments

TechTarget Enterprise Applications Media E-Book Best practices for implementing BI in ERP centric environments An original SearchDataManagement.com E-book offering advice and best practices specifically for IT professionals charged with creating or updating BI programs in ERP environments. Business intelligence (BI) is a high priority for many organizations, promising enhanced visibility and improved efficiencies. But for those with existing ERP systems, implementing or updating a BI pro- gram raises especially interesting challenges. Should you source your BI technology from your ERP vendor – or choose a third party BI system? Will BI be based just on ERP data or will data from other source systems be integrated? How will data integration, data quality and data normalization be han- dled in the new system? Will your BI system scale to provide the performance and functionality required in the short and long term? How will implementation time and costs be affected by the strat- egy you select? And what’s the best way to sort all of these issues out, build a business case, scope and plan the project effectively? This original SearchDataManagement.com E-book is specifically written to address the unique chal- lenges of IT and BI professionals in ERP-centric environments. This set of vendor-neutral articles offers best practices, strategic advice and long-term planning assistance for organizations seeking to create or optimize BI programs that effectively leverage existing ERP investments. In this E-book, readers will learn: • How to decide whether to use your ERP vendor or a third party BI system • Tips for building a business case and project planning for integrated BI and ERP • Expert advice for preparing data, systems and processes for integrated BI and ERP • Key success factors, best practices and tips for BI and ERP integration projects Sponsored By: Best practices for implementing BI in ERP centric environments Table of Contents E-Book Best practices for implementing BI in ERP centric environments Table of Contents: Choosing BI software: Use your ERP vendor or go with third-party BI? How to build a BI business case in ERP environments Integrating BI with ERP systems: Plan for data quality and MDM Key success factors and tips for BI and ERP integration projects Resources from IBM Sponsored by: Page 2 of 15 Best practices for implementing BI in ERP centric environments Choosing BI software: Use your ERP vendor or go with third-party BI? Choosing BI software: Use your ERP vendor or go with third-party BI? By Chris Maxcer, SearchDataManagement.com contributor Organizations with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems face a common question when implementing or upgrading business intelligence (BI) programs: Choose the existing ERP vendor’s BI system -- often touted as a more straightforward implementation? Or look at third-party BI software, which may promise different or more specialized functionality? The bad news is that there’s no simple answer. The good news is that for organizations with encompassing invest- ments in ERP, the BI options are better than ever. Most ERP systems now come with a variety of built-in, integrated and available BI solutions, and there are still reputable pure-play, third- party BI vendors finding success. There's been a lot of action over the "Clients who tend to have last several years. homogeneous environments with their ERP tend to go with "Many of the largest standalone vendors have been acquired. Oracle an ERP provider's solution; kicked it off by buying Hyperion, SAP acquired Business Objects, and IBM however, that's only if they followed with Cognos -- these moves attempted to consolidate BI within are comparable in capability. the ERP world," explained R. "Ray" Wang, a partner in enterprise strategy We see a lot more use of with Altimeter Group. specialist solutions when the data is heterogeneous and Despite all of this consolidation, however, there are still strong when customers have independent BI vendors out there, he added. And all the recent interest advanced use cases that go in BI has also meant that even the smallest ERP vendors have focused on beyond simple reporting." expanding their BI capabilities. That adds up to lots of choices. The big question, though, is how do you make the choice between what your ERP - R. "Ray" Wang, partner, vendor offers and third-party BI software? Altimeter Group. ERP and BI software experts say, “Follow the data” "Clients who tend to have homogeneous environments with their ERP tend to go with an ERP provider's solution; however, that's only if they are comparable in capability," Wang said. A more capable third-party solution can get the nod if the ERP vendors' solution is too limiting. But what if there's a lot of data coming from mixed sources? Many ERP-focused companies have business processes that utilize non-ERP data. What then? In that case, Wang noted, "we see a lot more use of specialist solutions when the data is heterogeneous and when customers have advanced use cases that go beyond simple reporting." Boris Evelson, principal analyst of BI with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, voiced a similar sentiment. He’s hearing more and more requests from companies that have a strong ERP presence. In many of those cases, he said, there is little reason to look elsewhere for BI -- unless you have very specific requirements. And many companies do. Sponsored by: Page 3 of 15 Best practices for implementing BI in ERP centric environments Choosing BI software: Use your ERP vendor or go with third-party BI? "What if most of your reports require operations that SQL cannot do?” Evelson said. “Then you have to look at tools that have their own programming languages -- that are more powerful and flexible than SQL. Another example is in-memory analytics, which allow end users to explore without the limitations of a data model.” Indeed, in-memory analytics pose some interesting new opportunities. Where traditional RDBMS and OLAP architec- tures require the "pre-discovery" of data -- through data modeling, integration or warehouses -- in-memory models can cross-reference attributes, creating indexes in the form of a virtual data model on the fly, Evelson noted. Still, the data has to be reasonably clean: It's not a panacea for data quality initiatives. And the downside for ERP- focused companies is that the end results can be even less predictable than traditional BI. ERP and BI software lines increasingly blurry Making the choice also requires looking ahead for both long-term requirements and system innovation. Jeff Woods, managing vice president of ERP and SCM for Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc., said that within a few years, the bigger trend will be components of ERP applications that you won't be able to purchase without buying the analytics environment as well -- the analytic environment will be integral to the execution of the applications. "The BI components might remain standalone, but they'll become required runtime components of the ERP applications," Woods said. So does this mean that integrated ERP BI has the advantage over third-party options? Not necessarily. "It depends on the degree to which the ERP vendor reengineers the ERP suite to take advantage of analytics. If they deliver presentation-level embedded analytics, then this is interesting, but not that interesting,” Woods explained. “If they deliver a reengineering of business processes because of the presence of analytics functionality, then we're talking about something that is transformative, and it would be very difficult for someone to capture without using the embedded functionality of the ERP vendor.