Introduction | Internet-Enabled Business Intelligence


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	Internet-Enabled Business Intelligence By William A. Giovinazzo
	Table of Contents

So, what's the problem? In this book, we present Internet Enabled Business Intelligence (IEBI) as a solution. Unfortunately, the word solution has been so abused by marketers that it has lost meaning. We begin, therefore, by looking at the characteristics of a solution. One of the responses I received to this approach from an early reviewer caught me a bit off guard. "Great, Internet Enabled Business Intelligence is a solution," he said. "So, what's the problem ?" At first I sputtered out some inarticulate platitude, aggravated that he was giving me a hard time. Then, after some reflection, I realized that often, as system engineers , we forget the real issue when we build systems. Whether they are Business Intelligence (BI) systems, supply chain management, or even email, they all have a problem for which we are trying to find a solution.

So, let's ask the question one more time. What's the problem?

The easy access to information provided by the Internet has intensified the competitive environment. Today we live in what has become known as the information age . Information has taken on more value today than at any other time in human history. People are more informed, more connected, than ever before. Politicians struggle with a 24- hour news cycle. Governments wrestle with the conflict between freedom of information and national security concerns. During the Persian Gulf war, CNN was a major source of strategic information for Iraq. The same is true of consumer information. Product reviews, consumer advocacy groups, and individual customer opinions are all there for anyone to read. That's the good news. There is a lot of information out there.

The bad news is that there is a lot of information out there. We all know by now that our organizations are awash in data. In the summer of 2001, the White House received warnings of a terrorist attack. FBI field agents sent in warnings concerning possible terrorists attending flight schools . The problem was that all these separate pieces of information were couched in a cacophony, other nonrelated pieces of information. Imagine yourself for a moment at your local consumer electronics store, standing in front of a wall of televisions . Then imagine each television on a different channel with the volume turned up as loud as possible. Think of the challenge in trying to understand all those different information feeds and develop some consolidated view of the world. That is what the average organization faces today. We are drowning in data. Do we sleep, perchance to dream? Or, do we take up arms against a sea of data? If we sleep, if we continue to try to do business as usual, then we will most certainly die. Our organizations will lose out in the marketplace to those competitors who have adapted to this changing environment, to those who have learned how to harness the power of this sea of information.

In short, our problem is twofold. On one hand, we are competing in an environment where consumers and competitors are better informed. On the other hand, there is so much information flowing through the organization that it is almost impossible to make any sense of it. This is the problem; IEBI is the solution.

This text is divided into four sections. The first section, chapters 1 through 3, describes the IEBI solution. We begin this section by differentiating a solution from a mixture. The text then describes the ingredients of the IEBI solution. In Chapter 2, we discuss the evolution of the Internet from both a technical and economic perspective. Chapter 3 discusses the anatomy of BI, exploring the BI loop and its components in detail.

In the second section, chapters 4 through 6, we study the Internet itself. In Chapter 5, we discuss servers, the heart of the Internet, distinguishing between the different architectural alternatives available to systems designers. We discuss how communication occurs over the Internet in Chapter 6. How does a thing called a URL connect a client to a server on the other side of the planet? While this may seem basic to some, understanding the nuances of this architecture will have an impact on our implementations .

The third section, chapters 7 through 10, studies the software of the Internet. We discuss application development on a multi- tier architecture in Chapter 8. In Chapter 9, we discuss how XML provides a structure for sharing data over the Net. We then discuss in Chapter 10 how the Common Warehouse Metadata Interchange (CWMI) uses this structure for the communication of metadata between systems.

In the final section, we examine the ultimate objective, using IEBI to be more competitive in the information age. The key to being more competitive is to create a customer-driven culture in our organizations. We discuss what this means in Chapter 12. In Chapter 13, we see how we can use the Internet to capture the information necessary to understand our customers, and in Chapter 14, we see how to use it.

You will note that I have provided a recommended reading list as an Appendix to the book. I am not so foolish to believe that any one book can be the one book a person will ever need to read on this subject. I don't know of any topic so narrow that any one book can be the exclusive work on that subject, much less so broad a subject as IEBI. Even if such an accomplishment were possible, I am not so vain as to believe that I could write it. Rather, I see this book as one step in a very long journey. For some, it may be the first step, for others it may be much farther down the road. In either case, the books I've listed provide additional resources for you to continue your study beyond what we have done here.

Now that we understand what it is we are discussing, let me tell you about my sister's kitchen. Having inherited the old homestead, she has become the matriarch of the family. When any of my siblings or I go back home, we are going back to our actual home. As we sit in her kitchen, my mother's kitchen, the phantoms of those who have gone linger in the shadows. The thousand raucous family gatherings with all the laughter , debates, shouting, and roughhousing, still reverberate in the very structure of that old house. In the increasingly rare quiet moments, you can hear them. I can see my father sitting at the head of the table telling stories of his own childhood, my uncle leaning over telling me his own version of the story. In my mind's eye my Mother is at her post, cooking. "Get out of here with your long hair," she tells my sisters. She lived in fear of their hair getting in the food. They are all still there, faint echoes you can only hear with your heart.

While most of my father's generation has gone on, new memories are being created. If you sit at my sister's kitchen table long enough, you will eventually meet everyone in my home town. Everyone passes through. It is the stereotypical Italian kitchen, lots of food and lots of conversation, lots and lots and lots of very loud conversation. In all that talk, there is no tangent too wild, no reference too obscure, no metaphor stretched too thin to be leveraged for forensic advantage. The only rule of engagement seems to be, the more wild the claim or ludicrous the statement, the louder it must be stated. Most participants in family discussions leave one very hoarse and a little deaf.

This is how I have learned to discuss topics. Wild tangents and clever anecdotes only deepen the discussion. Many topics we will discuss in our exploration of IEBI have their traditional explanations . Rather than opt for the same worn, trite examples, I have attempted to take a different route, a more scenic excursion. We will go down paths that seem tangential , or make references that are somewhat wild, but in the end, they will only add to our understanding of the subject. I hope through this unorthodox style to provide you with a richer, more rewarding experience than typically found in technical books.

Everything is connected. We cannot be myopic in our view of any one subject. We must endeavor to see the whole as well as the individual parts . It is my objective that through such an experience, I can share with you the same thrill, the same excitement that I feel for this subject. It is my desire that after reading this book, you will feel the same eager anticipation I feel for what weyou and Ican accomplish with Internet Enabled Business Intelligence.

William A. Giovinazzo
2002


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