Business Intelligence is fancy way of describing the process of using a Decision Support System to answer your business questions. You probably already have most of the data and tools that you need to begin creating useful answers to those questions. Whether it be an Oracle Database storing your HR data from SAP, or a SQL Server Database storing your Project Management data from Primavera, or an Access Database or an Excel Spreadsheet storing your Field Operations data, BI is the solution to tie them all together. Essentially, via a Data Warehouse, you extract the data that you need from all these disparate sources, compile them together and then ask it questions. Analysis and Reporting is then done and then you have a data-supported rationale for critical business decisions!
