A word of caution to those thinking of using Pentaho suite: it is not suitable for a small businesses in the model promoted by the company.
That model is the "classic" configuration for a BI component in an Enterprise Architecture - classic because during the history of DSS and BI projects this model has been proven to have the highest rate of success compared to other models, somewhere between 25% and 50% (Claudia Imhoff citing Gardner Group http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/imhoff/archives/2005/03/failure_of_data_1.php although in that article she disagrees with the figure, the commentaries tell another story). While first results with Pentaho or Mondrian may be impressive at first with an out-of-the-box configuration, it will become very costly very quickly as soon as something will change down the data flow in the operational applications, or the users will start asking for specific reports, and the cost of maintenance will immediately become prohibitive. If you think of starting towards the BI path, first make the most of what you already have. Most of business-grade open source applications, like OfBiz and SugarCRM, already have an Intelligence reporting module. Use that first and start with cleaning the data and make a habit to generate and input as much metadata (descriptors) as possible, beginning with time-stamping. Only when the existing analytical reports start loosing relevance or become too rigid, it is time to look at multidimensional reporting. Having said that, there are always exceptions and in some cases I might be wrong with this reasoning. Relation to Linux - everything I mentioned above runs better on Linux. HTH Adrian On Wed, 2009-03-04 at 00:03 +1300, Wesley Parish wrote: > FWIW, there's a copy of the complete (and FOSS) Pentaho Business Intelligence > suite on Caledonian at St Albans. It's about a cdrom's worth of files, and > it's free, so if anyone wants a copy, feel free to bring along a cdr for next > meeting and burn yourself a copy. > > Wesley Parish > > On Tuesday 03 March 2009 07:44, Adrian Mageanu wrote: > > Yes, business intelligence. > > > > On Tue, 2009-03-03 at 06:07 +1300, Robert Fisher wrote: > > > On Monday 02 March 2009 23:15:46 Adrian Mageanu wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > I have received significant interest off list about the proposal I > > > > > > made > > > > > > > for a BI solution implementation using FOSS - both technical and > > > > non-technical questions - so I could do a short talk, 30 to 45 > > > > > > minutes > > > > > > > top, about elements of BI and the role of Linux and FOSS in this > > > > > > space. > > > > > > BI? > > > Business Intelligence? >
