Business Intelligence Systems

Abstract

This chapter deals with Business Intelligence (BI) systems, summarizing the main needs which may lead companies to implement a BI system and proposing a set of critical success factors which allow for an effective implementation of a BI system that can satisfy companies’ needs. Finally, it presents the main maturity models of BI systems, focusing on the life cycle of BI systems and the need to keep them up-to-date. In the first part of the chapter, the summarization of companies’ needs for BI includes management information system needs, strategic planning needs, commercial and marketing needs, regulation needs, and fraud detection needs. The second part of this chapter pertains to the critical success factors of BI implementation. Several scholars have proposed different sets of factors to allow companies to maximize the effectiveness of BI system implementation. This part of the chapter considers the main critical success factor studies in the literature and shows the key aspects a company should consider for an effective BI implementation. Among these critical success factors are the ERP systems dealt with in Chap. 2. In addition to the critical success factors for BI implementation, the literature also recommends aligning the evolution of BI systems with that of the business, considering the life-cycle of BI models as a driver which affects critical success factors. In this regard, the third part of the chapter discusses the BI maturity models.