Reporting & Business Intelligence

Reporting or production reporting, is a method by which reports are distributed within an organization to provide users with support for their work. Generally, reports are primarily text and table based, and periodically include visual components. More often than not, these reports are managed offline, scheduled or on demand and tend to be used on a more regular basis.   It’s important to note that reports can be lengthy and span multiple pages. As a result, the creation of reports can be a bit more complex requiring a more technical user. Reports are, in summation, commonly comprised of background data and other decision informing information.  Typically organizations utilize systems to export data to excel and model offline reports.

Conversely, dashboards present the most important information required to achieve specific business objectives, at a glance. They are designed for at-a-glance monitoring. Generally, a dashboards’ objective is to present all necessary content on one screen and drive decision making without overwhelming the eye. A dashboard will focus on visual, interactive features and will allow users to physically ‘drill’ into information. Dashboards predominantly focus on decision driving, rather than informing, and are targeted at Key Performance Indicators, or other decision-driving information. Dashboards are typically found within technology platforms for realtime data and sometimes utilize third-party platforms for more complex BI Analysis when multiple data sources are required.