In this article series, entitled ‘Debunking Common Business Intelligence Myths’, we will debunk the market myths in the BI tools market, and help you sort through the confusion to make the right choice for your business. In this, the second of the article series, we delve into data governance and separate fact from fiction.

In many BI implementation scenarios, accessibility, trust and usability of Business Intelligence (BI) solutions is hampered by Data Anarchy. If you haven’t already guessed, Data Anarchy is not a good thing. But, if your organization is to achieve true self-serve, mobile BI, and business user empowerment, it must find its way past Data Anarchy to achieve dependable Data Governance while, at the same time, allowing users the flexibility and access they need for deep dive data analytics, sophisticated tools and an ease-of-use that will encourage user adoption.

So, what is Data Anarchy, and why does it exist? Data Anarchy occurs:

• When valuable, critical data sources reside in the same repositories as ungoverned data components
• When data is accessed directly with high level security permission
• When multiple versions of the same data exist within the enterprise
• When there is no Fine Grain Access Rights Management to control access to data

Your organization can avoid Data Anarchy if you understand the causes and issues surrounding data security and access. If your business is like most organizations, Data Anarchy exists because management and IT staff do not have a manageable method of:

• Controlling levels of access to data sources
• Integrating data and presenting it in a meaningful way
• Offering semantic data layer and front-end tools that are easy for all users to understand and leverage (without giving them direct access to data sources)

In order to combat Data Anarchy and achieve dependable, reasonable Data Governance and mitigate Data Anarchy, you must establish an IT controlled centralized semantic meta-data layer so that Business Users can leverage integrated data, analytical tools and reports without direct access to underlying data sources and enjoy the equally crucial benefit of data access and manipulation without the technical complexity of working with these data sources. Governed Data Discovery goes beyond static business intelligence dashboards to provide agile, comprehensive functionality so that business users can gather, manage and deliver data in an interactive, friendly manner, without compromising data integrity, security or the source chain of data. When an organization can achieve its business intelligence goals and ensure Data Governance, it can satisfy the concerns of the IT team, executives and business users, and accomplish its goals and strategies at the strategic, operational and tactical level.

When you debunk the myths of Self-Serve Business Intelligence, you remove the obstacles and your organization can achieve better results, improve the bottom line and enjoy flexible, user-friendly BI tools that will grow with the enterprise and are affordable and simple to use!

Additional articles in this seven article series will include:

Myth #1 – All ‘Self-Serve’ BI Tools Are Suitable for Business Users

Myth #3 – Business Users Do Not Need Ad Hoc Data Analysis

Myth #4 – You Don’t Need KPIs and Balanced Scorecards to Manage Corporate Performance

Myth #5 – It is Expensive and Time-Consuming to Give Mobile BI to Business Users

Myth #6 – You Need Data Scientists to Employ Predictive Analysis in Your Organization

With the right information, you can go beyond the myths of Self-Serve Business Intelligence, to remove the obstacles and achieve true business user empowerment and mobile self-serve BI.

Original Source – (Most) Self-Serve BI Tools will Create Data Anarchy– Myth#2