Database and Business Intelligence

What is Database and Business Intelligence?

If you are looking for skilled Database professionals there are a few things you must know about the skills you are looking for. The most common database software tools out there are Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, and MySQL. This is not an exhaustive list of databases but not all of them are the same. Additionally, there are many different versions of database software. In most cases, database professionals can apply their skills across all database software versions. When selecting a database professional, its also important to understand what type of role they are going to play. Database Administrators will typically manage multiple database instances across several different enterprise applications. Database Developers will typically support a development team for a custom built application. They understand database modelling, database normalization, and various forms of database calls.

Business Intelligence is a general term to describe the analysis and reporting of information necessary to make good business decisions. There are a number of software tools that service the business intelligence marketplace. Regardless of the software that you use. There are also a lot of legacy names still used for new products. For example, here is a list of Business Intelligence solutions and their new owner.

Cognos is now owned by IBM but they still use the Cognos brand
SAS is still SAS and they are one of the most respected companies in the software industry.
Crystal Reports is also a popular brand and now they are known as SAP Crystal Solutions
Business Objects is now SAP BusinessObjects
Hyperion was bought by Oracle but they retained Hyperion brand
Microstrategy is another common business intelligence software company
Microsoft has their own solution called Microsoft BI that many SQL Server users are running

In order to staff Business Intelligence Resources you must know what types of skills you need. BI Resources have two main skill sets. The first skill is Data Warehouse Development. This can also be referred to as an ETL developer or data modeler. There are lots of ETL tools as well so its important to know the ETL software that is used to build your Data Warehouse. The second skill is Report Analysis. Report Analysts are also called Report Writers and they usually build end user reports, dashboards, etc that leverage the database and provide the end user with the needed business intelligence.

Database and Business Intelligence Skill Sets: