Professional Microsoft® SQL Server® Analysis Services 2008 with MDX

1.4. Business Intelligence Is Data Analysis

Having designed a data warehouse, the next step is to understand and make business decisions from your data warehouse. Business intelligence is nothing more than analyzing your data and making actionable decisions. An example of business analytics is shown through the analysis of results from a product placed on sale at a discounted price, as commonly seen in any retail store. If a product is put on sale for a special discounted price, there is an expected outcome: increased sales volume. This is often the case, but whether or not it worked in the company's favor isn't obvious. That is where business analytics come into play. We can use SSAS 2008 to find out if the net effect of the special sale was to sell more product units. Suppose you are selling organic honey from genetically unaltered bees; you put the 8-ounce jars on special — two for one — and leave the 10- and 12-ounce jars at regular price. At the end of the special you can calculate the lift provided by the special sale — the difference in total sales between a week of sales with no special versus a week of sales with the special. How is it you could sell more 8-ounce jars on special that week, yet realize no lift? It's simple — the customers stopped buying your 10- and 12-ounce jars in favor of the two-for-one deal; and you didn't attract enough new business to cover the difference for a net increase in sales.

You can surface that information using SSAS 2008 by creating a ...