The history and evolution of reporting

In its early years, Business Intelligence (BI) was commonly synonymous with reporting because it was the easiest way to consume data. Analysts evaluated business performance by generating relatively static but professionally formatted and easy to consume reports. They then took action based on the insight presented in the reports. As insight needs grew more sophisticated, reporting solutions flooded the market, but most approaches were plagued by usability issues.

Traditionally, reporting tools focused on two tiers of users - the analysts with specialized skills that sift through the data and create the reports and the users that need to consume the static information residing in the reports. The disparity between these two groups has widened to the point where disjointed processes are hampering the benefits that business intelligence can bring.

As BI becomes crucial in the decision making process, information workers are demanding more insight to make better decisions. A "one size fits all" reporting approach is not enough anymore.

With this type of approach, analysts and end users operate in two distinct environments. This disparity affects the strength of the report because the analyst determines the data to present independent of the user. Second, reports generated in this manner are fairly static. If the analyst invested the time, there may have been some filtering and sorting capabilities incorporated. But usually, users are left to view the report according to how the analyst structured it, with little capability of drilling into the data or exploring it to answer questions that arise from the initial analysis.

Read the full article about the evolution of reporting and the things that differentiate one solution from another.