Processes and business intelligence systems

Organizations accomplish their goals within the organizational structure by processing input into output in order to generate business and fulfill the needs of their customers . An organizational process is a collection of activities that is performed in order to reach a certain organizational goal or business objective (operational, strategic, tactical).

This transformation process adds a margin of value (referred to as the value chain model), enriches input and processes the input in a way that the output is more valuable compared to the input (Porter, 1985).

Business Intelligence & Organizational structures

Structure follows business intelligence strategy. To accomplish goals, an organization needs a formal and informal structure. People perform their work within an organizational structure, “the total amount of ways how work is distributed in different tasks and the way how, after that coordination, between those tasks is realized” (Mintzberg, 1983).

Different types of organizations

Different organizational goals lead to different type of organizations. Not every organization sells products. Some organizations offer services and some do both. Products are physical goods or are at least physically perceivable. Services, such as cleaning, are less tangible and they represent an activity or process.

Production and production capability

Cybernetic or open social systems do have nine features in common (Nadler and Tushman, 1995). These are in the table below and are subdivided into production and production capability aspects.

The organization as cybernetic system

Managing is a complex process that can be compared to driving a car. We use a car to get us to work and we use the steering wheel, the accelerator pedal, the brakes and the gears while taking care that the motor system keeps working properly. At the same time, we pay attention to other traffic users in order to anticipate quickly on situations that might bring us otherwise in trouble.

Definitions: organizations and goals

An organization is a steady, formal and social structure that takes resources from the environment and processes them to produce output (Laudon, 1997).

Variations in the user interface of business intelligence systems

In the first series of blogs, I discuss and explore the ‘world of the manager’and the business intelligence systems they use to make proper decisions and I relate those aspects to (intelligent) user interface design. My primary goal is to determine if and how knowledge-based systems are useful for the partial or complete automatic generation of the user interface of reports and dashboards.

Where Business Intelligence meets Artificial Intelligence

In this feasibility study, the potential role that knowledge technology can play in the area of business intelligence solutions, organizations and senior management, intelligent human computer interaction, and their interaction has been researched. The main objective of this study has been to gain more insight into the world of the senior manager and the way he manages the organization in order to discover variations in the domain of discourse (e.g. the area of interest).