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Siebel Analytics Server and the Data Warehouse


The data warehouse approach requires careful planning to succeed in the goal of providing ready access to data. Constructing a new data warehouse typically involves these tasks:

Siebel Analytics Server functionality addresses these tasks and makes them easier to accomplish.

Siebel Analytics Server and Business Model Prototyping

One challenge is to present a user-friendly, straightforward view of business information to end users. Regardless of the physical characteristics of the source data, the business model needs to be developed in conjunction with the people who know and analyze the business, using their terminology and nomenclature. The Siebel Analytics Server allows you to develop and test working prototypes that deliver fully functioning business models with security. Based on feedback, this process can iterate repeatedly before a business undertakes expensive processes to move and reorganize data at the physical level.

Siebel Analytics Server and Source Data

The Siebel Analytics Server provides some kinds of data transformations at query time while leaving source data in place. This allows business model prototyping and rapid decision support system development. For example, the data used in data warehouses typically comes from multiple sources, including diverse transaction systems, several departments, or independent third-party vendors. Normally, various data transformations need to take place to change the format of the data, rename it, perform operations such as summing or averaging, convert it from one format to another, multiply it by equivalency factors, and make data from one system compatible with another.

The Siebel Analytics Server can also help identify potentially erroneous data sources or relationally invalid data sources (dirty data) and, if rules for filtering the data are understood, prevent dirty data from reaching users.

Siebel Analytics Server and Availability for Applications

Because the Siebel Analytics Server does not have a proprietary interface, data is available to any application using standard SQL queries and ODBC (or JDBC to ODBC bridge) connectivity, including both Web-based and client/server applications.

Siebel Analytics Server and OLAP Tools

Normally, the choice of an online analytical processing (OLAP) tool dictates the structure of the data in the data warehouse. The Siebel Analytics Server eliminates this restriction because it can present multiple business models for the same physical data sources. This allows you to customize the presentation of data to your specific online analytical processing (OLAP) tools.

Siebel Analytics Server and Security

The Siebel Analytics Server provides secure access control for both databases and users. The Siebel Analytics Server administrator can grant rights to users through groups, by explicit configuration, or a combination of the two. The Analytics server supports Windows NT and Windows 2000 unified logon, and can integrate with external security systems, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or external database tables that are already in place. Data can be filtered so that users see only the data rows that are pertinent to their role in the organization.

Siebel Analytics Server and Access for End Users

Publishing easy-to-use, realistic business models is at the core of any successful query environment. After you have used the Siebel Analytics Server to create, tailor, and test user-friendly business models, they can be published to your user community. If you want to use the Web to publish, publishing consists of providing the appropriate URL and a logon and password to your users.

Unified Query Environment

In many data warehouse environments, users have to learn different tools to query different parts of the business. One of the goals of a data warehouse is to make all information accessible to the users from a single environment. The Siebel Analytics Server acts as a layer of abstraction over the underlying databases, and offers users a unified query environment in which they can ask business questions that span information sources across the enterprise.

Security is controlled directly through the Analytics server, so access can be granted as the security policy dictates. Multiple business models can be set up as multiple data sources to the users. The Siebel Analytics Server administrator can design the environment based on user wants, needs, and the security policies of the organization. Security can be regulated for each user or group of users and privileges can be set to restrict access to any piece of information, no matter how fine-grained.


 Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide
 Published: 11 March 2004