Infor Birst Product Overview
Infor Birst is a comprehensive business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform designed to empower organizations with data-driven decision-making. Here’s a detailed overview of what the product does and its key features.
What Infor Birst Does
Infor Birst combines data from various sources into a single, integrated Networked BI platform. This platform enables businesses to collect, integrate, analyze, and visualize data, providing valuable insights for strategic planning and operational optimization. It supports both centralized and decentralized BI models, blending corporate data with local data to create a robust and agile analytics environment.
Key Features and Functionality
Data Integration and Governance
- Birst integrates data from multiple sources, including existing data warehouses, flat or structured files, and cloud business applications. It uses Automated Data Refinement (ADR) and a transformation language (ETL) to automatically merge and refine data, creating a unified user data store.
Real-Time Data Access
- Birst Live Access allows for direct, real-time queries on on-premise data sources, ensuring that users have the most current data available for analysis.
Reporting and Visualization
- The platform includes tools like Designer and Visualizer, which enable users to create pixel-perfect reports, charts, and interactive dashboards. These dashboards can be accessed via web browsers or through the Birst Mobile app, allowing for seamless viewing and sharing of reports.
Advanced Analytics
- Infor Birst supports advanced analytics capabilities, including data modeling, embedded analytics, and integration with R Server for advanced statistical analysis and machine learning.
Supply Chain and Production Optimization
- For manufacturers, Birst offers features such as complete supply chain visibility, production planning, and quality control analytics. This helps in tracking inventory levels, production schedules, and supplier performance, leading to optimized processes and reduced costs.
Healthcare Analytics
- In the healthcare sector, Birst enables the integration and analysis of vast amounts of patient data, facilitating data-driven decision-making, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing patient care. It also helps in identifying trends, optimizing resource allocation, and complying with regulatory requirements.
Deployment Options
- Infor Birst offers flexible deployment options, including Birst Cloud (a multi-tenant cloud solution), Birst Appliance (for on-premise deployment), and Birst Embedded (for integrating BI content into other applications).
Connectivity Framework
- The platform provides various connectivity options such as Birst Connect, Birst Live Access, Application Connectors (for integrating with enterprise applications like Marketo and Salesforce), and the ability to upload files from Microsoft Excel, Access, or delimited ASCII text.
Additional Capabilities
- Collaboration and Sharing: Reports can be shared with other users as PDFs via email on an ad-hoc basis or as regularly scheduled notifications.
- End-User Empowerment: End users can upload local “sandbox” data to blend with the main data store, enabling quick creation of powerful reports.
- Security and Performance: Birst ensures guaranteed performance, reliability, and security, particularly through its cloud deployment option.
In summary, Infor Birst is a powerful BI and analytics platform that integrates diverse data sources, provides advanced analytics capabilities, and supports various deployment options, making it a versatile tool for organizations seeking to enhance their data-driven decision-making processes.