Product Overview of Birst
What is Birst?
Birst is a cloud-based business intelligence and analytics tool developed by Brad Peters and Paul Staelin, former leaders of the product team behind Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE). Now part of Infor’s portfolio, Birst is designed to connect the entire enterprise through a network of virtualized BI instances, providing a unified and integrated view of business performance.
Key Features and Functionality
Data Unification and Integration
Birst uses “intelligent unification technologies” to map and model data from multiple sources, including cloud applications, transactional systems, data lakes, and on-premise data warehouses. This capability ensures a consistent view of data across the organization, eliminating analytical silos and enabling unified definitions for key metrics.
Automated Data Refinement (ADR)
Birst features Automated Data Refinement (ADR) technology, which automates the process of building a star-schema model of data and data warehouses. This eliminates the need for manual ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, making it easier for users to create and manage data warehouses without extensive technical knowledge.
Networked BI
Birst’s multi-tenant cloud architecture allows for the creation of virtual BI tenants that can be linked together. This “Networked BI” approach enables decentralized teams to use their own data while still leveraging centralized corporate data, promoting self-service data access, consistency, and inter-team collaboration.
Enhanced User Experience
The platform offers an enhanced user experience with fast and secure access to data. It supports various styles of analytic content, including responsive and interactive dashboards, data integration tools, and embedded predictive tools. This adaptive interface allows users to extract data and make smarter decisions confidently.
Mobile Capabilities
Birst provides robust mobile capabilities with HTML5 and native app delivery, including offline support. This ensures that users can access critical business information and perform analyses on-demand using their mobile devices.
Scalability and Deployment Flexibility
Birst can be deployed in various environments, including multi-tenant cloud, on-premise using the “appliance” option, or in a hybrid architecture where the database can be hosted on-premise and other components in the cloud. This flexibility ensures scalability and reliability tailored to the organization’s needs.
Reporting and Dashboarding
The platform offers comprehensive reporting and dashboarding functionality, including charts, tables, geo maps, and key performance indicators (KPIs). Reports can be shared as PDFs or scheduled notifications, and external content can be integrated to enhance the user experience.
Versions and Licensing
Birst is available in two main versions: Professional and Enterprise. The Professional version is designed for pulling data from a limited number of sources, while the Enterprise version offers more flexibility in data sources and advanced technical functionality for ETL and Star Schema. Both versions share the same reporting and dashboarding capabilities, with the Enterprise version including additional features like Pixel Perfect reports by default.
Additional Benefits
- Faster Time to Value: Birst’s automated processes and intuitive interface enable organizations to quickly implement and start using the platform, reducing the time and resources needed to get value from their BI investment.
- Patented Technologies: Birst holds a broad technology patent for its data warehouse automation feature and uses patented machine learning technology to diagnose and uncover drivers affecting business performance.
- Integration with Other BI Platforms: Birst can integrate with other BI platforms, enhancing its versatility and compatibility within diverse IT environments.
In summary, Birst is a powerful business intelligence and analytics tool that unifies complex data, automates data refinement, and provides a flexible, scalable, and user-friendly platform for making data-driven decisions. Its innovative features and deployment options make it a highly regarded solution in the BI and analytics space.