Birst Networked BI is a BI product that promises to enable a single view of data and eliminate data silos. Additionally, decentralized teams and individual users can augment this shared analytic fabric with their own local data, without compromising data governance. This consistency comes from a unified semantic layer, which maintains common definitions and key metrics, no matter where users sit.
Birst achieves Networked BI through a 2-tier architecture that aligns back-end enterprise data with line-of-business or local, edge data. Birst’s Automated Data Refinement extracts data from any source (data stores, applications, warehouses, big data, and unstructured external sources) into a unified semantic layer. The result is a consistent view that enables users with self-service analytics through dashboards, reporting, visual discovery, mobile tools, and predictive analytics. Birst Open Client Interface also offers integration with Tableau, Excel and R.
Birst goes to market in two primary ways:
- Direct, for enterprises using Birst for analytics on internal data to drive improved business outcomes
- Embedded, for all size companies who offer data (analytics) products, by embedding and white-labeling Birst capabilities into their products
Birst’s product is packaged in 3 available formats:
- Platform and per-user fee
- By Department or Business Unit
- By end-customer (for embedded scenarios)
Birst Features
BI Platform Features
- Administration via Windows App
- Administration via MacOS App
- Administration via Web Interface
- Live Connection to External Data
- Snapshot of External Data
- In-memory data model
- OLAP (Pre-processed cube representation)
- ROLAP (SQL-layer querying)
- Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)
- Data warehouse / dictionary layer
- ETL Capability
- ETL Scheduler
Supported Data Sources Features
Data sources that can be consumed by the application.
- MS Excel Workbooks
- Text Files (CSV, etc)
- Oracle
- MS SQL Server
- IBM DB2
- Postgres
- MySQL
- ODBC
- Cloudera Hadoop
- Hortonworks Hadoop
- EMC Greenplum
- IBM Netezza
- HP Vertica
- ParAccel
- SAP Hana
- Teradata
- Salesforce
- SAP
- Google Analytics
BI Standard Reporting Features
Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.
- Pixel Perfect reports
- Customizable dashboards
- Report Formatting Templates
Ad-hoc Reporting Features
Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.
- Drill-down analysis
- Formatting capabilities
- Predictive modeling
- Integration with R or other statistical packages
- Report sharing and collaboration
Report Output and Scheduling Features
Ability to schedule and manager report output.
- Publish to Web
- Publish to PDF
- Output Raw Supporting Data
- Report Delivery Scheduling
Data Discovery and Visualization Features
Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for pattern and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.
- Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
- Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
- Predictive Analytics
- Support for Machine Learning models
- Integration with R or other statistical packages
Access Control and Security Features
Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.
- Multi-User Support (named login)
- Role-Based Security Model
- Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
- Report-Level Access Control
- Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
- Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
Mobile Capabilities Features
Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
- Responsive Design for Web Access
- Dedicated iOS Application
- Dedicated Android Application
- Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
