What to Keep in Mind When it Comes to Analytics and Reporting Tools

Analytics And Reporting Tools October 09, 2020

Hanh Truong

Writer

Efficient analytics and reporting tools are web-based systems that can translate extracted data into comprehensive and presentable graphs and visuals.

Proper reporting techniques will consolidate information, simplify business intelligence (BI), and assist with creating operational reports. These systems can produce a variety of statements, such as static and interactive reports, which allow organizations to have better visibility of data and informed decision-making opportunities.

Goals of Analytics and Reporting Tools

Develop a Business Strategy Model
Data reporting systems, along with business intelligence software, are crucial to the process of creating a business strategy model. Executives need to review all the data regarding their business before they can implement new policies or transform their strategy. During the strategic planning process, meaningful statistics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) found by reporting management tools can be translated into actionable information.

Create User-Friendly and Accessible Reports
Reporting makes data easy to understand and ready for analysis. For instance, a promotional sales report will measure the success of a seasonal sale by including charts that indicate quantities of items sold and revenue that was generated. Executives can then easily and efficiently analyze whether to continue using the same promotional sale for the following season.

Actively Track Productivity
Reporting software provides up-to-date information, allowing management teams to monitor the performance of every operation in the business. These systems allow business users to actively gauge pertinent information, such as the progress of goal achievement and trends for social media and digital marketing. Since the data is frequently updated, executives can make quick decisions about their business when necessary.

Make Data-Driven Judgements
Integrating a dependable data reporting tool will ensure accurate reports that are relevant to a business, such as inventory or labor law compliance. By having tailored reports, organizations can enhance their performance management and make strategic decisions that are reinforced by statistics, while upholding policies.

Breaking Down the Basics of Reporting

Reporting for Business Intelligence
Reporting is at the core of data analysis and business intelligence (BI) analytics. This is because it produces data visibility through visuals, such as graphs and charts. These visualizations help end-users by accurately presenting metrics from a data warehouse and other information in a user-friendly format.

Visualization
Visualization of data allows for data discovery and research. With charts, graphs, and tables, users can choose from different levels of interactivity, making the presented data source more comprehensible. This is evident with Microsoft Power BI, which has business intelligence capabilities that can provide interactive visualizations and simplified reports, dashboards, and other tools that make data digestible.

Due to the accessibility of data visualization, management teams can act as their company's own data analyst and perform methodical tasks, like base-level data modeling, and proceed to make objective judgments.

Self-Service Analytics
The best reporting software has become more interactive with self-service analytics, such as Zoho analytics and Google analytics. These software tools reduce the need for IT specialists or data science developers because it allows users to independently analyze data, edit reports, and share them, overall making project management accessible.

Enterprise Reporting
Oftentimes, enterprise-wide reporting can make information too broad to interpret, especially after data integration, which is when various data information is gathered from separate data sources and put into a centralized system.

To prevent an overload of big data, reporting tools should be incorporated into the corresponding enterprise software that a company is using to run their business. This is important for large businesses that have to extract metrics from multiple departments that use disparate data systems. Using reporting management tools will make data easier to comprehend, allowing organizations to make informed decisions and take action.

While enterprise reporting can make visually appealing reports, embedded analytics tools provide another layer of advanced capabilities. Embedded analytics, also known as embedded business intelligence, allows for a variety of applications such as predictive analytics platform and interactive dashboards.

Once reports are ready to be exported, embedded reporting provides different ways to deliver reports, ranging from PDFs to Excel.

How Do Reporting Tools Work?

Reliable reporting tools have cloud based applications and intelligence software that empower any authorized employee to work directly on data analytics and report development.

The software uses ad hoc reporting, which are business intelligence tools that enable users to easily create reports with real-time data. These reports would be tailored to inquiries that a business is researching. Once the report is ready to be published, reporting management tools provide users with a variety of options that allow for distribution, bursting, or scheduling.

Benefits of Embedded Reporting

1. Adds More Value to Existing Systems
Embedded reporting allows for more advanced options that can enhance the visibility of data and reporting methods, within systems that users already depend on. It will also provide more interactivity, which helps business users access reports that are more relevant to their needs.

2. Saves Money, Time, and Effort
Since analytics and reporting management software is already embedded with intelligence tools, organizations do not have to waste resources or time on machine learning or developing and updating their own applications. In turn, businesses will be able to make better use of financial resources and valuable time, allowing for an effective Return on Investment (ROI).

3. Ready-to-Use
Embedded reporting is available to install and be used once it is acquired, allowing for easy use. Organizations can quickly begin setting up their reports and start making data-driven decisions.

4. White Label Technology
These reporting management tools can be rebranded to seamlessly fit the intended organization's brand or software.

Analytics and reporting tools help to quantify all necessary data of an organization, which will allow for informed approaches and efficient problem-solving. By keeping in mind all of the basics and benefits of these tools, users will be able to maximize their potential and experiences with the software.