“Yeah,” said the mentors, “…we might want to fix that.” “But,” I pointed out, “they’re called ‘Insert PivotTable Report’ on the Excel menu today!” (This was Excel 2003). I was told that interactive things like PivotTables were Analysis tools – NOT Reporting tools! Reports were something completely different.
I struggled mightily to grasp this difference. You see, these were Two Very Different Things. It wasn’t an “and” – no, the “versus” was chosen deliberately in these sermons. The “versus” seemed to be pretty important. I was excited, but now I needed a crash course in “what the hell is BI?” I was given multiple tutors, and they all were quick to introduce the concept of Analysis versus Reporting. (The stodgy 2000s-era, IT-bottlenecked reality would not dawn on me until much later).Įxcel was about to make a large investment in BI-related capabilities, and the powers that be had selected me to lead our part in it. It sounded cool, like Jack Ryan in a darkened room at the CIA. This is back when the term (BI) was fresh. In 2002, as part of the Excel team at Microsoft, I was introduced to the concept of Business Intelligence. There are few stories as tortured and twisted as my relationship with Analysis and Reporting. In an era of Action, we have the chance to hybridize in ways that were impossible before.Old habits die hard, and old use cases die even harder.But I also think we’ve overcorrected quite a bit, and it’s time to take a fresh look.Today, Analysis seems to have “won,” and this DOES reflect major progress!.20 years ago, BI was dominated by Reporting, with Analysis as an upstart.There’s always been a blurry line between Analysis and Reporting.
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