Business Intelligence developers or BI developer are the ones who are making data understandable and easily accessible to business owners.
Jump-starting and running a business always implies several unavoidable aspects and things – and data is among the most important ones. Each company is bound to hire someone who would be in charge of gathering and sorting that data, an expert who would be analyzing information and making sure everything in this area is in perfect order.
What does a BI developer do?
Business intelligence (BI) systems combine data gathering, data storage, and knowledge management. Business Intelligence developer transforms the data into useful insights by using software tools. The results that BI specialists obtain from the data serve to implement better decision making.
So, basically, this is how it works: BI tools can be considered as the necessary instruments that help gather, process, interpret, and analyze data. BI developer can be analyzing all sorts of data – past, current, or future/predictive. These insights obtained by BI analysis show:
- What is going well;
- What needs improvement;
- If there are some errors and potential threats;
- Or if some new patterns can be established;
- etc.
BI Developer Job Description
Each Job Description should start with writing a brief segment dedicated to describing the company and the job opening. A list of responsibilities and duties expected from a new hire to perform should follow.
Business Intelligence Developer Responsibilities:
- Performing business and data analysis
- Transformation, modeling and data validation
- Designing, building and deploying BI solutions
- Creating tools to store data
- Create visualizations and reports
- Report optimization
- Report review
- Data quality management
- Evaluating and improving existing BI systems
These are some of the responsibilities that can be found in the Business Developer candidate persona.
Other tasks might include:
- Design and implementation of Datawarehouse solutions
- Database development
BI Developer – Required Skills:
- It is required of a Business Developer to be familiar with the SQL database and some other relational database
- Previous experience with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
- Knowledge of Database Management systems
- Familiarity with Data Warehousing
- Employers are also looking for BI Developers who have some experience with some programming language (C# is the most frequently required language)
- Hands-on experience with one or more BI and reporting tools (Microsoft Power BI, Oracle BI, or some other)
- Experience with ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
What are Business Intelligence (BI) tools?
Business Intelligence (BI) tool is an intuitive software that utilizes a particular set of technologies to gather, prepare, analyze, and present data. This process turns compiled data into actionable and understandable business information. The obtained results help the company’s decision-makers make more effective decisions.
Why are BI Tools helpful?
There are several different Business Intelligence tools, and they can all be beneficial on different levels.
✅ Reliable data compiling – The usage of BI tools will undoubtedly help to bring together all of the essential data. All companies, the large ones as well as the small ones, gather their data from all kinds of sources and portals – CRM, API, databases, ERP, etc. BI Developers, thanks to the usage of these tools, represent the compiled data in a corrects and reliable way.
✅ Unlocking the data access – Utilization of BI tools helps with time-saving, and it makes life easier for everyone in the IT Department. The self-service approach that’s characteristic to Business Intelligence tools makes this possible. Each individual in the company who has access to BI software can perform necessary analysis autonomously. These tools enable them to explore data and information individually.
✅ Automatization – Forget about the spreadsheets and static presentations. BI tools will reduce the necessity of manual tasks and simplify all information-related actions.
✅ Reducing business costs – BI tools affect financial aspects positively. They enable brisk planning, quick and thorough analysis, and fast and accurate reporting processes. Business Intelligence tools can and should be used for sales planning, customer conduct, actions, and habits analysis, and offer optimization.
✅ Availability and adaptability – The tools used for Business Intelligence analysis are at your disposal 24/7. Also, they can adjust to the specific needs of a company – the software can scale or de-scale. When the data is being stored on the cloud, you can have access to it at all times.
The most popular Business Intelligence (BI) tools
Microsoft Power BI is one of the tools that always seem to come in handy. Experience with this tool as often listed among the requirements for a BI developer role. Power BI gathers, shapes, analyzes, explores, transform and cleans the data. It also creates charts or graphics to layout the visual representation of the data.
Tableau is a popular and efficient data visualization tool. It simplifies raw data into an understandable format. Tableau translates queries and manages metadata. It is suitable for importing data of all sizes and ranges. It can be easily understood by a non-tech user as well.
Sisense is a business intelligence platform that enables its users to perform data analysis and obtain certain results. It simplifies complex data. It has some custom features for different teams and different necessities.
Domo Software is a SaaS business management suite that can perform micro and macro-level analysis. It provides teams with insights into their business metrics. It creates interactive visualizations to present the analyzed data.
Zoho Analytics is a reporting and business intelligence solution. It consists of several applications, and includes dashboards, data warehousing, reporting, analysis, etc. Zoho is cloud-based.
Dundas BI is a very popular platform that includes a dashboard, reporting, and analytics, and it is known for its flexibility. The reports users create by using this platform can be indefinitely customized. Dundas BI has gained its good reputation due to the level of personalization that it provides.
And…
ETL – one of the most important parts of Business Intelligence
ETL is short for extract, transform, load. These terms are referring to the extraction of data from one base and its placement in another base. Extraction is the process of reading and collecting data, and it can be done by using one or multiple sources. Transformation implies converting the extract data into a suitable form – shaping it in such a way to match the new database where it’s going to be placed. Load is the term used to define the final part where the data is being written into the new (target) database.
BI Reports
The findings discovered thanks to Business Intelligence tools are being shown in reports. BI reports can be represented in the form of visual charts, standard textual content, or both combined. They can also be expressed as statistical data.
Becoming a Business Intelligence developer might seem difficult at the start. This career is certainly worth for you to pursue if you’re analytical and have a great deal of problem-solving potential. This course can help you get started in no time.
The amazing fact is that being an expert in the BI field opens a variety of possibilities for you. You can switch from one industry into another. There will always be some new skills and new tools you’ll be learning about. Hard skills are equally important as soft skills, which is both demanding and beautiful because you’ll be in a constant need to perfect all your knowledge and abilities.
