ABSTRACT
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data are of greatest value when the intended recipients are able to quickly understand their meaning and apply them to decision making. In this regard, reporting is at least as important as defining the KPIs and creating the information technology infrastructure required to extract and transform the data from the various data sources. Reporting indicator values may be the culmination of a complex process of linking to disparate databases with an extraction, transformation, and loading tool, developing a data warehouse with data marts, and integrating a business intelligence (BI) charting front end to the system. Statistical reports, which are statistical summaries of KPI data, typically use specialized statistical reporting software that goes beyond the modest statistical capabilities of most BI reporting software. Much of the commercial activity in BI reporting is focused on supporting graphical charts ranging in complexity from simple line graphs to sophisticated control and spider charts.
