REVIEWER: Kevin Mackey, manager of data services, Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha.

BACKGROUND: Children's Hospital & Medical Center of Omaha - a 144-bed nonprofit organization and the only full-service pediatric specialty health care center in Nebraska - has cared for children since 1948. In addition to pediatric primary care, patients are referred from throughout the region for the treatment of complex or unusual diseases. No child in need of medical care is ever…

REVIEWER: Jim Collison, technology manager for Gallup.

BACKGROUND: Gallup has studied human nature and behavior for more than 70 years. Gallup's reputation for delivering relevant, timely and visionary research on what people around the world think and feel is the cornerstone of the organization. Gallup employs many of the world's leading scientists in management, economics, psychology and sociology, and our consultants assist leaders in identifying and monitoring behavioral economic indicators worldwide. Gallup consultants…

REVIEWER: Cindy Sedlacek, director of data administration and reporting, College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University.

BACKGROUND: Cornell University is an Ivy League institution comprised of seven undergraduate colleges and four graduate and professional schools. The university serves more than 2,700 faculty and more than 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students. …

REVIEWER: Brian Dolan, director research analytics for Fox Interactive Media.

BACKGROUND: Fox Interactive Media (FIM) – a division of News Corp. – is an interactive services company dedicated to connecting, informing, entertaining and empowering consumers with the most compelling online media experiences. FIM's popular Internet destinations – including MySpace, Photobucket, Fox Sports Interactive, IGN, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen – cross social media and high-value content verticals and reach the largest global audience of any major…

REVIEWER: James S. McGregor, BI administrator for Zions Bancorporation.

BACKGROUND: Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Zions Bancorporation is a financial holding company. The company provides a range of banking and related services through its banking and other subsidiaries, primarily in Utah, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. As of December 31, 2007, Zions Bancorporation, together with its subsidiaries, owned and operated eight commercial banks with a total of 508 domestic branches.…

REVIEWER: Nathan Anderson, data warehouse architect for Gordon Trucking Inc.

BACKGROUND: Founded in 1946, Gordon Trucking Inc. is a family-owned and operated long-haul trucking business. GTI's fleet of 53-foot and 48-foot temperature-controlled Century and Columbia class 8 Freightliner trucks service customers across the continental U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company has long believed in leveraging new technology to create an efficient workplace staffed with effective people. We were challenged by business data stored on…

REVIEWER: Jennifer Devine, senior architect, Barclays Wealth.

BACKGROUND: Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services, with an extensive international presence in Europe, the U.S., Africa and Asia.

PLATFORMS: Embarcadero ER/Studio is used across both Oracle and SQL Server. …

…

Companies of all sizes everywhere are engaging in business intelligence. When done properly, nothing adds value to business in today's economy more than BI

Surprisingly few organizations have a structured approach to measuring the quality of their data

BACKGROUND: Welch's is an agricultural cooperative, owned by its grape growers, and is the world's leading marketer of Concord and Niagara grape-based products, including grape juice and jelly. The company produces a variety of other fruit-based products, including 100% juices, juice cocktails, and drinks in the following forms: single serve, bottled, refrigerated, frozen and shelf-stable concentrates. Welch's also produces a number of fruit spread products under both the Welch's and BAMA brand names. In addition…

REVIEWER: Joe Schwartz, director, marketing for WebEx.

BACKGROUND: WebEx, acquired by Cisco Systems in May of 2007, provides SaaS-based solutions to companies of all sizes. WebEx online meeting and collaboration software services help companies all over the world fulfill their most ambitious goals for marketing, sales, training and support. More than 7 million people use Cisco's WebEx products every month to communicate and collaborate online. …

REVIEWER: Thelma G. Roxas, VP and CIO, and Ms. Jenifer A. Encomienda, BI Project Manager, Robinsons.

BACKGROUND: The Robinsons Retail Group is one of the largest retailers in the Philippines, operating more than 300 stores nationwide across eight retail formats, including department stores, supermarkets, hardware and home solutions, appliances, fashion specialty, toys, convenience stores and single price stores. …

REVIEWER: Clifford Siegel, senior vice president, Global Supply Chain at Lifetime Brands.

BACKGROUND: Lifetime Brands is a resource for nationally branded kitchenware, tabletop and home decor products. The company markets its products under many of the industry's best known brands, including Farberware, Cuisinart, Calvin Klein, CasaModa and Hoffritz. Lifetime's products are distributed through almost every major retailer in the U.S. …

REVIEWER: Peter Gouws, chief financial officer for Loyola University Health System.

BACKGROUND: Loyola University Health System (Loyola) is a nationally recognized leader in providing health care and in conducting groundbreaking research to treat heart disease, cancer, organ transplantation and neurological disorders. Loyola, in conjunction with the Stritch School of Medicine and Loyola University Physician Foundation, has 1,322 faculty members, 452 residents, 100 fellows and 527 medical students. …

REVIEWER: Bill Knight, president and owner, The Wine House.

BACKGROUND: The Wine House is the largest wine merchant in Southern California, with annual sales of approximately $20 million. We sell through the Internet and an 18,000-square-foot retail store in Los Angeles. We've been a wine and spirits retailer for more than 30 years, and we've been on the Internet for 10 years. …

Engaging in democracy, enabling participation

As of this moment, I'm publicly admitting my initial reluctance to embrace social networking trends

As business users expect search engine-type functionality, the role of data values changes

REVIEWER: Varundeep Kaur, IT manager for Spice Communications Ltd.

BACKGROUND: Spice Communications Ltd. is Punjab's second leading telecommunications company, and with more than 3 million current subscribers, Spice is one of the region's fastest-growing cellular phone service providers. Spice offers a wide range of voice and nonvoice cellular services to subscribers on a postpaid or prepaid basis. …

Six keys to success

Industry convergence mandates a holistic BI and performance management approach

Social media is the new channel for customer connection

At global roadway traffic monitor ITIS, sheer volumes of information paved the way for data warehouse appliance efficiencies

REVIEWER: Ken Krause, creative director for Tech Image.

BACKGROUND: Tech Image is a Chicago-area high-tech public relations firm.

PLATFORMS: Windows Server.

PROBLEM SOLVED: Deployment of client-facing dashboards empowers Tech Image to solve the number one pain of its clients - access to quantitative and qualitative data that proves the success of PR campaigns. …

REVIEWER: David Jones, technical analyst for Hampton City Schools.

BACKGROUND:

Hampton City Schools in Hampton,

Virginia, is a district

consisting of 23 elementary schools, six middle schools, four high schools, one

elementary gifted magnet school, and one early childhood center. The mission of

the school district is to create school experiences to ensure that all students…

Achieving high performance through information management and analytics

The top four criteria for selecting open source solutions include lower acquisition and maintenance costs, superior security, freedom from vendor lock-in and better quality software. That's according to the 2009 North Bridge Partners Future of Open Source survey.The priorities reflect a new focus on enterprise-level issues, such as security and quality, over developer interests (such as access to source code), a transition from last year. Bryan House, marketing director at Acquia, one of 14 companies…

Gartner's integration guru makes the case for shared services and standardization

The technical design process should include worst-case scenario planning

Choose an application within the framework of an enterprise strategy

Operations and analytics combine to fully exploit business intelligence

Mastering product information requires different approaches than customer information

Without a good solid, money-in-the-bank business case, enterprise information management is a waste of time

Industry convergence mandates a holistic BI and performance management approach

As business users expect search engine-type functionality, the role of data values changes

Operations and analytics combine to fully exploit business intelligence

Mastering product information requires different approaches than customer information

Choose an application within the framework of an enterprise strategy

The technical design process should include worst-case scenario planning

Achieving high performance through information management and analytics

As of this moment, I'm publicly admitting my initial reluctance to embrace social networking trends

The top four criteria for selecting open source solutions include lower acquisition and maintenance costs, superior security, freedom from vendor lock-in and better quality software. That's according to the 2009 North Bridge Partners Future of Open Source survey.The priorities reflect a new focus on enterprise-level issues, such as security and quality, over developer interests (such as access to source code), a transition from last year. Bryan House, marketing director at Acquia, one of 14 companies…

Engaging in democracy, enabling participation

Gartner's integration guru makes the case for shared services and standardization

Social media is the new channel for customer connection

At global roadway traffic monitor ITIS, sheer volumes of information paved the way for data warehouse appliance efficiencies

Six keys to success

Without a good solid, money-in-the-bank business case, enterprise information management is a waste of time

Companies of all sizes everywhere are engaging in business intelligence. When done properly, nothing adds value to business in today's economy more than BI

Surprisingly few organizations have a structured approach to measuring the quality of their data

REVIEWER: Varundeep Kaur, IT manager for Spice Communications Ltd.

BACKGROUND: Spice Communications Ltd. is Punjab's second leading telecommunications company, and with more than 3 million current subscribers, Spice is one of the region's fastest-growing cellular phone service providers. Spice offers a wide range of voice and nonvoice cellular services to subscribers on a postpaid or prepaid basis. …

REVIEWER: Ken Krause, creative director for Tech Image.

BACKGROUND: Tech Image is a Chicago-area high-tech public relations firm.

PLATFORMS: Windows Server.

PROBLEM SOLVED: Deployment of client-facing dashboards empowers Tech Image to solve the number one pain of its clients - access to quantitative and qualitative data that proves the success of PR campaigns. …

REVIEWER: David Jones, technical analyst for Hampton City Schools.

BACKGROUND:

Hampton City Schools in Hampton,

Virginia, is a district

consisting of 23 elementary schools, six middle schools, four high schools, one

elementary gifted magnet school, and one early childhood center. The mission of

the school district is to create school experiences to ensure that all students…

REVIEWER: Bill Knight, president and owner, The Wine House.

BACKGROUND: The Wine House is the largest wine merchant in Southern California, with annual sales of approximately $20 million. We sell through the Internet and an 18,000-square-foot retail store in Los Angeles. We've been a wine and spirits retailer for more than 30 years, and we've been on the Internet for 10 years. …

REVIEWER: James S. McGregor, BI administrator for Zions Bancorporation.

BACKGROUND: Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Zions Bancorporation is a financial holding company. The company provides a range of banking and related services through its banking and other subsidiaries, primarily in Utah, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. As of December 31, 2007, Zions Bancorporation, together with its subsidiaries, owned and operated eight commercial banks with a total of 508 domestic branches.…

REVIEWER: Nathan Anderson, data warehouse architect for Gordon Trucking Inc.

BACKGROUND: Founded in 1946, Gordon Trucking Inc. is a family-owned and operated long-haul trucking business. GTI's fleet of 53-foot and 48-foot temperature-controlled Century and Columbia class 8 Freightliner trucks service customers across the continental U.S., Canada and Mexico. The company has long believed in leveraging new technology to create an efficient workplace staffed with effective people. We were challenged by business data stored on…

REVIEWER: Brian Dolan, director research analytics for Fox Interactive Media.

BACKGROUND: Fox Interactive Media (FIM) – a division of News Corp. – is an interactive services company dedicated to connecting, informing, entertaining and empowering consumers with the most compelling online media experiences. FIM's popular Internet destinations – including MySpace, Photobucket, Fox Sports Interactive, IGN, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen – cross social media and high-value content verticals and reach the largest global audience of any major…

REVIEWER: Cindy Sedlacek, director of data administration and reporting, College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University.

BACKGROUND: Cornell University is an Ivy League institution comprised of seven undergraduate colleges and four graduate and professional schools. The university serves more than 2,700 faculty and more than 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students. …

REVIEWER: Avishai Avrahami, co-founder and CEO, Wix.com.

BACKGROUND: Wix is an online platform to make Flash Web sites that are search-engine friendly. Users can make complex Flash Web pages with the same effort as presentation slides. As of April 2009, about 580,000 sites were built using the platform. At millions of visits a month, Wix had multiple traffic sources. To make money, it needed Web analytics to optimize its site and convert free users into…

REVIEWER: Kevin Mackey, manager of data services, Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha.

BACKGROUND: Children's Hospital & Medical Center of Omaha - a 144-bed nonprofit organization and the only full-service pediatric specialty health care center in Nebraska - has cared for children since 1948. In addition to pediatric primary care, patients are referred from throughout the region for the treatment of complex or unusual diseases. No child in need of medical care is ever…

REVIEWER: Jim Collison, technology manager for Gallup.

BACKGROUND: Gallup has studied human nature and behavior for more than 70 years. Gallup's reputation for delivering relevant, timely and visionary research on what people around the world think and feel is the cornerstone of the organization. Gallup employs many of the world's leading scientists in management, economics, psychology and sociology, and our consultants assist leaders in identifying and monitoring behavioral economic indicators worldwide. Gallup consultants…

REVIEWER: Jennifer Devine, senior architect, Barclays Wealth.

BACKGROUND: Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services, with an extensive international presence in Europe, the U.S., Africa and Asia.

PLATFORMS: Embarcadero ER/Studio is used across both Oracle and SQL Server. …

…

REVIEWER: Clifford Siegel, senior vice president, Global Supply Chain at Lifetime Brands.

BACKGROUND: Lifetime Brands is a resource for nationally branded kitchenware, tabletop and home decor products. The company markets its products under many of the industry's best known brands, including Farberware, Cuisinart, Calvin Klein, CasaModa and Hoffritz. Lifetime's products are distributed through almost every major retailer in the U.S. …

REVIEWER: Peter Gouws, chief financial officer for Loyola University Health System.

BACKGROUND: Loyola University Health System (Loyola) is a nationally recognized leader in providing health care and in conducting groundbreaking research to treat heart disease, cancer, organ transplantation and neurological disorders. Loyola, in conjunction with the Stritch School of Medicine and Loyola University Physician Foundation, has 1,322 faculty members, 452 residents, 100 fellows and 527 medical students. …

REVIEWER: Thelma G. Roxas, VP and CIO, and Ms. Jenifer A. Encomienda, BI Project Manager, Robinsons.

BACKGROUND: The Robinsons Retail Group is one of the largest retailers in the Philippines, operating more than 300 stores nationwide across eight retail formats, including department stores, supermarkets, hardware and home solutions, appliances, fashion specialty, toys, convenience stores and single price stores. …

REVIEWER: Joe Schwartz, director, marketing for WebEx.

BACKGROUND: WebEx, acquired by Cisco Systems in May of 2007, provides SaaS-based solutions to companies of all sizes. WebEx online meeting and collaboration software services help companies all over the world fulfill their most ambitious goals for marketing, sales, training and support. More than 7 million people use Cisco's WebEx products every month to communicate and collaborate online. …

BACKGROUND: Welch's is an agricultural cooperative, owned by its grape growers, and is the world's leading marketer of Concord and Niagara grape-based products, including grape juice and jelly. The company produces a variety of other fruit-based products, including 100% juices, juice cocktails, and drinks in the following forms: single serve, bottled, refrigerated, frozen and shelf-stable concentrates. Welch's also produces a number of fruit spread products under both the Welch's and BAMA brand names. In addition…