1. Choosing
the Right
BI Platform
Ryan Buerger
IT Manager,
Enterprise Content &
Collaboration
FirstBank
Denver, Colorado

2. Agenda
• The Lay of the Land
• Goals and Objectives
• Things to Know Before
Your Start
• BI Platform Selection
Process
• Real-World Benefits
• Questions & Answers

3. The Lay
of the Land

4. FirstBank
Denver, Colorado
• Second largest bank by
deposits in Colorado
• Focus on consumer
banking
• Over $11 billion in assets
• Founded in 1963
• Over 125 locations in
Colorado, Arizona, and
California
www.efirstbank.com

5. Technical Challenges
• Multiple BI systems
• Platform-dependent reports
• Developers created new
reports based on the tool
they knew
• Java and Windows teams
couldn’t use each other’s
applications
• Difficult to maintain reports
• Complex integration with in-
house applications
• Reports routed via email and
network drives

6. Environment
• Windows and Java
• Internal data sources only
• Everything lived in database,
data warehouse, or web
services
• LDAP with authentication via
Active Directory
• Oracle Advanced Security
• Entire environment
virtualized with VMware

7. Requirements
• Broad database, driver,
programming interface,
and export support
• Add and convert
applications easily and
quickly
• Improve report return
time from minutes to
seconds
• Meet scalability needs of
organization over time
• Improve time to market
on all new reports

8. Goals and
Objectives

9. Objective
Don’t get distracted
by shiny objects
Big Data, Mobile, other BI
concepts and buzzwords
that grab attention, but
don’t align with your
situation, diverting focus
from the task at hand.

10. Objective
Render old platforms
obsolete and
consolidate them
Eliminate platforms to:
• Speed development
• React quickly to change
• Reduce support and
maintenance costs

11. Objective
Reduce report
integration complexity
Speed application
development and
integration by reducing data
integration and UI
complexities

12. Things to
Know Before
You Start

13. Know Your
Data Sources
• Web Service
• Direct Database
• Data Warehouse
• Programming Objects
• LDAP
• XML
• Flat File

14. Know Your
Business Process
• Application
development
• Analytics
• Static reports
• Documents and
disclosures
• Self service

15. Know Your Audience
• Programmers
• UI developers
• Report developers
• Business users
• Partners

16. The BI
Platform
Selection
Process

17. Evaluation Lessons
Ask developers—with
no training—to create
various reports using
each platform

18. Evaluation Scorecards
Develop evaluation
metrics and complete
scorecards for each
report on each platform

19. BI Platform Scorecard
• Data sources required
• Report scheduling and
bursting
• WYSIWYG editor
• Types of report builders
• APIs
• Output types
• Parameter support
• Licensing and costs
• Training and services
• Vendor and product
stability

20. Timeline
2009-2010
Evaluated BI platforms
Summer 2010
Gathered requirements
and created plans
December 2011
First production reports
March 2012
First Windows apps
June 2012
First Java apps

21. Preliminary Evaluation
BI Platforms XML Solutions
• Actuate • LogiXML
• MicroStrategy • Stylus Studio
• Business Objects
• Cognos
• Jaspersoft
Analyst Reports
Gartner and Forrester
Technical Evaluation
• Downloaded trial versions
and public documentation
• Narrowed to MicroStrategy
and Actuate
• Selected Actuate

22. Why FirstBank
Selected Actuate
• Scalability
• Report performance
• Java and JavaScript APIs
• Web Services
• WYSIWYG design tools
Sample Reports
2 days with Actuate
2 weeks with MicroStrategy

23. Security Architecture
Token
IC2
Thick Token Token
IPSE Token
Client App Username Database
I
Pass-through P
Java R
E
S
T
R
I
IC2 iServer
C Username
ASP.Net T IPSE RSSE Directory
I
O
N
SSO/Basic Authentication
IC2
Web SSO SSO
IPSE SSO
Browser User/Pass Username
Directory

24. Reports Embedded in SharePoint

25. Early
Results
Using
Actuate

26. Enterprise Reporting
Implementation
2200 users across the
entire company
Windows
• Loan request system
• Point-of-sale tool for
bank officers
• Back office centralized
loan processing
Java
• Account cross-sell
application

27. Anti-Money
Laundering System
FirstBank users:
• Run daily and weekly
reports to verify
activity
• Navigate directly to
reports through
iServer portal
• View reports in
Information Console

28. Loan Tracking System
• Tracks loans in process,
who is involved and
what is still needed
• Users include 100s of
branch reps, officers
and back office staff

29. Cross-Sell Reports
• Recommends other
products when bank
reps open accounts
and sell products
• Users include branch
workers, tellers,
managers, marketing,
new account reps

30. Future Plans
• Add 10 to 12 more apps
by end of year
• Convert or eliminate all
non-Actuate reports
including 200 Crystal
reports
• Build Personal Financial
Management System
• Provide user self-service
platform
• Support mobile devices

31. Real-World
Benefits
with Actuate

32. Development Benefits
• App specialists focus on
their apps, not building
reports
• Reports integrated into
apps quickly and without
extra development
• Multi-source support
reduced reports required
• BIRT Exchange provided
pre-built components

33. Business Benefits
• Faster time to market for
new systems
• Report wait reduced from
10 minutes to seconds
• Multiple-source reports
more usable
• More work done with
same number of people
• Lower support and
training costs from
platform consolidation

34. Lessons Learned
• Consolidate similar BI
functionality onto one
platform
• Focus on areas that affect
everyone
• Give developers reports
to implement on each
platform you evaluate
• Use evaluation scorecards
• Understand licensing and
hardware issues
Keep your eyes on the prize
and prioritize

35. Questions
& Answers
Ryan Buerger
rbuerger@efirstbank.com

36. Choosing
the Right
BI Platform
THANK YOU
Ryan Buerger
rbuerger@efirstbank.com