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Siebel Analytics User Guide > Getting Started with Siebel Analytics >
Overview of Siebel Analytics for End Users
Typically, organizations track and store large amounts of data about products, customers, prices, contacts, activities, assets, opportunities, employees, and other elements. This data is often spread across multiple databases in different locations with different versions of database software. After the data has been organized and analyzed, it can provide an organization with the metrics to measure the state of its business. This data can also present key indicators of changes in market trends and in employee, customer, and partner behavior. Siebel Analytics helps you obtain, view, and analyze the data. This section contains the following topics:
How Siebel Analytics Works
This topic provides a broad overview of Siebel Analytics and how it works, from an end-user perspective. Siebel Analytics has four main components: - Siebel Analytics operational applications. For organizations with Siebel Business Applications, also referred to as Siebel operational applications, a Siebel Analytics application is a configurable analytic application accessible from a Siebel application that uses industry best practices and addresses key functional areas across Siebel applications within an organization. For example, Siebel Sales Analytics is a configurable analytic application accessible from the Siebel Sales operational application. Siebel Analytics applications are integrated with Siebel Business Applications to provide business metrics in reports, in context with an organization's business function and industry.
- Siebel Answers. Siebel Answers provides answers to business questions. It allows users with the appropriate permissions to create requests that let you explore and interact with information, and present and visualize information using charts, pivot tables, and reports. Results can be saved, organized, and shared with others.
Requests created with Siebel Answers can be saved in the Siebel Analytics Web Catalog and integrated into any Siebel Analytics home page or dashboard. Results can be enhanced through charting, result layout, calculation, and drilldown features.
- Siebel Intelligence Dashboards. Dashboards provide points of access for analytics information. Results from Siebel Answers can be placed into dashboards for your use or use by others. (When you access Siebel Analytics, your default dashboard is typically the first page that you see.)
Dashboards are typically used to display content specific to the needs of users or groups. Siebel Analytics allows you to create your own dashboards or to access preconfigured dashboards. Historical and current data sources can be merged into a single dashboard.
- Siebel Delivers. Siebel Delivers is the interface used to create alerts based on analytics results. If your organization licensed this interface, you can use Siebel Delivers to detect specific results within reports and immediately notify the appropriate person through Web, wireless, mobile, and voice communications channels. For example, if you want to be notified when a particular event occurs, such as one of your accounts going critical, you can create an alert that will notify you through a number of delivery options, such as email or your cell phone.
Siebel Delivers uses intelligence bots called iBots. iBots are software-based agents, driven by schedules or events that can access, filter, and perform analytics on data based on criteria you specify.
Siebel Analytics does not require any special internet browser settings. Siebel Analytics uses a cookie to track your logged-on session. If You Are a User of a Siebel Analytics Application
For organizations with Siebel Business Analytics applications, Siebel Analytics is integrated into Siebel operational applications. For example, Siebel Sales Analytics applications are integrated into the Siebel Sales operational application. Applications include Extract Transform Load (ETL) routines to extract, transform, and load data from the Siebel OLTP into the Siebel Data Warehouse. They also contain metadata that maps to the Siebel Data Warehouse and the transactional database, and define key measures and metrics for all levels of the organization. About Preconfigured Reports and Dashboards in Siebel Analytics Applications
Siebel Analytics applications also include preconfigured reports on preconfigured dashboards that cover the majority of business reporting needs. These reports and dashboards deliver information to you based on your organizational responsibility. The data being analyzed is located in the Siebel Data Warehouse. The subject areas that you use when constructing reports are included with your Siebel Analytics application. About Security in Siebel Analytics Applications
Siebel Analytics applications use security mechanisms that allow only authorized users to access data. There are three types of security in Siebel Analytics applications: - Analytics application business logic object security. This controls access to objects, such as subject areas, tables, and columns. For example, users in a particular department can view only the subject areas that belong to their department.
- Web object security. This provides security for objects stored in the Siebel Analytics Web Catalog, such as dashboards, dashboard pages, folders, and reports. You can view only the objects for which you are authorized. For example, a mid-level manager may not be granted access to a dashboard containing summary information for an entire department.
- Data level security. This controls the type and amount of data that you can see in a report. When multiple users run the same report, the results that are returned to each depend on their access rights and roles in the organization. For example, a sales vice president sees results for all regions, while a sales representative for a particular region sees only data for that region.
The security mechanisms in Siebel Analytics applications use the security hierarchies defined in Siebel Business Applications. This minimizes the need for Siebel Analytics administrators to manage two security systems. It also allows a high degree of control over access to elements in Siebel Analytics applications. If You Are a User of Stand-Alone Siebel Analytics
Stand-alone Siebel Analytics is not shipped with metadata, preconfigured reports, or preconfigured dashboards. Instead, a system administrator in your organization uses Siebel Analytics to organize corporate data and create subject areas for your use in building reports. Administrators also configure user security in Siebel Analytics. Administrators or end users with the appropriate authority may create several reports and dashboards for you, or customize the look and feel of the user interface to resemble your organization's corporate style.
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