Data is the lifeblood of any organization. However, it is just a bunch of numbers and figures without proper analysis. Business Intelligence (BI) tools are critical to any analytics strategy because they enable you to make meaningful insights from your data.
With data volumes expanding yearly, it can take too much time to test BI reports using SQL queries or automated scripts manually. Therefore, automating this process with an automation tool that runs automated SQL queries against your database makes sense, as it saves time while guaranteeing accuracy.
What is Business Intelligence Testing?
“Business Intelligence Testing” is testing your Business Intelligence (BI) solution. BI Testing encompasses data sources, data models, reports, and dashboards.
It’s also known as “Reporting Testing.” A typical enterprise will have multiple data sources, including databases like Oracle DB/SQL Server/Sybase IQ, etc., which different applications or users across an organization can use. Business intelligence reporting aims to ensure that this data is accurate and consistent across all applications using it for analysis purposes. Tableau, Power BI, Cognos Analytics, and QlikView are common BI solutions.
What is BI testing used for?
BI Testing is used to identify and fix bugs in reports. It helps ensure that the reports are accurate, functional, and meeting business requirements and user expectations.
BI testing should be conducted on all new or modified reports before they are pushed into production. To avoid problems with your reports, you must test each of them thoroughly before using them for real-world analysis.
When you are conducting BI testing, there are several different types of tests you can perform. For example, you should check for data integrity and accuracy by running a series of queries that compare the report results with live data from the source system. You should also test for usability by asking people to use the reports as if they were working in their jobs.
The Importance of BI Report Testing
BI report testing is essential to ensure the quality of your reports. It helps you ensure that:
- The BI report is accurate.
- The BI report is easy to use.
- The BI report is easy to maintain.
- Business users adopt and use the BI reports consistently, leading to better business decision-making and more efficient workflows.
- BI reports work well with other systems (ERP, CRM, etc.).
Need for BI Testing
Testing your BI reports is important in ensuring that they’re accurate, useful, and valuable to your users. A variety of testing methods can do this:
- Usability testing involves observing people as they attempt to use software or websites. The goal is to determine what works well and what doesn’t base on the user’s feedback. This type of testing is especially useful if there are interface issues with your reports, such as buttons not working correctly or information being difficult to find.
- BI testing involves showing different versions of a report simultaneously (e.g., two different graphs) and comparing their performance against each other so that you can determine which one performs better with users before making any changes.
- Contextual interviews ask participants why they use specific kinds of information from BI reports (and not others), allowing you to get insight into how customers perceive value in the products or services used within those reports.
With data volumes expanding exponentially, it can take too much time to test BI reports manually. A tool that automates SQL queries and reporting can streamline testing and save time.
BI testing is a process that ensures the quality of the reports. It involves comparing expected results with actual results and validating business logic embedded in them. When done by humans, this is a time-consuming process that takes days or weeks to complete for even a single report—let alone all your company’s most important analyses!
However, automated tools can help you perform these tests quickly so you don’t lose sight of any crucial issues affecting your business performance—and ensure the timely delivery of meaningful insights to your users.
Conclusion
The growing focus on business intelligence is an exciting development for the industry. However, the increased reliance on BI tools means that it’s more important than ever to ensure they are working as they should. This can be done through testing and monitoring, which is why testing your reports is vital. Automating this process with a tool like SQL Query Testing makes it easier!
