Example Scenarios for Information Broadcasting

Within information broadcasting there are number of different scenarios possible for distributing BI content. This section contains some possible scenarios that provide examples of how you can use information broadcasting in your company.

We can generally differentiate between the distribution type E-mail or Enterprise Portal. There are also different conceptual scenarios and ad-hoc scenarios for both distribution types.

Conceptual scenarios are created together with the IT team, consultants and power users from the various departments (Knowledge Workers and authors). Using the broadcast settings that were previously scheduled or were triggered by a data change, the system automatically distributes the relevant BI content. Business end users (Information Consumers) have nothing to do with the distribution of conceptual scenarios.

With ad-hoc scenarios, the infrastructure for the process is predefined and the process can be executed by business end users during data analysis. Employees that receive standard reports and use the data as information source, you are able to distribute the reports ad-hoc using an assistant - called the BEx Broadcasting Wizard.

Distribution of BI Content by E-mail

Periodic Scheduling

As the responsible Sales Manager for your company, you want to send the monthly sales reports to your field sales representatives by e-mail, for example. The employees receive the reports in their inbox in their usual work environment and can trigger processes based on the data (forwarding reports to colleagues, scheduling meetings, and so on). The precalculated reports are available offline on the laptop so that the field sales representatives can work with them when they are not in the office as well. For more information, see Distribution of the Monthly Sales Report by E-Mail.

Ad hoc Distribution

You work in sales and analyze the monthly sales report with the current data, which you have received as an online link by e-mail. You notice unusual sales figures and send the report to colleagues with exactly this navigational state to let them know about the issue. For more information, see Ad-hoc Distribution of Unusual Sales Data by E-Mail.

Provision of BI Content in the Enterprise Portal

Periodic Scheduling

As the responsible Sales Manager for your company, you want to be automatically informed when new data is loaded for the sales report. You are working in the Enterprise Portal and receive a notification from Knowledge Management whenever the sales report contains new data. For more information, see Providing the Sales Report in the Portal and Notification Upon Data Change.

Ad hoc Distribution

You have a marketing job and are working together with your colleagues on a new advertising campaign. Because you work in different locations, you use collaboration rooms in the Enterprise Portal to discuss your common tasks. For the next meeting, you distribute the sales report for the current month into the Collaboration Room in order to use the data to identify the products and regions that the advertising campaign should address. For more information, see Ad-hoc Distribution of the Sales Report in a Collaboration Room.