For better or worse, business intelligence (BI) professionals live in a federated world. Despite a BI team’s best efforts, critical data and analytical logic is spread across multiple databases and applications in various parts of an organization. A federated architecture knits these disparate environments together virtually rather than physically. It is neither centralized nor decentralized, but a hybrid of the two, maximizing the benefits of both options, while minimizing their downsides. Moreover, a federated architecture is fluid, changing shape as an organization reinvents itself to better respond to new market realities.

In this BeyeNETWORK e-book, data warehousing expert Wayne Eckerson describes how to create a federated BI architecture that aligns with organizational imperatives.

In this expert e-book readers will:

• Learn the various options for architecture BI environments — centralized, decentralized and federated — and their strengths and weaknesses using case studies
• Discover the impact of organizational models on BI architectures and how the two evolve in lockstep over time
• Learn how to balance corporate and departmental interests when creating a BI architecture
• Understand the role and value of data virtualization tools in a federated architecture.