Market Growth
The first tool used by most Russian companies for analysis and reporting was MS Excel. This product was cheap and its ease of use and functionality suited end users. Experienced users created programs in Visual Basic for Applications in order to enhance their analytical models built into Excel worksheets. Although MS Excel was and still is very popular, some companies required more powerful tools for analyzing large volumes of data stored in their relational databases. Therefore when Oracle Express became available in Russia, it was supposed to be a hot item due to its good scalability and advanced OLAP capabilities.
In the late 90’s, the level of competition among Russian business companies was significant. The size of databases of small and medium companies was constantly growing. These factors resulted in an increase in demand for powerful and inexpensive analytical tools, and BI vendors reacted quickly. The Russian BI market began to grow.
Bi Readiness
Most Russian companies go through two phases before they are ready for BI. The first phase is to implement an OLTP system for collecting, storing and updating primary data in the relational database. There are some popular Russian built OLTP systems, initially created as the tools for financial accounting. Then, from version to version, the number of modules of these systems significantly increased, and now their functionality is close to the functionality of MRP/ERP systems.
Sometimes Russian companies use two or more OLTP systems. This often happens when a company has internally developed solutions, and the functionality of them is better or maybe more convenient than the standard functionality of available commercial OLTP systems. For example, the production department may use the domestic software, and other departments use a popular ERP system, whose production module was not implemented. Those companies which have multiple datasources must go through the second phase – to solve the problem of asynchronous master data. For example, production department and sales department, using different non-integrated OLTP systems may use different codes for the finished goods.
When a Russian company passes these two stages, it is ready for BI. There are two types of BI implementations. The first type is when a company uses only a limited functionality, creating simple multidimensional OLAP cubes. This approach is popular because many OLTP systems already contain OLAP modules with a set of predefined multidimensional models for analyzing of different types of data, such as sales, marketing, purchasing, stock, production, finance, human resource, etc. These models are based on data available in the standard modules of OLTP systems. The most popular tools for creating of OLAP modules are Microsoft Analysis Services and Cognos PowerPlay. These products are affordable, localized for Russia, have good technical characteristics and therefore they correspond to the requirements of the mass Russian market. The second type of BI implementations in Russia is when the managers and analysts of a company need more sophisticated analytical models, reflecting the unique mix of the company’s targets and factors influencing these targets.