Business Scorecard Manager Architecture

A forthcoming business intelligence server product called the Business Scorecard Manager (BSM) 2005 (previously referred to by the code-name Maestro) will offer browser access to “business scorecards,” collections of key business metrics (such as customer satisfaction, employee retention, or profit margins) designed to track a business unit’s progress toward strategic goals.

BSM will be able to get data for scorecards from any OLE DB or ODBC data source (including non-Microsoft databases, such as Oracle and IBM DB2). However, it will typically access data indirectly for the most important operational data sources (such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems), going through Analysis Services cubes. Staging data in cubes will speed performance for users, ensure that BSM does not interfere with normal processing in important operational systems, and give IT staff an opportunity to standardize data field names, formats, and other details across the data sources.