Example Scenarios for Information Broadcasting 

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

You can choose between distribution types, for example, broadcast e-mail or broadcast to portal. For both distribution types, there are conceptual scenarios and ad-hoc scenarios.

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 scheduled previously or 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 an information source can distribute the reports ad-hoc using 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 are analyzing the monthly sales report with the current data that 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 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 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 with colleagues on a new advertising campaign. Because you work in different locations, you use collaboration rooms in the portal to discuss your shared tasks. For the next meeting, you distribute the sales report for the current month in 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.