What is self-service BI?

Self-service BI explained

With self-service BI, a BI team builds the foundation: a data warehouse, approved data sources and agreed definitions. Users then create their own charts, filters and overviews on top. The BI team no longer has to handle every small request and can focus on the foundation.

The risk is sprawl: hundreds of reports with slightly different calculations, and nobody knows which one is right. Good self-service BI is therefore always self-service within limits: users choose from governed sources and measures, not from raw tables.

Also consider who may publish what. A draft someone makes for themselves is different from a dashboard the whole department sees. A step between draft and publication helps safeguard quality.

Example

A buyer at Acme Groothandel wants to know which suppliers deliver late most often. Instead of submitting a request to the BI team, she builds a bar chart on the approved purchasing source herself and shares it with her team.