Beneath the data

Data mining with business intelligence tools can generate original insights more effectively than traditional methods such as sampling. This is because BI tools not only allow analysis of an entire data population, but also cross-checks against other data sources such as metadata using three-dimensional "cubes". Power Query and Power Pivot are used to show how this can be done across inventory, supply chain, payroll, motor vehicle fleets and more. The paper's aim is to provide the reader with enough background information on business intelligence data interrogation techniques that it should be possible to generate new ideas relevant to the reader's own situation.