In ComputerWorld's Business Intelligence: One Version of the Truth, the storry suggests is that there is "one version" of the truth that can be extracted from the information swirling around an enterprise.
Business intelligence systems promise to change that by, among other things, pulling data from all internal systems plus external sources to present a single version of the truth. This truth can then be delivered to decision-makers in the form of answers to highly strategic questions...
We all know this is not really possible. But the draw of business intel and other approaches is that at least some attempt can be made at summarizing much more of the information than can be done with traditional approaches that don't have access to the requisite information. Even these semi-automated tools come short when they need to rely on interpretation and understanding. They can only present what they can access.
The article does go on to present some useful "truths" about dealing with information in the context of business intelligence solutions:
- Rarely, if ever, is the truth in plain sight
- The truth is a moving target
- Getting to one version of the truth is a highly politicized process
- The whole truth is best delivered in chunks and disclosed at prescribed times