The application of a Business Intelligence tool for strategic planning in a higher education institution: a case study of the University of the Witwatersrand.

This article presents a discussion on the importance of business intelligence (BI) and therole that a specific BI tool, Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, plays in the strategicdecision-making processes in an organisation. The University of the Witwatersrand,often referred to as Wits, was used as a case study. The main objective of a businessintelligence tool is to improve the quality and timeliness of the input of data to theorganisational decision-making process. The quality of the data, which is anorganisational asset, is therefore of the utmost importance. Approaches for theidentification of business intelligence from corporate information and knowledgemanagement were also assessed. A questionnaire was administered among keyinformants within the university in order to address some of the pertinent issues athigher education institutions. In addition, the role of a data warehouse within thebusiness intelligence framework was presented. The paper itself covers a wide range ofdisciplines from information technology, knowledge management to decision sciences.The article also presents a proposed framework to be used in line with the best practicesin the implementation of business intelligence solutions.