SQL Server Business Intelligence (BI) is referred to as a set of tools that are used for transforming raw data into the type of information that businesses can use to make proper decisions. In the previous versions of Microsoft SQL Server, Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) enabled database developers to transform data. However, it has now been superseded by SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence since 2010 when Visual Studio was released.

BI involves the use of computing technologies to identify, discover and analyze business data such as products, sales revenue, costs, incomes etc. A good SQL Server BI tool will not only allow its users to find valuable business data while creating reports and visuals but also enable them to share these data with other users.

ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) means that BI takes the data from various source or locations, and stores this data into a destination which is also known as the Data Warehouse from where it can be accessed. ETL describes the process in which BI uses to transform data into useful information. However, for a business intelligence system to work, it has to have rapid access to a lot of data from across a company.

Some of the applications of the SQL Server BI include:

• Performance metrics;
• Analytics;
• Enterprise reporting
• Knowledge management;

Allow developers to carry out extract, transform and load operations (ETL) on data from data warehouses.

• Since companies constantly depend so much on analytics to be able to identify trends and patterns within their data, SQL Server BI provides valuable information that can be essential to organizations.
• It helps to improve overall business decision-making abilities.
• It also improves data visualization and data sharing.

•    To measure performance and benchmark progress.

SQL Server comprises of a wealth of robust features that make it easy and inexpensive for users to implement business intelligence (BI) as well as data warehousing. These tools help to transform your business data into useful information and they include:

• Reporting;
• Data management

•    Analytic data storage.

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is a powerful platform that is designed for creating and deploying online reports. With such reports are parameters for on-demand processing which can also be scheduled for output to email. As the reporting technology for the Microsoft Business Intelligence technology stack, SSRS helps to create professional quality reports in each category.

As an extensive application and well-engineered data management system, SSIS possess Extract-Load-Transform (ETL) capabilities. SSIS also allows you to collect data from different data source and structure output for specific purposes like operational data stores and data warehouses.

Built into SQL Server, SSAS makes it possible for you to organize and structure data for dimensional analysis through the creation of predefined dimensions, measures and hierarchies. Microsoft Excel and PowerPivot are some of the common tools that can be used for data analysis.

The SQL Server BI comprises different tools that can be used to create BI systems, transfer the data between them. Meanwhile, there are also other tools that can be used to create report hosting servers and the reports themselves.