Business intelligence (BI) analysis involves analyzing large amounts of data to uncover trends and make inferences that can be used to inform decisions, plans, and strategies in business. There are three fundamental categories of BI analysis: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive.
Descriptive analysis involves looking through your data to identify what has happened in the past. It helps you understand your historical business performance and highlights patterns or relationships in the data.
Predictive analysis uses existing data to detect relationships and make projections about what is likely to happen in the future. It predicts business outcomes based on historical data and introduces decision variables such as cost, timing, and performance.
Prescriptive analysis not only predicts what might happen, but also suggests ways of taking action in order to achieve desired outcomes. It helps to make decisions that are optimal under uncertain conditions and can provide insights into how different scenarios might play out.