Vendors, users, and analysts are also debating the value of real-time business intelligence. Just how frequently must data be updated for most analytical applications? A few situations can benefit from real-time capabilities, such as responding to an online shopper or alerting a shop-floor manager of dropping production yields, says Philip Russom, an analyst at Giga Information Group. But for most business-intelligence applications, updating data hourly or even daily may be enough.

Integrating data from multiple sources in a timely manner and preparing it for analysis remains a complex process. In early spring, Informatica Corp. will unveil a release of its analytical applications that provides what worldwide marketing VP Sanjay Poonen calls "guided workflows," making it easier for users to tap into multiple systems for analysis. A sales manager trying to learn why a customer is no longer profitable may need to follow a trail of data through supply-chain and customer-billing systems. Informatica's new workflow capabilities will provide a path for such chores.

Business Objects customers can expect a new release of the vendor's Acta data-integration software that's tightly linked with its Business Objects and WebIntelligence front-end business-intelligence tools. That will make it easier to analyze operational data, even in real time, especially when combined with new data warehouse modeling capabilities that Business Objects is building into Application Foundation for linking operational apps with analytical requirements.

MicroStrategy Inc., having returned to profitability last year, hopes the distractions of several financially turbulent years are behind it. In the second half, the company will provide more links between its MicroStrategy 7i business-intelligence platform and other data sources such as SAP's Business Information Warehouse and an enhanced Narrowcast Server for distributing large volumes of reports throughout an organization. It will also release a Unix version of Intelligence Server, the analytical engine at the core of the MicroStrategy's products.

As they expand their enterprise performance management offerings, business-intelligence software vendors will increasingly knock heads with application vendors such as Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, and Siebel Systems. Arguing that they're better positioned to marry business intelligence with operational systems, enterprise-application vendors are beefing up the reporting and analysis capabilities of their products.

SAP will debut by midyear a strategic planning engine in its Business Information Warehouse system. SAP apps will be able to tap into that engine for resource planning, scenario modeling, and setting targets for financial, manufacturing, supply-chain, and CRM processes. Companies can also use the engine to build their own planning applications. PeopleSoft will likewise extend the planning capabilities of its EPM analytical apps to its supply-chain and other ERP apps in a release due in late summer. Oracle promises closer links between its Discoverer query and reporting tool, built into its Oracle9i Application Server, and its ERP and CRM applications.

Demand for analytical tools hasn't changed dramatically heading into this year compared with 2002: About 60% of managers still cite the tools as a technology priority, according to InformationWeek Research's Outlook 2003 survey of 300 business-technology managers. But when it comes to key business priorities, more than 80% cite simplifying or optimizing business processes as a top goal. So it's no wonder that business-intelligence vendors are recasting their products as tools that can help companies run more efficiently. In these days of tight budgets, managers are looking for apps that can help them optimize, not just analyze.