Business rules are a form of metadata and usually play a central part in the creation of an analysis file. They govern the definition of metrics, KPIs, parameters, and even the application or customization of filters. They can be and often are hardcoded. They can be facilitated through the provision of user inputs, such as the input boxes we added to the pages in the guided analysis example. BI dashboards and analysis pages often include this type of flexibility, allowing users to essentially alter the business rules governing the analysis.

However, the level of configurability can be progressed to a deeper level, and this is where we begin to move from a world in which IT delivers informatics solutions directly to consumers via BI provisioners in the business who have the subject matter expertise and data skills to extend the informatics platform provided by IT. The challenge for IT is to make the platform extendable while retaining...