# Cord Vs BI And ERP Dashboards

BI dashboards answer: what happened?

ERP dashboards answer: what is recorded in the system of record?

Cord answers: what should we allocate next, why, under which constraints, with what ROI, and with what audit trail?

## Comparison

| Category | BI | ERP | Cord |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Primary function | Reporting | Transactional operations | Allocation decisions |
| Data model | Metrics and dashboards | System-specific records | Cross-system ontology |
| Output | Charts and reports | Operational records | Scenarios, trade-offs, recommendations, evidence packs |
| Auditability | Usually metric-level | Transaction-level | Source-to-decision lineage |
| User | Analysts and operators | Finance, operations, and administrators | Executives, finance, strategy, corporate development, and operators |
| Main question | What happened? | What is recorded? | What should we do next and why? |

## Why Cord Is Different

Cord is designed for decisions that require data, assumptions, relationships, scenarios, and accountability in one place. It links raw operating systems, team knowledge, calculations, and final recommendations.

## Where BI And ERP Still Fit

BI remains useful for dashboards, reporting, and recurring metric visibility. ERP remains essential for system-of-record workflows and transaction management. Cord sits above those systems as a decision layer for allocation work.

## Example

A BI dashboard can show customer acquisition cost by channel. An ERP system can show recorded transactions. Cord can connect acquisition cost, support burden, infrastructure usage, customer segment, contract terms, renewal risk, and capacity constraints to recommend which channel should receive the next dollar.