Module 4 Flashcards
Why is an enterprise architecture assessment critical for your BI
project success?
o Information integration is key:: Secure that existing systems are
• Reused
• Integrated in your architecture
• Decommissioned
o Data redundancy and resulting inconsistencies: Reduce trust of users
• Destroy value generated by the project
• Destroy value generated by other reporting systems
Why is prototyping especially important in a BI project?
o Want to show people what they will be receiving
o Makes it cheaper to integrate changes later on in the project
o Requirements are hardly ever clear from the beginning
o Many users only realize what they need/ can ask for once they have seen a first implementation
o Answers spawn new questions!
o Analytical needs/ requirements change fast and often
What are problems you might face working in an agile way?
Difficult to predict how final product will look like
o Risk of scope creep- Your project might become indefinite, they keep demanding more and more
o Harder to manage budget and plan long term
o Short sprints might push IT staff to develop “quick and dirty”- People will try to find shortcuts to make timelines
o Data integration / harmonization requires an integrated view over all components- difficult considering constant change
o Requires constant communication- tailored for small teams. Bigger than 40 people means its not going to work
What are some key challenges in building a business case for a BI
project?
What are some key challenges in building a business case for a BI project?
o Difficult to measure financial value of “improved decision making” especially for strategic decision support
• Models exist but use a lot of assumptions
o Expectations are often highly inflated
• Manage them early on
• Usually the data is not clean, so its hard to make presentations look good like the other guys do.
o An analytics & BI value harvesting strategy is often an afterthought for operational teams
• Work across hierarchies to identify where the real needs are
• People didn’t think they would want to analyze the data when you started the project, so now that youre almost done they say they want to be able to analyze the data
o BI systems “inherit” the complexity of practically all existing transactional systems
• Identifying dependencies early on
• Makes it expensive
Why is an enterprise architecture assessment critical for your BI project success?
o Information integration is key:: Secure that existing systems are
• Reused
• Integrated in your architecture
• Decommissioned
o Data redundancy and resulting inconsistencies: Reduce trust of users
• Destroy value generated by the project
• Destroy value generated by other reporting systems
Why is prototyping especially important in a BI project?
Want to show people what they will be receiving
o Makes it cheaper to integrate changes later on in the project
o Requirements are hardly ever clear from the beginning
o Many users only realize what they need/ can ask for once they have seen a first implementation
o Answers spawn new questions!
o Analytical needs/ requirements change fast and often.
Critical Success Factors for BI implementation
Agile, business driven methodology and project management
o Clear vision and statement of BI value
o Committed management support and sponsorship
o Data management and quality
o Mapping solutions to user requirements
o Performance & flexibility of the BI system
o Robust and extensible BI framework
o Never accept a quote from BI company until they have done analysis of the quality of the data from your company
Key challenges from a managerial perspective
o System development and need for integration
• BI Systems are the aggregation of all up-stream system issues
• Documenting and securing support systems
o Cost-benefit issues and justification
• Express tangible benefits in hard currency
• Overall data management strategy
o Legal issues / access rights and privacy- Gov’t is reading emails yo, Simon is reading his colleagues emails!!!!
o BI and BPM today and tomorrow
o Ethical issues
o BI project failures …
BI projects often fail because
• BI project often fail because
o Failure to recognize BI projects as enterprise-wide business initiatives- if one or two say no, its already failed
o Failure to recognize the difference between BI and typical standalone or transactional solutions.
o Lack of business sponsors with the ability to secure funding
o Lack of cooperation by business experts that like to defend their favorite BI tools and resist data integration
o Lack of qualified and available staff- no senior experts
o No appreciation of the negative impact of “uncleansed data“ on business performance
o Complex requirements lead to complex solutions- Analysts are the first one to tell you the requirements because theyre the first one to see problems and have spent the most time around BI systems. The only represent the 1% of the people who will use the system.
o Requirements defined by “power users” only
What is the purpose of the enterprise architecture assessment
o Secure information integration o Make sure that existing systems are • Re used • Integrated in your architecture • Decommissioned o Reduces data redundancy and resulting inconsistencies • Increasing trust of users • Protecting value of your project and existing BI implementations
What are the key questions to ask during requirement definitions
o Who- is the intended audience?
o What- are the expected benefits?
o Where- will the decision be made from?
o When- is the information available for use?
o Why- will the users want to use BI to support them?
o How- will the information be used?
What are the key components of a typical BI organizational setup? (Graph)
o BI Governance Committee
o BICC
o Platform MGMT
o Basis/ IT Infrastructure
