Business Intelligence Strategy
A sound business intelligence strategy is a fundamental first step
in ensuring that your investment in business intelligence (BI) provides
the type of return most businesses require. This business intelligence
strategy, however, is often the one step most companies don't perform
leading to waste and poor results.
Who Should Be in Charge of the Business Intelligence Strategy?
For a business intelligence strategy to be effective the last department
that should be held responsible is IT. A sound business
intelligence strategy should have an executive as the person with primary
responsibility. A successful business intelligence
strategy begins with an individual that is intimately
familiar with the company's overall business mission and has the strategic
foresight to translate that mission into an effective business intelligence
strategy along with goals of an implementation project. In this
format, the IT representative functions as a project manager instead
of a sponsor.
Inter-Departmental Agreement for Business Intelligence Strategy
A first step to a successful business intelligence strategy relies
on all departments agreeing on terminology. Through agreement, a closed-loop
feedback system can be implemented that ensures that all departments
can provide feedback throughout the business intelligence strategy. It
is also important in a business intelligence strategy to keep things
basic- start with a small number of key indicators that will be important
in the final automation and develop the business intelligence strategy
around those indicators.
Review Past Business Intelligence Strategy Projects
It is also important to thoroughly review past business intelligence
strategy implementations for both advantages and disadvantages when
creating a new business intelligence strategy. Key areas to analyze
are the implementation phase of past a business intelligence strategy
along with the transition period as well as the user-friendliness and
adoption rates of the systems deployed as part of that business intelligence
strategy.
Data Storage & Business Intelligence Strategy
Part of the business intelligence strategy includes determining how
to store and manage data. While this might be a tempting area
to reduce costs of your business intelligence strategy, it's also the
most perilous. The reason for this is that a business intelligence
strategy always leads to significant data growth which without a reliable,
expandable storage strategy could become very expensive to manage.
Business Intelligence Strategy and the User
The business intelligence strategy also needs to keep the end user
in mind. Critical will be to understand the type of information
needed and the availability needed. Your business intelligence
strategy should account for strategic users, tactical users and operational
users. Each of these user types will have different needs from
your business intelligence strategy.
Analytical Data Models & Business Intelligence Strategy Components
Another part of the business intelligence strategy will be the analytical
data model itself. Because every company’s systems are different,
each model needs to be specifically tailored to its needs. The main
question will be if the analytical data model will be bought as-is,
or customized (built). Every type of business intelligence component
must be reviewed and considered as part of the business intelligence
strategy, otherwise the implementation may not be compatible in some
stages.
Final Implementation of Business Intelligence Strategy
Decide beforehand who will be in charge of final implementation, or
when all the enterprise-wise applications finally integrate. This guidance
should come from someone who is highly experienced in BI implementations,
well prepared to work closely with the end users, the developer, and
those involved in the implementation project. When the implementation
is ready, test the system in small steps that can have proven results,
adding slowly to these steps until the entire interface is operating
together.
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