“An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts – for support rather than for illumination.” – Andrew Lang though unattributed
A recent blog post highlighting the importance of a Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC)shed some light on establishing value and trust in the data we use to measure results.
The difference is in the “how” an organizations comes to this realization that a business strategy must be defined to direct the BI initiative to attain any value ongoing. Partial failure identified early on; can be a invaluable source to the needed measurements and process monitoring; prolonged and the process will reach a state of total failure, leaving little remnants to gather value from.
Absence of Strategy?
An all to familiar reoccurring task for many; a multitude of reports are whittled down to the required columns, data manipulated and reformatted in Excel, distributed to stakeholders lacking appropriate documentation to support the question being answered, suspect data quality, and the data produced now in doubt lacking in value and context misinterpreted.
or
Resembling the Sunday Times; the same reports are bundled up and circulated among the stakeholders who individually analyze the data, duplicating the efforts in manipulating, summarizing, leaving the data and its message in a state similar to what Dante described in his journey through the 8th Circle.
Is one more detrimental over the other to the business? While the first scenario the data summarized to ease consumption at the cost of data lacking context, leaves its audience to sort out the details resulting in confusion of repeated manipulation and messaging. The conclusion though; identical; neither provides for the beginnings of; nor builds upon a sustainable business intelligence strategy.
So why and how does the process or lack of one get this point? Simply stated; either the question was not sufficiently answered or lack of understanding to the question being asked. The business may be efficiently utilizing the data; and IT is effectively maintaining all the pieces of the BI environment; what has been lost is that point of reference that could curtail the bad habits that can form when people attempt to consume data. It now becomes a lesson in improving the organization understanding, communication, and measuring of what can be and is being done with the data today.
Fostering a BI Strategy
A fresh approach or fixing whats in place? While new does have its advantages; either stage must still identify and shape the strategy from the business goals and needs captured. Its crucial that these goals become the blueprint for data democratization; and the outcome leads to empowering the organization with the ability to learn from the data, process transparency, measuring the effectiveness of the answers, and establishing trust in the data produced.
STATIC it is not. Goals, questions, and measurements will evolve over time; avoiding the scenarios above; the strategy must be dynamic to optimize and adapt as well. This is not a list of tasks, capabilities, or a technical description of the BI environment; and while there is starting point there is no predetermined end point.
TECHNICAL it is not. To embed technology or solutions into the strategy would only inhibit its growth; promote data silos; and lead an organization down the road to failure.
ORGANIC it is. Its critical that the process, data, and effectiveness of the measures are made transparent; this will enable to build on the foundation from the ground up. Questions will be evaluated and determined to be inefficient, redundant, or longer applicable. From this new goals, measurements, and data will emerge.
ITERATIVE it is. Whether starting off or salvaging what exists; the design of the strategy and how it is executed must be agile. Either by focusing on specific business problem or question (i.e. sales and opportunities) to test out how the strategy takes form. As the process matures; by measuring and tracking the consumption of measurements and questions; will identify what questions can be weeded out based on a state of inactivity.
Transitioning Strategy to the Tactical
Where should the strategy live? A document or collection of guidelines it is; but it also must be measured against and updated, collaborative, and transparent to all stakeholders. It must be able to collect and capture the required data, mapping the relationship and work flow between goals and questions asked, performance indicators and measurements.
Reconcile, reconcile, and reconcile. An exercise in data discovery; reviewing all available reports, identifying redundancies,asking whether the report is ever consumed, undocumented calculations and measurements, and connecting the dots back to a specific business question or process. Purpose here is to reduce output, bring meaning to the data produced, and make what exists usable.
Constructing a Data Presentation Architecture program going forward. A mix of business intelligence roles and skill sets; it directly contributes to the optimization and success of the BI strategy. Its designed to bring relevance to the data, communicate meaning, and produce actionable results.
Both the growth of data and the need to analyze the information is increasing daily. As well it will be imperative to measure, validate, and adjust with this growing need; to ensure the right data is being applied to the right question.
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Assembling Data into Information
Measuring your Measures a BI Afterthought
“An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts – for support rather than for illumination.” – Andrew Lang though unattributed
A recent blog post highlighting the importance of a Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC)shed some light on establishing value and trust in the data we use to measure results.
The difference is in the “how” an organizations comes to this realization that a business strategy must be defined to direct the BI initiative to attain any value ongoing. Partial failure identified early on; can be a invaluable source to the needed measurements and process monitoring; prolonged and the process will reach a state of total failure, leaving little remnants to gather value from.
Absence of Strategy?
An all to familiar reoccurring task for many; a multitude of reports are whittled down to the required columns, data manipulated and reformatted in Excel, distributed to stakeholders lacking appropriate documentation to support the question being answered, suspect data quality, and the data produced now in doubt lacking in value and context misinterpreted.
or
Resembling the Sunday Times; the same reports are bundled up and circulated among the stakeholders who individually analyze the data, duplicating the efforts in manipulating, summarizing, leaving the data and its message in a state similar to what Dante described in his journey through the 8th Circle.
Is one more detrimental over the other to the business? While the first scenario the data summarized to ease consumption at the cost of data lacking context, leaves its audience to sort out the details resulting in confusion of repeated manipulation and messaging. The conclusion though; identical; neither provides for the beginnings of; nor builds upon a sustainable business intelligence strategy.
So why and how does the process or lack of one get this point? Simply stated; either the question was not sufficiently answered or lack of understanding to the question being asked. The business may be efficiently utilizing the data; and IT is effectively maintaining all the pieces of the BI environment; what has been lost is that point of reference that could curtail the bad habits that can form when people attempt to consume data. It now becomes a lesson in improving the organization understanding, communication, and measuring of what can be and is being done with the data today.
Fostering a BI Strategy
A fresh approach or fixing whats in place? While new does have its advantages; either stage must still identify and shape the strategy from the business goals and needs captured. Its crucial that these goals become the blueprint for data democratization; and the outcome leads to empowering the organization with the ability to learn from the data, process transparency, measuring the effectiveness of the answers, and establishing trust in the data produced.
STATIC it is not. Goals, questions, and measurements will evolve over time; avoiding the scenarios above; the strategy must be dynamic to optimize and adapt as well. This is not a list of tasks, capabilities, or a technical description of the BI environment; and while there is starting point there is no predetermined end point.
TECHNICAL it is not. To embed technology or solutions into the strategy would only inhibit its growth; promote data silos; and lead an organization down the road to failure.
ORGANIC it is. Its critical that the process, data, and effectiveness of the measures are made transparent; this will enable to build on the foundation from the ground up. Questions will be evaluated and determined to be inefficient, redundant, or longer applicable. From this new goals, measurements, and data will emerge.
ITERATIVE it is. Whether starting off or salvaging what exists; the design of the strategy and how it is executed must be agile. Either by focusing on specific business problem or question (i.e. sales and opportunities) to test out how the strategy takes form. As the process matures; by measuring and tracking the consumption of measurements and questions; will identify what questions can be weeded out based on a state of inactivity.
Transitioning Strategy to the Tactical
Where should the strategy live? A document or collection of guidelines it is; but it also must be measured against and updated, collaborative, and transparent to all stakeholders. It must be able to collect and capture the required data, mapping the relationship and work flow between goals and questions asked, performance indicators and measurements.
Reconcile, reconcile, and reconcile. An exercise in data discovery; reviewing all available reports, identifying redundancies,asking whether the report is ever consumed, undocumented calculations and measurements, and connecting the dots back to a specific business question or process. Purpose here is to reduce output, bring meaning to the data produced, and make what exists usable.
Constructing a Data Presentation Architecture program going forward. A mix of business intelligence roles and skill sets; it directly contributes to the optimization and success of the BI strategy. Its designed to bring relevance to the data, communicate meaning, and produce actionable results.
Both the growth of data and the need to analyze the information is increasing daily. As well it will be imperative to measure, validate, and adjust with this growing need; to ensure the right data is being applied to the right question.
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