What is it?
The Business Intelligence (BI) Strategy Planning framework is our reference point for our clients to define where progress has been already been made and to identify the critical components to address in this phase.
As the BI Strategy process progresses the Effectus team will create outcomes that can be used to communicate the strategy clearly to the business and to execute agreed BI initiatives and actions. A fit for purpose BI and analytics implementation is a journey initiated by a clearly articulated business context that will provide a starting point for formulating a BI strategy.
It is crucial to take the time to thoroughly assess the current state of the business intelligence landscape using a qualitative (user perception) and quantitative (usage statistics) approach. The insights and gaps identified in this step will serve as building blocks for strategy and roadmap development in later phases. Effectus recommends conducting an Applications Portfolio Assessment which allows you to create a custom survey based on current applications, generate a custom report that will help to visualise user satisfaction levels, and pinpoint areas for improvement. This step is optional but highly recommended to ensure that a qualitative measure of user perception establishes the foundation for a fit for purpose BI Strategy.
BI success is not based solely on the technology it runs on and to be effective data management capabilities and related data practices must be strong. The best BI solution does not only provide a technology platform, but also addresses the elements that surround the platform. We will look beyond tools and holistically assess the maturity of the BI practice with input from both the BI consumer and provider perspectives.
The following outcomes will be achieved by conducting a BI Maturity assessment:
A comprehensive assessment of current BI practice maturity and capabilities. Articulation of your desired future state BI practice Improvement objectives and activities for developing your BI program.
In an environment where multiple BI tools are being used, discovering what works for users and what doesn’t is an important first step to rationalising the BI landscape. Creating a consolidated list of requirements for a BI platform, existing and desired, will direct the selection of a new BI solution. The closer the new BI platform is aligned to real business interests, the stronger the buy-in, realised value, and the more enthusiastic the adoption will be. Ultimately getting this phase right sets the stage to best realise a strong return on investment in the people, processes, and technology that will be the next generation BI platform.
Without paying the appropriate attention to the underlying data architecture and application integration, even the most sophisticated BI platforms will fall short of providing business users with a holistic view of company information. The BI Architecture design would form the baseline input for development of the BI strategy and implementation plan.
Once the BI strategy has been agreed with key stakeholders it is then worked into strategic roadmaps, which generally align either with delegated responsibilities or with core objectives within the business. Each initiative on the roadmap has a nominated owner and it is also important to synchronise strategic initiatives across multiple streams of activity. Once completed the Effectus team will “size” the initiatives and create indicative budgets for each, along with an overall budget for the roadmaps.
Next steps?
Dependent on the maturity of BI in your organisation there are some key steps that need to be done in consort particularly the improving of IM with a focus on data quality, architecture and integration, and data governance to get the most from BI. If IM is also in a mature state then there are industry specific BI actions that can be taken to provide better insight using like exploring Big Data or using predicative analytics and scenario building or applying BI across your entire eco-system.
