Real-World Business Intelligence: The Implementation Perspective

Information Management Magazine, April 2004

Allen Bonde, Matt Kuckuk

For many large organizations, success with business intelligence (BI) and information applications such as enterprise reporting requires a coordinated effort across the dimensions of people, processes, technology and, of course, data. The complexity of real-world BI continues to grow with the increasing demand for information at all levels of business, new data formats and presentation requirements, and expertise to develop and maintain these new wide-scale BI applications. Fortunately, best practices and techniques have been developed to achieve the mission of BI while overcoming these key implementation challenges. This article examines some of these methods and the state of BI from the implementation perspective, introducing the BI center of excellence (CoE) delivery approach that not only offers a model for addressing key BI deployment, integration and adoption challenges, but also can be used to drive self-service initiatives. Given their potential scope, we also propose a new framework for building a business case for a CoE and other enterprise-level BI projects, and then provide a case study that illustrates real-world BI concepts and a CoE in action.

The BI Implementation Challenge

The field of BI has seen dramatic success in recent years, despite the challenges of the post-dot-com bubble era and growing scrutiny around new enterprise software investments. We believe this success stems from the fact that these technologies provide tangible business value across a number of functional and industry segments. BI or information applications and services are also increasingly in demand from business users as they adapt to the demands of the real-time enterprise and decision making in this new age of accountability.

At the same time, as outlined in the April 2002 Allen Bonde Group study of BI and enterprise reporting trends, there have been significant changes occurring in the marketplace as Internet adoption and applications such as Microsoft Excel and Web-based analysis tools cause an increasing number of organizations to rethink the meaning of BI and enterprise reporting.¹ As explored in this study, these innovations and new models have resulted in a fundamental shift of many BI solutions, with the OLAP-centric view being replaced by a broader Web-enabled information delivery model. There is also a growing focus for IT on enabling true enterprise-wide BI on a robust yet flexible platform by developing numerous information applications such as business performance management (BPM) dashboards, information portals and business analytics, enterprise reporting and spreadsheet reporting applications that empower all consumers of information, both inside and outside the firewall.

Defining a Center of Excellence Delivery Model

Changing the role of the IT staff as well as business users to support and leverage emerging self-service BI models and new enterprise-wide information applications requires a coordinated effort. That's why we have seen a growing number of large organizations create a center of excellence for their BI, enterprise reporting and information application initiatives (see Figure 1). While still typically the domain of large, multidivisional or multinational organizations, a CoE approach can also be valuable as a delivery model for other types of companies looking to drive the change necessary to ensure the success of their BI efforts.

Figure 1: BI CoE (Source: Actuate and Allen Bonde Group Inc., 2003

At a high level, the mission for a BI CoE is to better align the people, processes, technology and data for BI - to deliver the needed information to each class of users at the lowest cost to the enterprise.² CoEs can also be the hub for knowledge sharing around the development/promotion of standard frameworks, models and best practices. In several cases, organizations have also worked with vendors to create a focal point for driving technology transfer, application rollout and training efforts. In the example in Figure 1, the CoE is really a joint effort of the vendor and the organization, facilitating much more of a high-value partnership as well as knowledge transfer of industry best practices from the vendor's experiences with customers and partners.

While a BI CoE may have various drivers and starting points, most operate within the IT organization and employ a number of common techniques to overcome the implementation challenge:

• Employ a self-service model that is appropriate to the user base and application.
• Provide a pool of trained business analysts and specialists who understand business needs and benefits behind user requests.
• Create and promote standard processes and frameworks for developing BI and information applications, and a methodology for choosing the right platform.
• Offer flexible staff resources, including full-time employees as well as contractors and offshore resources, depending on their scale.
• Drive definition and adoption of standard performance metrics - and deliver CoE services according to defined service level agreements (e.g., response time for requests from business customers).

These activities encompass both centralized and distributed functions, which may include a steering group to represent business unit needs and direction, help desk and training staff, program and project managers, architects, business analysts and other development staff. However, regardless of the specific roles and functions, the key benefit of using a CoE model is "simplification and leverage."³ In other words, providing a common set of resources, models and tools that meet the broadest set of business needs while taking advantage of existing organizational expertise, standards and infrastructure.

Creating a Business Case

Closely aligning technology investments with specific business needs is critical before, during and after a deployment. That's why we believe the CoE model is a practical way to not only deliver on the mission of BI, but also to drive ongoing organizational change and technology investments. Developing an enterprise-scale technology initiative such as a BI CoE typically starts with a ROI analysis. However, as BI solutions become more broadly focused and potentially impact multiple classes of users both within and outside of the organization, traditional ROI approaches are increasingly limited in their ability to show the scope of tangible and intangible benefits of both a CoE and the applications it supports.

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