Category: Business Intelligence

Discover tips, tricks, and best practices to implement a successful business intelligence solution. Learn how to arrange your data to create insightful visualizations and uncover hidden opportunities.

Why I Can do What I do

On By angelwillisIn Business Intelligence, UncategorizedLeave a comment

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SHARE_-_NARA_-_515391.jpgI am angel.

I am passionate.

I have lived a life of fear and love, and I have gained wisdom.

I have experienced loss and gain, pain and power.

I help others realize the value that they have to offer.

I don’t believe in talent.

I believe that we, as humans, are capable of whatever we set our minds to.

I am evidence of that.

Like many of us, I need to feel satisfaction at my job. I accomplish this by enabling others at my workplace to feel this same satisfaction that I seek. How do you do this? Teach others. Don’t hoard information. There is no true power, or security, in holding all the information that is required to accomplish a task.

Yes, there’s always that subtle fear, “If other people can do what I do, am I still needed?” but the answer is yes! And if the answer is no, then you will probably add more value (and have more job satisfaction) elsewhere.

Companies need people who are smart, and who are willing to share their knowledge throughout the organization. Many companies have realized the value in having people like you, and other companies are still stuck in the specialized task-specific employee–they need you more than ever.

So, if you have knowledge that is unique, find others who are curious about that knowledge. Share your knowledge, give the users documentation. Empower others by giving them the knowledge to accomplish their tasks in more efficient ways. This is not speaking about the technical type of business intelligence that I am accustomed to writing about, but this does address the key foundation of any business intelligence solution: the sharing of valuable knowledge.

Burnt out? Find the under-utilized talent in your organization!

On By angelwillisIn Business Intelligence, Uncategorized4 Comments

Implementing a new business intelligence solution is exhausting to say the least, and if any of you out there are like me, this is not your only responsibility at your job. Taking on a project as massive as over hauling the entire data structure at your organization can be overwhelming by itself, but throwing on the constant demands from other departments while also administering your current data structure can quickly lead to burnt out syndrome.

This is what I have been experiencing, so here’s my advice on how to handle it: Look for people with talent…

When I heard that the HR department was looking for an HR IT person I was thrilled! A lot of the data requests that I field come directly from this department. I spoke with one of the current payroll/HR clerks and learned that he was applying for the position. I did a quick little mock interview with him to see what he might know about querying data. As it turns out he has experience developing entire systems! After getting approval from his manager I offered to train him in the areas that would be the most beneficial for his department. He was even more excited than I.

Friday I installed SQL Server Management Studio on his machine, and Monday he’ll be learning to write SQL! This scenario was looking great so far, but I have a vision and I knew I had to clearly communicate my expections in order for this new dynamic to provide the most value to everyone. I spoke with the Director of IT, the HR Director, and the HR clerk to lay the foundation and to manage everyone’s expectations.

My goal is that the new HR IT person will serve as a bridge between the HR department and the IT department. I expect that all requests will go through the HR IT person. When the request is within his capabilities he will be able to provide the data needed, and when he needs help completing a request he will have me as a resource. The HR department will get their data quicker, the HR clerk will have the opportunity to move up in his career, the IT department will have more of my time available to help implement the new business intelligence solution, and I will no longer have burnt out syndrome! It’s a win-win-win.

So, if you’re feeling burnt out or over-whelmed, look for ambitious people who are under-utilized. They will be happy to take on more projects, and I’m sure you will be happy to let go of some.

3 Steps to Bridge the Communication Gap Between IT Professionals and End Users

On By angelwillisIn Business Intelligence, Uncategorized2 Comments

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visegrad_Drina_Bridge_1.jpgYou speak geek, they speak analytics. You want data, they want answers. You say to-mae-toe, they say to-ma-to, etc. We have many different ways of saying it, but we know that in the end we all want the same thing; a successful business intelligence solution that will empower us to stay in touch with our customers and make better business decisions. Here are 3 ways to bridge the communication gap between IT professionals and business analysts/users.

1. Listen for context clues. You have to learn their language before any true communication takes place. It is common for people (even technical people) to mis-use technical terms. Several contractors I worked with used the terms data mart and data warehouse interchangeably, even though the first is simply a subset of the latter. Listening to the context of the sentence rather than focusing on the exact meaning of each key word allowed my development team to understand what the contractors were trying to communicate.

2. Monkey see, monkey do. Mimicking the language of the person you are communicating with creates a common ground and provides a sense of understanding. If a business analyst refers to his consumers as clients rather than customers then you should also refer to them as clients. The comradery that developes from this type of interaction will lay the foundation for the next step…

3. Ask A LOT of questions. Now that you understand the users language, and you have established common ground there is less of a chance of annoying the users with all of the questions you will be asking. A common conversation might go something like:

Analyst: “I want to know everything about the customer.” Geek: “OK, what specific questions would you like answered?” Analyst: “I want to know what the customer did while they were at my business.” Geek: “OK, we have a lot of that data available. Would you like to know where they ate and what outlets they spent money in?” Analyst: “Yes, and I would like to know how much they spent and how often they visit the property.”

It’s likely that dozens of questions will stem from every question you ask. Before you sign off on the final data model of your data warehouse, you will gather all of the questions that you have collected by interviewing the users. Search through the data model for answers to each of these questions. A very smart (and patient) co-worker of mine spent many hours verifying that our data model would meet the needs of our users. While such a methodical approach is painful and boring, the results will be a robust business intelligence solution that is backed by a rich data warehouse.

 

Users are annoying, do we have to involve them now?

On By angelwillisIn Business Intelligence, Uncategorized2 Comments

As an IT professional, users are your customers, and they should be treated as such. Speak with them, and get them involved now! A contractor couldn’t build a desirable house for a family without knowing the details of what that family needs…Do they have children? Pets? How many cars or boats? In this scenario you are the contractor. Your job is to design and build a business intelligence solution that meets the needs of your customers, the users.

In my experience users are very enthused about implementing a new business intelligence solution. They look forward to better tools, richer data, and an all around more robust system. When you are determining what data needs to be included in your data warehouse, leverage the users’ enthusiasm to help you construct the metaphorical house that they will be living in.

Yes! This means having meetings! Meet with analysts and marketers. Meet with executives and department heads. Meet in groups and meet individually. Meet often! Users will likely not know how to communicate with you exactly what data they need, so it is your job to extract this information from them. Have a list of questions for each of your users. This will likely spur delightful conversation that is loaded with data requirements. The key goal here is to figure out “What are your customers/users trying to accomplish, and what data do they need to be successful?”

 So find out what your users need, help them to accomplish their goals, and they will help your new business intelligence solution shine in all of its glory (which of course, makes you look good).

Understanding Your Customers: The 360° View

On By angelwillisIn Business IntelligenceLeave a comment
360° Customer View
360° Customer View

Most companies have multiple systems that store various forms of their customer data. Generally business analysts or financial analysts will study this data to determine the habits of their customers. But what happens when your source systems don’t have a common key to link the customer data? You end up with only a partial view of your customers and department heads are making operating decisions based on incomplete and inaccurate customer data. The obvious solution? Find a way to link the data!

While there are multiple ways to accomplish this task, a complete business intelligence solution will provide integrated data from all source systems, a rich data warehouse, and an easy to use graphical user interface to extract and analyze the data. A 360 view of your customer means understanding what brings them to your business and what they do while they are there.

OK, so you want this for your business. You realize you aren’t using all of the data you have and your marketing campaigns are hit-or-miss. Where do you start? First you have to determine who is going to build the business logic into a data warehouse that creates a common customer key across the platforms. Because most businesses are new to BI, they don’t realize that the BI vendor and the company that deals with manipulating your data are likely not the same company.

There are several options here. If your IT department has the time, resources, and knowledge, they can be tasked with building the data warehouse. You can also contact a vendor that is independent from your BI vendor to build your data warehouse. The third option is to put all of your faith in your BI vendor and let them choose a data group that fits your data. Most BI vendors will have multiple partners and will probably be able to choose a data integration partner that is experienced in your field.

If you prefer to let your BI vendor choose a data integration partner for you, then it is time to face the challenging task of searching for a BI vendor that fits your company’s needs. There are dozens of reputable vendors to choose from. I recommend contacting 3-4 different vendors and requesting a demo of the software. Most companies are more than happy to visit your property to analyze your specific business needs and show off their cool new BI tools. Warning to my fellow data nerds out there: These demos will probably be a show-and-tell of pretty user interfaces and fancy drag and drop reporting capabilities. These presentations are designed to win over the executives and sell the product. The interesting details about the data will come later.

OK, so this is how you get started with your new business intelligence solution. It’s exciting, it’s fun, and it’s a lot of work. Stay with me and we’ll discuss finalizing a deal with your vendor, gathering business and functional requirements and who to include in the beginning stages of the project.