By Glen
Audiffred, Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation
Know your numbers—management and analytical
reporting continues to be a top priority of companies across the
industry. Companies face continued pressure to support
business goals through the timely, accurate, and actionable
information provided through the implementation of a Business
Intelligence (BI) solution. Perhaps the two most important aspects
of implementing a BI solution are to begin with the end in mind and
to keep the business user engaged in the whole life cycle of the
process. Identifying the vital actionable metrics used to drive
business decisions, and then building upon this solution with
additional metrics, are critical to the success of the solution.
Data Integrity
The first step is to develop and maintain a corporate dictionary of
terms. Identifying and documenting the terms that feed key
performance indicators and enterprise metrics are an excellent place
to begin. It is paramount to document the definition, source system,
and derived calculation of each business term. It is also crucial to
establish corporate-wide agreement of the terms; otherwise, this
will cast a shadow over the validity of the data. Even with the
attention to detail and agreement by the business users, there will
be a tendency to question the validity of the data. Although this is
normal, and you will need to work through the issues, establishing
definitions will compliment the data and business rules for creating
enterprise and ad hoc reports.
In addition, the business must own the data and the
quality of it—remember the old adage: garbage-in-garbage-out. A
business will need to research and correct all data elements that
cannot be reconciled prior to moving forward with a BI solution,
including changing or adopting new processes to ensure quality.
Identifying, implementing, and reconciling checks and balances
between the business intelligence repository and the source system
data are also important in establishing data integrity.
Information Branding
Data is an integral component in establishing and driving realistic
and actionable business goals. Implementing and utilizing “one
version of the truth” to support processes and analysis, such as
the Balanced Scorecard, through a BI solution is crucial.
Distinguishing the BI reports from other ad hoc reports or legacy
reports is accomplished through developing and implementing a
recognizable standardized reporting format look and feel, including
standard headers, logos, parameters, and output formats
Tool Selection & Training
The selection of a BI tool may be a difficult task as there are a
number of evolving tool platforms available today. System
compatibility, functionality, and complexity need to be considered
along with growing business needs to ensure that the tool meets
future needs.
A final consideration is the necessary training and
learning curve for both business and technical teams. The depth of
available information may be overwhelming; therefore, a clear
understanding of the relationship between the corporate dictionary
and data is critical. From a technical standpoint, another challenge
is the maintenance of the integrated BI systems at post launch.
Source system changes will likely affect the BI solution.
Incorporating this into the change management process will minimize
the impact.
Conclusion
While the Business Intelligence needs and expectations of individual
companies will vary, attention should focus on the following areas:
user involvement, establishing a dictionary of terms, data
integrity, tool flexibility, and training.
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