Any time I am asked to help an organization consider a data driven initiative or help sharped existing business intelligence systems, there are several common elements that must be addressed. In my years of working with companies in this capacity, I’ve identified three elements that help move them towards making better decisions by making available and using their data. In this article, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about conducting environmental reviews, understanding a company’s employees and the needs of their end users.
Conduct an Environmental Review
An environmental review is typically the first element that I would recommend when attempting to understand organizational need. I like to do this as an independent assessment free from any bias of end users or administrators of the systems. When reviewing the environment, I begin by asking about existing systems or even requesting a minimum of read only access to these systems. The things that I look for are typically the number of servers within a cluster, the number of users actively using the system as well as the number of users that have access to the system, the number and type of content hosted by the system and so forth. If you are performing an internal review of your own systems, this may re-familiarize you with your systems.
These main elements typically lead to other questions or lines of discovery. The takeaway from this type of review is a thorough understanding of any existing business intelligence systems that are available. Additionally, the review will reveal the health of these systems through the resources available on the server(s) and the amount of content held and processed daily.
Discover the Capabilities of Our Team Members
The next element of understanding organizational need is a personnel discovery process. I will usually start with any existing business intelligence developers. I have sent out email questionnaires in the past that are very simple to answer. Since I am a long time SAP BusinessObjects admin and user, I’ll ask questions such as “Please rate yourself on a scale of 1 – 5 (5 being an Expert) in the following areas”. I will then list a series of subject areas based on my environmental evaluation (i.e. SAP BI Platform Administration, Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, Universe Design, etc.). I’ll try to be as complete and thorough as possible when asking these questions based on the systems in use.
Next, once I receive responses from each of the identified people, I cross reference the self-perceived expertise with the team expertise. This is usually a higher-level discussion with management. In the past, I’ve had business intelligence underestimate their abilities (modesty) or overestimate their abilities (perceived fear for their jobs). This cross check will help ensure the quality of the results from the discovery process. It’s very important that you impart a sense of reassurance that jobs are not on the line. The purpose of this step in the process is to determine training gaps and an effort to remediate those issues. It’s a good thing for folks to communicate their knowledge so that we can help them develop into better business intelligence experts!
Conduct Interviews With End Users
Finally, I begin conducting interviews with as many end users as possible. As end users are typically stretched for time and cannot spend a ton of time on extensive surveys or interviews, I’ll usually try to spend about 15 – 30 minutes trying to understand how they do their work. The art of listening is extremely important in these cases as you can identify strengths and weakness in a company’s processes. I’ve heard things like “I didn’t know there were any reporting systems available so I do my own thing” to “yeah…I know that we have business intelligence systems, but I get so frustrated with them that I can’t be bothered”.
Statements like these are very telling and can cause problems such as data being extracted from a trusted system of record and distributed. This can lead to data trust issues when information gleaned from the extracted data do not match with information derived from trusted business intelligence systems. The purpose of a business intelligence system is to provide governed and trusted data that can be consumed in a variety of ways that make sense to the end user. It is important to listen to the issues that these end users have. This leads to the reassurance that what we are doing will help alleviate their problems and lead to a better experience. Remember, the end user is king. Without the support of an end user, any system will fail.
Conclusion
The combination of the three elements that I’ve just discussed tends to give many insights into the maturity of a data driven organization’s capability of using their data to their advantage. When we review the existing systems, if any are in place, we start to understand what is available and what may be needed. A thorough interview of existing personnel and their capabilities exposes how well prepared a business is to be reactive and proactive to the changes of the business. Finally, a complete understanding of how end users perform their work along with their successes and pain points helps us understand how satisfied they really are. The insights gained from the results of these steps paints a clear picture of where an organization currently stands, where they need to be and what needs to happen to get them there.
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