1. You should analyze the current business intelligence stack and processes and organizational structures surrounding current BI implementations. Both IT and the business should be involved. Evelson cautions against underestimating this phase, and points out that a full “BI diagnostic” from Accenture contains 1,500 questions against 325 best practices and 75 subject areas.
2. Create common definitions. Without common definitions, a BI implementation cannot succeed. And lack of agreement is a widespread problem in companies today. For example, finance and sales may define “gross margin” differently, which means that numbers will not match—in effect, negating the value of automation. To combat this problem, get subject matter expertise throughout lines of business from front-, middle- and back-office staff. At this stage, IT's participation should be limited to running the project management office and taking ownership of compliance and business standards and policies. Secondly, start small and choose only 10 to 20 key performance indicators and create standards and governance with them in mind.
3. Create a plan for data storage. Many organizations begin with an isolated data mart, since it’s quick and cheap, but consider that this tactic means additional silos will need to be created as additional data storage needs arise, which can grow out of control within a few years. Something else to consider is whether to build and maintain a physical data warehouse or go with the virtual, so-called “semantic” layers to link operational systems. Traditional data warehousing means duplicating data, which means bringing in operations systems in real time will be next to impossible. You can save space with an abstract definition layer, but this is difficult to design, as is any metadata repository. Before even considering which vendors to choose, you must resolve this issue.
4. Understand what users need. The three broad classes of business intelligence users are strategic, tactical and operational. Strategic users make few decisions, but each one can have a profound effect—for example, should we close operations in Europe and open them in China. Tactical users make many decisions a week, and use both aggregate and detail-level information, and likely need updated information daily. Operational users are the front-line employees, such as call center staff. They need data within their own set of applications to execute the enormous numbers of transactions. Understanding who will use BI and for what purposes can show the type of information needed and its frequency, and help guide BI decision making.
5. Choose a systems integrator. Business intelligence implementations require guidance from a partner who has deep experience. Do not outsource the fine-tuning of business intelligence. The process requires a high degree of collaboration among end users, analysts and developers.