Recommendations and conclusion

Recommendations

Individual characteristics

Individual characteristics deal with age and the readiness for change. The average age of the level 4 managers is 49 years. This cohort typically is not comfortable with technology. The recommendation is to arrange refresher training interventions focussed on their specific needs. A blended approach of classroom-based training and e-learning training is recommended. Level 4 managers require hand-holding until they are comfortable with the tool. Classroom-based training will be beneficial, whilst they can recap using the e-learning lessons in their offices.


Organisational factors

Organisational factors deal with management support of SAP BI, user participation in the implementation, user training, and the iterative development approach.

It is recommended that a process owner should be established for analytics to instil a stronger management support base for SAP BI. This individual needs to be at an executive level and should be a champion to promote analytics culture within the organisation. A further recommendation is crafting a SAP BI strategy with a holistic view on technology, processes, and human imperatives to ensure successful adoption, usage, and sustainability of the tool.

It is further recommended that training should be tailored per directorate to address specific reporting requirements per area. Currently, training is more generic and benefits will be achieved if the training model is adapted accordingly.


System quality characteristics

System quality characteristics deal with information quality, system quality, accessibility and the user interface of the SAP BI tool.

Firstly, it is recommended that SAP BI batch monitoring should be implemented to ensure information and system quality. This will require 24/7 monitoring. If a process chain fails, a BI developer is contacted after to address the problem, specifically around month-end and SAP month-end. Improved data quality will result in improved trust by the business in the reports.

Secondly, it is recommended that the IT department put measures in place to ensure data integrity by monitoring BI batch processes and ensuring that alerts are in place if a process fails. For businesses to adopt analytics, data integrity is critical to instil confidence amongst users of SAP BI.

A third recommendation is that performance tuning should be undertaken, such as the use of SAP Hana, to create significant performance gains for the users, leading to renewed enthusiasm for the usage of the tool as long delays will no longer be an issue.

The last recommendation is to address the user interface by empowering managers to use the tool by offering refresher SAP BI training that meets specific needs and requirements.


Organisational culture

Organisational culture deals with information readiness, information culture, and change management. The previous recommendation under organisational factors, that is, to establish a process owner, is equally important for organisational culture. Establishing a process owner for analytics and with constant executive support for the tool will change the reporting culture within the organisation over time. This ensures that the right information is available at the right time to managers and will create a foundation for information readiness and uptake of the SAP BI tool.


Macro-environment factors

Macro-environment factors deal with the relevant business sector and competitiveness of the environment. The organisation is a public sector concern and focusses on customer, not profit. Profitable organisations need to have a competitive edge and reporting is an enabler for them to remain successful. It is recommended that the organisation re-orientates its culture towards using analytics. The information culture of the public sector requires a mind shift for managers to realise that analytics is an enabler to assist in supporting the customer more efficiently and to improve service delivery. This shift could be established once a process owner has been established and could result in changing the organisational culture towards analytical capabilities.


Effort perception

Effort perception is the users' view on how easy the tool is to use. Managers expressed that they struggled with the user interface. Focussed and customised refresher SAP BI training is recommended.


Social influence

Social influence deals with visibility and image. The establishment of a process owner for SAP BI is essential as mentioned previously in organisational factors and organisational culture. This will set the tone at the top and other managers will follow suit. The information and organisational culture towards reporting will mature over time because of the executive support and buy-in for the tool.


Facilitation conditions

Facilitation conditions deal with the technical support and report creation for SAP BI. Currently, the development of a SAP BI report is a two-pronged approach in that the BI developer's and functional business analysts' input is required. The functional analysts are involved with project and support work and capacity is an issue. This is impacting the lengthy timelines to create reports, which is frustrating the users. It is recommended that different personnel deal with support and project-related work. This should eliminate delays in report delivery timelines.


Other

The 'other' theme deals with placing SAP BI on a manager's IPM scorecard. Once a process owner has been established, this recommendation can possibly be introduced into the organisation. SAP BI usage can be monitored by the number of logins to SAP BI in a month. Statistics can also be set up on frequently used reports and dashboards. Only what gets managed, gets done. Behaviour will eventually change and an information culture will be instilled into the organisation.