BUS610: Business Intelligence and Analytics

8a. Evaluate how well an analysis aligns with a problem statement to ensure that requirements are appropriately addressed 

• Why are requirements definition and management so critical in BI projects?
• What process steps should be implemented to ensure that requirements are developed effectively?
  

Once analysts make their estimates or assessments, the management team has to determine how to turn the information into action. The organization's health and future depend upon its intelligence. There are various ways to manage the process, from the daily operations of the analytic team to information integration throughout the organization for optimal decision-making at all levels.
 
If a project is not well managed, it is likely to go off the rails. No matter how well the individual analysts or other team members perform, there will be no cohesion and no certainty that all requirements are fully met.
 
Requirements management establishes stakeholders' wants and needs and then reviews these to create a set of baseline requirements for solutions development and benefits management. Its goals are to ensure that all relevant stakeholders have the opportunity to express their wants and needs, reconcile multiple stakeholder requirements to create a single viable set of objectives and achieve stakeholder consensus on a baseline set of requirements.
 
A clear and agreed expression of requirements and their acceptance criteria is essential for the success of any project, program, or portfolio. Requirements may be expressed as physical deliverables, business benefits, aspirations, functions, or technical needs.
 
The designer of the BI system should be able to identify all relevant information and manage the process of working with users to develop scope definitions for the system. The developer needs to realize that the end-user may not always know exactly what they will need the system to do and should be able to fill in any gaps.
 
This chart illustrates the relationship between benefits, solutions, and requirements.

To review, see Requirements Management.
 

8b. Explain how an organization can ensure that BI reporting has value to its decision-making teams 

• What are the characteristics of effective BI teams?
• How can BI teams be managed?
• What are the features of effective project report writing?
  

A key requirement for business intelligence systems and processes is supporting decision-making teams. A part of this is the effective management of analytic teams. Optimal analytic teams are diverse, with varying perspectives and skill sets, with a healthy respect for each member's area and level of competence. Depending upon their competence, they will quickly learn what tasks should naturally fall to which member. Eventually, the team itself will develop its own personality, which is a positive in a highly functional team. The key to developing the right team is to start with the right members. Success begins with recruitment – put the right people in the right seats on the bus and let them figure out where they need to drive.
 
Teams will quickly learn what tasks should naturally fall to which member, depending upon their competence. Even with the best members, teams undergo a growing process, which, if well managed, they form by getting to know each other and their norms and creating healthy work patterns. Then, they perform well, getting positive feedback from the manager and the decision-maker, making them stronger for the next project. The storming process occurs at any point in the project, sometimes early as they scope out their turf and become aware of others' strengths and weaknesses and sometimes later when project pressures increase. Research shows that when bonds appear to be fraying, the skillful manager will get "out of the way of the storm" so the team can work out their issues, then re-engages to ensure the team can effectively proceed apart.
 
The stages of team development are:

1. Forming – individuals focus on defining and assigning tasks, establishing a schedule, organizing the team's work, and other start-up matters
2. Storming – members begin to share ideas about what to do and how to do it that compete for consideration
3. Norming – a period focused on developing shared values about how team members will work together
4. Performing – team members work together easily on interdependent tasks and can communicate and coordinate effectively
   

Technical writing is the way that development teams report their progress. Technical writing is precise writing. Vague, overly general, hyperbolic, or subjective/ambiguous terms are not appropriate in this genre. You do not want to choose words and phrasing that could be interpreted in more than one way.
 
Technical reports should contain writing that is:

1. Coherent – Ensures that the reader can easily follow your ideas and your train of thought
2. Concise – Uses the least words possible to convey the most meaning while still maintaining clarity
3. Concrete – Involves using specific, precise language to paint a picture for your readers so that they can more easily understand your ideas
4. Complete – Includes all requested information and answers all relevant questions
5. Courteous – Uses the least words possible to convey the most meaning while maintaining clarity
   

To review, see Building Successful Teams.
 

8c. Evaluate what management approaches to business intelligence would be most effective for your business case 

• What role does the project charter play in managing the project?
• Why is risk identification and management an important part of project management?
  

The project charter is a particular document that is a high-level description of the project and its purpose. It should be concise. Specific details about the project should then be included in the project scope and plan documents. The charter should focus on the big-picture strategy of the project. The purpose and justification and the project's "why" are critical charter elements. They are not necessary for the scope documents after the project has been approved. Interested people can always be referred back to the charter.
 
Variance analysis represents a best practice in managing project scope as the project proceeds through the execution phase of the project. Variance analysis consists of the production of regular project status reports, identifying deviates from the project plan, and determining how to address those deviations.
 
Risk management is critical for several reasons. Suppose you have an IT problem in your organization without an effective organizational or departmental risk anticipation and mitigation plan. In that case, your tech tools could become unavailable at a critical time in your project execution. You may also discover that your platform is missing key features or add-ons that make your project more difficult or even impossible to complete as planned. In this case, it is crucial to run through the collection, analysis, and reporting processes you intend to use and make sure you have the tools to conduct them most efficiently. It is also important to ensure you have tools your personnel can use. Not all data collection, warehousing, exploitation, and reporting tools have the same functionality and ease of use. If your team is not fully acquainted with your system, you may have significant delays and a lack of output. These must be worked out with your organization or department before committing to the project.
 
Problems with data can also relate to a lack of IT tools, but they are more likely to relate to the availability and quality of your data. This can be related to needing a dataset your organization does not have a subscription to or even obtaining data to discover it is incomplete or inaccurate. Once you have the data you think you need, it may need more cleaning and normalization than you had anticipated, or it may not relate as directly as you had anticipated to the specific requirement(s) of your project.
 
To review, see Risk Management Planning.
 

Unit 8 Vocabulary

This vocabulary list includes the terms that you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

• coherent writing
• complete writing
• compromise building
• concise writing
• concrete writing
• conflict resolution
• consensus formation
• courteous writing
• deliverable
• forming
• norming
• performing
• project charter
• risk management
• storming
• variance analysis