sme breakfast seminar - achieving successful reporting projects

The Agile BI Solution

Copyright © Nathean Technologies Ltd 2013

Achieving Successful Reporting Projects

Robert Doherty, Product Director

April 2013

www.nathean.com

Some Statistics to Start…

of Executives have more information than they can effectively use IBM\MIT Sloan Management Review 2011

Only 36% of Managers in top performing organisations get information they need in timeframe that supports their decision making cycle Aberdeen Group, 2011

CIO’s rank analytics as the #1 factor contributing to an organisation’s competitiveness IBM CIO Study 2009

Enterprises that apply analytics have 33% more revenue growth and 12x more profit growth IBM CFO Study 2010

of the time, it works every time! Brian Fantana to Ron Burgundy, Anchorman

The “Reporting” Spectrum

Static Reports

Ad hoc Queries

Analytics

Dashboards

Scorecards

Alerts

Predictive Modelling

Information available when required

Underlying data refreshed appropriately

Key metrics available to all

Exceptions highlighted

Flexible drilldown capability

Business users answer their own questions

Keeps pace with changing business requirements

Cost Effective!

My Definition of Successful Reporting

Disparate business systems

Set of in-built reports with each system

Heavy & recurring Excel usage

Information out-of-date soon after it is published

Key metrics not always well known

Reporting driven by IT not business users

Typical Starting Points for SME’s

No Silver Bullet – immediate & on-going commitment

Admit where you are right now

Decide where you want to get to in the short term

Think about your longer term aims

Create value & momentum quickly

Recognise that requirements will change

Key Points to Achieve Success

List available systems & other data sources

Understand current processes & workflows

Identify analytic staff members

Critique current reports & metrics

Decide on Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

Step 1: Know Your Status Quo

Explain reporting & analysis concepts to staff

Emphasise that reporting is an on-going process

Establish central & local owners

Encourage collaboration & insight sharing

Aim is to make BI usage pervasive in company

Step 2: Create a Reporting Culture

Tackling a Big Problem early

Focuses resources on finding a solution

Proves value

Builds momentum

Drives more requirements

Do not need to wait on “Perfect Data”

Involve end users from the get-go

Step 3: Identify a Big Pain to Solve

Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Intuitive - reduces training costs

Flexible – minimises Total Cost of Change (TCC)

Economical – start small & then scale

A heterogeneous approach may work for you

Ask vendor(s) for Proof of Concept

Step 4: Select the Right Toolset(s)

After each delivery get business user feedback

Add new requirements to a maintained backlog

Iteratively improve the solution

Monitor usage and prune redundant “reports”

Seek to build on success to widen usage

Step 5: Get Feedback & Improve

Thank You

Email info@nathean.com

Call us on + 353 1 685 3001

Copyright © Nathean Technologies Ltd 2013 All rights reserved. www.nathean.com