Business Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision-Support Applications
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ISBN |
0201784203 |
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Release Date |
25 February 2003 |
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Category |
Information Systems |
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Tags |
business intelligence,
decision,
business,
"business intelligence",
decision support,
business objects,
intelligence,
business inteligence,
roadmap,
business intellegence,
project,
business process,
lifecycle,
business inteligent,
map,
business intelligance,
google map,
"business intelligence roadmap",
support,
project management,
business intelligent,
artificial intelligence,
business analyse,
life cycle,
mind map,
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This book @Amazon |
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Description
Many organizations are already well equipped to implement successful business intelligence (BI) decision-support applications, such as data warehouses, data marts, and other business analytics applications. However, during our consulting and teaching engagements, we have encountered many ill-equipped organizations as well. We observed some common factors among them, which we address in this book: Lack of understanding of the complexity of BI decision-support projects Lack of recognizing BI decision-support projects as cross-organizational business initiatives and not understanding that cross-organizational initiatives are different from stand-alone solutions Unavailable or unwilling business representatives Unengaged business sponsors or business sponsors who have little or no authority due to their low-level positions within the organization Lack of skilled and available staff as well as suboptimum staff utilization Inappropriate project team structure and dynamics No software release concept (no iterative development method) No work breakdown structure (no methodology) Ineffective project management (only project administration) No business analysis and no standardization activities No appreciation of the impact of dirty data on business profitability No understanding of the necessity for and the usage of meta data Too much reliance on disparate methods and tools (the silver bullet syndrome) BI project managers and project teams can use this book to improve their project life cycles. They can also use it to obtain the appropriate recognition for their BI projects from the business community and to solicit the required support from their executive management. BI project team members and the business representatives assigned to them can use this book to gain a better understanding of the development effort required to build and deploy successful BI decision-support applications.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
Business Intelligence Roadmap is a guide for developing BI decision-support applications. The two main purposes of this book are to Explain the complexity of BI decision-support projects Present a step-by-step guide for the entire BI project lifecycle Complexity In order to give you an appreciation of the complexity of BI decision-support projects, we describe all of the components that go into a BI decision- support development effort. For example: You should know what makes a BI decision-support application different from a traditional decision-support system so that you can avoid costly mistakes. You should understand the infrastructure components of your new BI decision-support application, such as the tools available (for development and for access and analysis). You should be able to recognize items that could impair the success of your new BI decision-support application. You should determine how many resources you need and what type of resources, both technical and human. You should decide on the design or architecture of your BI decision- support application, such as designing for multidimensional reporting or ad hoc querying. Step-by-Step Guide Our step-by-step guide across the breadth of a complete development lifecycle includes activities, deliverables, roles and responsibilities, dos and don'ts, and entry and exit criteria, plus tips and rules of thumb to lead you to a successful BI decision-support implementation. For example: You should choose which steps you ought to perform on your BI project because no two BI decision-support projects are exactly alike. You should know whether to start with a cross-organizational decision-support solution or a tailored departmental solution with the basis for expansion. You should understand the sequence in which to perform development activities, that is, which ones can be performed in parallel tracks and which ones have a strong dependency on one another. In contrast to topic-specific materials available on BI, this book is a single-source development guide written specifically for BI decision-support applications. The guidelines presented in this book are based not only on our personal experiences but also on some of the best practices covered in topic-specific books, articles, and Web sites.
HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED
All software development projects are complicated engineering projects, as demonstrated by the breadth of topics covered in this book. Chapter 0, Guide to the Development Steps, explains the general organization of the development guidelines in Business Intelligence Roadmap. This book is organized into two major parts. Part I, Stages and Steps, describes the 16 development steps, which are introduced in Chapter 0. Part I gives you a broad understanding of the development effort involved in BI decision-support projects. Part II, At a Glance, supplements the text contained in the first part of the book with several matrices that should be used together as a reference guide for all BI decision-support projects. Part I: Stages and Steps Part I begins with Chapter 0, Guide to the Development Steps, and is followed by 16 development chapters. Each of the 16 development chapters is dedicated to one unique development step and describes the effort required to perform the activities of that step. Guide to the Development Steps (Chapter 0) describes the general layout of the development guidelines presented in this book, contrasting those guidelines with a traditional development methodology. It discusses the six engineering stages as well as the three parallel development tracks, and it groups the applicable development steps under both. Chapter 0 explains the application release concept and shows how to organize a BI project with the appropriate roles and responsibilities for the core team and the extended team. Each of the development steps (Chapters 1-16) begins with an individual chapter overview followed by a section called Things to Consider. These are general questions BI project teams usually contemplate when deciding which activities need to be performed under each development step. These questions are merely presented as food for thought and are not necessarily explored in the chapters; nor are they all-inclusive. Each chapter discusses the main topics applicable to the development step covered by that chapter. Some topics apply to more than one development step, such as testing or product evaluation. However, to avoid redundancy these common topics are covered in only one chapter and are only briefly referenced in the other chapters. Each of the 16 chapters contains a list of major activities for that development step, accompanied by a figure showing what activities could be performed concurrently. The list of activities is followed by descriptions of the deliverables resulting from these activities and the roles involved in performing these activities. Each chapter concludes with a brief discussion of risks to weigh in case you decide not to perform that step on your project. Do not interpret the risks of not performing the step to mean that every BI project team must perform every development step exactly as suggested. Instead, use the risk section to determine whether the activities in that development step are-;or should be-;mandatory on your project. If they are not, you may decide not to perform some or all of those activities after discussing the risks with the business sponsor. Part II: At a Glance Part II contains the following matrices. The Human Resource Allocation Matrix (Chapter 17) lists all the vital roles involved in performing the step activities, tasks, and subtasks. The roles listed in this matrix need to be assigned to project team members. In order to help you discover and avoid potential resource allocation problems, the steps that can be performed in parallel and their appropriate roles are listed together. The Entry and Exit Criteria and Deliverables Matrix (Chapter 18) indicates the prerequisites, results, and deliverables for each development step. Not every BI project team will need to perform all activities for all development steps. This matrix should help you determine whether you can skip a step or incorporate some of its activities into other steps. The Activity Dependency Matrix (Chapter 19) is a collection of activity dependency charts for the development steps. This matrix shows at a glance which activities in each step can be performed concurrently. It should be used to determine workflow and task assignments for project team members. The Task/Subtask Matrix (Chapter 20) itemizes all pertinent tasks, and in some cases subtasks, for all the major activities under each step. This matrix should be used to prepare the work breakdown structure for the project plan. You can customize (expand or reduce) the tasks and subtasks on an as-needed basis for individual projects. The Practical Guidelines Matrix (Chapter 21) presents three subsections for each development step: Dos, Don'ts, and Tips and Rules of Thumb. Dos point out best practices for the development steps, and Don'ts instruct you how to avoid traps and pitfalls. Tips and Rules of Thumb are our personal collection of experiences over several decades of developing cross-organizational decision-support applications.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
We suggest that all core members of the BI project team make use of this book as follows. First, read all the chapters in Part I to gain an overall understanding of all the components of BI decision-support development. Next, compare your own BI project scope and requirements to the topics in the book. Use the discussions in the chapters to decide which specific development steps apply to your project. Go to Chapter 18 and look up the entry and exit criteria for the steps you selected. Be sure that you have the prerequisites to implement your development approach and that you have a clear understanding of what it takes to move forward. Put your project plan together for the steps you have chosen by consulting the activity dependency flow charts in Chapter 19 and by using the tasks and subtasks listed in Chapter 20. |
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