Speaker: Robert Doherty, Product Director at Nathean Technologies

1. The Agile BI Solution
Copyright © Nathean Technologies Ltd 2013
Achieving Successful Reporting Projects
Robert Doherty, Product Director
April 2013
www.nathean.com

2. Some Statistics to Start…
of Executives have more information than they can effectively use
IBMMIT 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

3. The “Reporting” Spectrum
 Static Reports
 Ad hoc Queries
 Analytics
 Dashboards
 Scorecards
 Alerts
 Predictive Modelling

4.  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

5.  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 Information out-of-date soon after it is published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

6.  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

7.  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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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)

11.  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

12. Thank You
Email info@nathean.com
Call us on + 353 1 685 3001
Copyright © Nathean Technologies Ltd 2013
All rights reserved.www.nathean.com