Data Con LA 2020 DescriptionThis talk will focus on providing the key elements that enable the successful roll out of a self service analytics program at any organization. I'll discuss my tenure at Qualcomm where I led a self service program there for 10 years and grew it to 500 developers, 3000 applications and 15000 end users. I'll also go over other client case studies like the California Department of Public Health and Illumina where we are developing similar self service programs and go over what works and what does not work. Speaker Steve Rimar, Analytica Consulting, LLC, CEO & Founder

1. Key Elements of a Successful
Self Service Analytics Program
Steve Rimar
CEO & Founder
Analytica Consulting

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Program Elements
• Program Structure
• Roles/Responsibilities
• Resource Needs
• Data Governance Architecture
• Case Studies

3. Introduction – Steve Rimar
• CEO & Founder of Analytica Consulting (2014 – Present)
• Former Director of Analytics at Qualcomm (2006 – 2014)
• Former Principal Consultant at Accenture (2002 – 2006)
• 15+ Years of Analytics & BI Experience
• 20+ Years of IT Experience in Enterprise Architecture
• Multiple Publications within InformationWeek, CNN,
Investors Business Daily, etc.

4. Introduction to Analytica
• Technology services firm specializing in
data analytics with domain expertise in:
– Quality
– Operations
– Life Sciences
– Biotech
– Healthcare
– Manufacturing
– Marketing
– Product Development
– Finance

5. What is Self Service Analytics?

6. Key Elements of Self-Service Analytics
Software
Shared
Environment
Community &
Training
Centralized
Analytics
Team
Data Catalog

7. Software
• Based on my experience there are three market leaders

8. Shared Environment
• Centrally managed environment for sharing &
publishing
• On-premise is recommended initially
• Once mature can be hosted off-premise (cloud)
• Publishing should be open to EVERYONE
– Depending on Audience
– Completing appropriate training

9. Community & Training
• Internal online community where users can:
– Post questions
– Post tips and tricks / best practices
– Learn about new features / updates / events
• Community initially requires moderator
• Eventually it will moderate itself once mature
• Technologies well suited:
– SharePoint (more recent, the better)
– WordPress
– Confluence

10. Community & Training
• Foster an Ongoing Training Program
– Formal desktop/developer training
– Office Hours
– Ad-Hoc

11. Centralized
Data Team
BU
BU
BU
BU
BU
BU
Centralized Data Team
Data
Scientists
• Centralized data team works
directly with each Business Unit
• BU’s appoint data leads who
understand data activities and
represent BU’s data interests
• Many companies over centralize or
don’t centralize enough, it’s a
delicate balance…

12. Data Catalog

13. Reality Check
• The Program helps data governance and also creates more problems at the
same time
– Self-service analytics tools help find data that would otherwise be neglected
– Re-usable data sets are identified
– Data silos can grow quickly creating more problems
– BUT this is being done today with tools like Excel anyway
• What can the Program do?
– Be open and realistic
– Don’t force analysis to only occur from the data warehouse or supported data
marts
– Provide a platform and a means to centralize the data while also being as agile as
possible

14. Examples/Case Studies
• Qualcomm
• CDPH
• Illumina

15. Qualcomm
• Self-Service Program began with
– 1 Developer, 11 Users, Handful of Apps
• Prior to this analytics utilized traditional
means
– IT centric Data Warehouses and Data Marts
– Cognos, Business Objects and OBIEE
• Stats within 5 years:
– 400+ Developers
– 3000+ Applications
– 10,000+ Users
– 80+ Development Teams

16. Qualcomm Shared Environment
• Gold
– Anyone can publish
– Minimal process + rapid development
• Platinum
– Only certain teams can publish
– Maintains desired standards through formal process

17. Qualcomm Community/Training
• Community site
• Formal Training Every
Other Month (20
attendees on avg)
• Monthly Developer Office
Hours (50 attendees on
avg)

18. California Department of Public Health (CDPH)
• State Department made up of many Centers:
– Center for Health Care Quality
– Center for Family Health
– Center for Healthcare Stats & Informatics
• 1000+ Epidemiologists/Analysts/Data Scientists
• Analytica hired in 2016 to create and support the
self-service BI program utilizing Tableau
• Prior to 2016 CDPH had some centralized IT BI
utilizing SSRS, analysts used Excel & SAS primarily

19. CDPH Self Service BI Program
Project Results
• Created 2 Shared Tableau Environments
(Internal + Public)
• Designed Publishing Process Adhering
to Strict Security Requirements
• Formal training every other month, bi-
weekly informal office hours
• Created Centralized Data Team
• Current footprint (and growing):
– 3 Centers
– 50+ Tableau developer analysts

20. illumina
• Our Project Goal
– Enhance Use of Analytics Throughout
Enterprise
– Data Governance and Centralization
– Enable Business Analysts to Develop Tableau
Dashboards on their own
• Project Results
– Setup/Configured Tableau Platform
– Trained and Mentored over 200 Analysts
– Provided Tableau Integration with SAP HANA
for Governance & Security compliance
– Deployed Data Virtualization solution to
enhance re-usable data sets/governance