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By Info-Tech Research Group
Business Intelligence (BI) solutions are notoriously complex. IT managers need a means to distinguish necessary functionality from bells and whistles. The true value of a BI solution lies in the insight it provides on business operations and the opportunities it creates for better decision making. However, organizations will
differ in terms of their decision support needs.
Understanding the business requirements for a BI project is crucial to selection strategy that aims to align with the overall
business objectives while addressing end-user needs. Failure to
integrate business requirements into the selection process can
result in serious costs and project failure.
Key Considerations
Business Requirements
Business Intelligence (BI) solutions are costly both from a licensing perspective and in terms of the
resources needed to implement them. Failing to choose an appropriate solution is a cost that IT
managers cannot afford. The ultimate determinant of success of a BI solution is end user adoption and
key stakeholder satisfaction. However, a solution that does not address business needs will not be
adopted by users. Business requirements also have a valuable role to play in short-listing.
A recent Info-Tech survey on Business Intelligence revealed that organizations that place greater
emphasis on the vendor evaluation process tend to have more successful projects. These organizations
also tended to place more importance on functionality. The upshot is that organizations need to select a
product that has the requisite functionality to meet business requirements.
To aid IT managers in the identification of core business requirements, Info-Tech has identified three
critical questions that IT managers need to answer (see Table 1). These questions are not to be used as
a substitute for conducting a more formal requirements process. They identify high-level topics that IT
managers ought to consider in order to obtain relevant requirements. For more information on BI, refer to
the Info-Tech Impact Report "Enabling Decision Making Through Business Intelligence."
Table 1. Addressing Business Requirements
| Questions to Consider |
Explanation |
Examples |
| What reporting and
analysis are required to
support current and
ongoing business
processes and will a
proposed BI solution
support them? |
- Any candidate BI solution must
be able to support business
critical processes that will
remain unchanged with new BI
solution.
- Some organizations will also
want their BI solution to be
able to replicate some of the
specific reporting and analysis
that is currently performed.
- There needs to be some
rationalization of the existing
reports/analysis first. Only
those reports and analysis that
are deemed necessary should
be reproduced.
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One of the main differentiators
between BI solutions is their
capacity to provide industry
specific support for their
product.
Regulatory constraints, such
as Sarbanes Oxley), are an
example of industry specific
business reporting/analysis
requirements that a BI solution
must be able to meet.
Other examples include,
unique budgeting and
forecasting models (e.g.
profitability analysis) or
business specific customer
retention analysis (e.g.
financial services). |
| What are the current pain
points with the existing
reporting and analysis
system(s)? |
- One of the dominant business
motives for implementing BI is
to alleviate headaches with
existing reporting and analysis
systems or to institute a
solution where none existed
before.
- Solutions that can address
these pain points most
effectively represent a genuine
opportunity for business
improvement.
- See the ITA Premium research
brief, "BI Requirements:
Reduce Risk with a Report
Layout Prototype" for help with
reporting requirements.
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Many organizations suffer
from the proliferation of
"spreadmarts" – growing
numbers of custom
spreadsheets across business
units. Oftentimes these
spreadsheets communicate
conflicting results due to
reporting off of disparate data
sources.
A BI solution that can handle
the required data integration to
produce "one version of the
truth." |
| What reporting and
analysis is required to
meet planned
enhancements to existing
or new processes? |
- Organizations will also
purchase a BI solution as a
means of introducing new
business processes simply to
improve operations rather than
address pain points.
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A growing number of
industries are looking to
introduce business
performance management
metrics (i.e. key performance
indicators - KPIs) to tie
operational performance with
strategic corporate objectives.
Performance is tracked and
reported using balanced
scorecards.
Some BI solutions will have
canned KPIs and balanced
scorecards that can drastically
simplify and speed up the
initiation of a business
performance metrics program. |
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