Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions
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Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions James Serra, Business Intelligence Consultant [email protected] JamesSerra.com
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If your company is planning to build a data warehouse or BI solution, you need to be aware that BI projects have high failure rates. Gartner says between 70% to 80% of corporate business intelligence projects fail. And with “big data” adding more complexity you can expect even more failures. However, the major causes of these failures are well known and can be avoided by implementing a set of best practices. I have worked on dozens of end-to-end BI projects and have seen my share of successes and failures. I will talk about the reasons BI projects fail and share best practices and lessons learned so your BI project will fall into the “successful” category.
Transcript of Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions
About Me• Business Intelligence Consultant, in IT for 28 years• Owner of Serra Consulting Services, specializing in end-to-end
Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse solutions using the Microsoft BI stack
• Worked as desktop/web/database developer, DBA, BI and DW architect and developer, MDM architect, PDW developer
• Been perm, contractor, consultant, business owner• Speaker at the PASS Business Analytics Conference• MCSE for SQL Server 2012: Data Platform and BI• SME for SQL Server 2012 certs• Contributing writer for SQL Server Pro magazine• Blog at JamesSerra.com
AgendaWhy BI?Why is BI so difficult?How BI Projects Get StartedHow BI Projects FailHow BI Project SucceedKey Takeaways
Why BI?
Business Intelligence is now a high priority, even for mid-sized firms
To remain competitive, companies need additional insights into their data
Companies are making huge investments in BI, and it will only increase
Why is BI so difficult?• Need to understand exactly what BI is• Many sources of data• Need to build a data warehouse (takes 75% of project time)• Data cleanup• Lack of expertise• Lack of experience• Getting out of canned reporting mode and thinking
dashboards• Usually needs MDM• Big data
How BI Projects Get StartedWe know we need a data warehouse and reports, but:
• We have all this data, and no idea on what to do• We built a “data warehouse”, and it sucks• We built a data warehouse, a million SSRS reports, and it
sucks
PLEASE help us create a BI solution/fix our current solution!
How BI Projects Fail• 70-80% corporate BI projects fail (Gartner)• The executive who thinks BI is “easy”• Starting with an end date and working backwards• Lack of user involvement• Insufficient business requirements or too much• Insufficient architect/design or too much
How BI Projects Fail• Poor communication between IT and the business• Building an SSAS cube that is too small or too big• Not setting up time to “validate the numbers”• Performance issues (slow response times)• Inexperience and lack of technical knowledge• Modeling the data warehouse to reflect the source data rather
than the business
How BI Projects Fail• The wrong consulting company is hired
− Lack of experience− Using offshore developers− Owning the whole project− No mentoring or knowledge transfer
• Budget runs out− Developers− Testers− DBA− PM− Hardware− Software licenses− Training
How BI Projects Succeed• Getting the right hardware
− Fast Track reference architecture− Appliances− SMP vs MPP (PDW)
• Understand all aspects of data warehouse architectures− Kimball vs Inmon− Tabular vs Multidimensional− Star Schema vs Relational
• Find a project champion/sponsor• Have BI director who keeps everyone running at 80%
efficiency
How BI Projects Succeed• Interative/Agile approach to delivery with frequent releases
− Break project into phases− Start with a high-priority subject but one that is small and easy− Get a quick win that shows lot’s of benefits and market it− Build a solid foundation with a repeatable process
• Get people excited about BI thru training• User PowerPivot to prototype/requirements
How BI Projects Succeed• Understanding all the different BI reporting tools and their
strengths/weaknesses (what works best for each type of user)− PerformancePoint− Power View− SSRS− PowerPivot− Excel− Tableau
Key Takeaways• Get the right expertise for the BI team• Get the users involved and excited• Show some results quickly and often• Don’t just recreate the existing reports, but add value• Sometimes it’s better to take twice as long and spend twice
the money because we get 50 times the value
Questions?
James Serra, Business Intelligence ConsultantEmail me at: [email protected] me at: @JamesSerra Link to me at: www.linkedin.com/in/JamesSerra Visit my blog at: JamesSerra.com
Resources:• Best Practices to Deliver BI Solutions: http://bit.ly/15BM9lR • Why you need Business Intelligence: http://bit.ly/10rN9GD • Poor communication to blame for business intelligence failure (Gartner Survey):
http://bit.ly/15BMjKa • Why You Need a Data Warehouse: http://bit.ly/xl4mGM • Presentation Slides for Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture: http://
bit.ly/16y84M3 • Presentation slides for What exactly is Business Intelligence? http://
slidesha.re/16y8SR6 • Presentation slides for Microsoft Appliances: http://slidesha.re/16y8VMw • Presentation slides for Why a Company Should Consider BI/DW: http://
slidesha.re/16y94j6
