Making Information Available
August 9, 2010
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve not been blogging with the same gusto as of late. Ah the life of a Consultant. 
I have been working with a local financial institution creating financial models this summer. (It leaves me with little time for blogging.) I did happen to stop by our 7755 Montgomery Road office today and checked my mailbox. In it was this month’s Information Management mag. I was immediately drawn to this month’s Snapshot: Making Information Available. Here’s some stats for you to consider:
61% of respondents are less than satisfied with their current process of creating information applications and are only lukewarm about their current information application technology. Here are their complaints:
- It takes too long to assemble and deploy applications.
- It is too difficult to assemble and view information into a simple view.
- There are not enough capabilities to integreate and normalize information from disparate applications.
WOW! I ask all of you fellow BI folks out there…what are you doing to solve this problem??? Why is it with all of the tools available today, our users are finding it too difficult to use them!! What are WE doing wrong?
As I mentioned, I am working with a customer on Financial Models this summer. I am fortunate to work with some SUPER SMART people in this group. They have come up with the most ingenious ways of getting their data out of old clunky systems. They can create some of the most INSANE Excel formulas to manipulate data! Their Excel sheets are visually appealing and get data to their management in a timely manner. I’ve had some spreadsheets that have taken me days to figure out the Excel formulas (and I’m a guru!). They are awaiting IT to “build them a DW” to make their lives easier. Here’s to hoping that it can deliver on their expectations! Here’s what I would do to ensure that it does:
1. Use an iterative methodology to build the DW. Recreate existing Excel reports from the DW as you go.
2. Implement a user-friendly reporting tool that allows them to create their own reporting. Give ‘em lots of drag and drop functionality and make sure it can Export to Excel.
3. Create a request process that allows the DW to change with the Business. Creating a process that queues up the work for months and months does not help the business user to create the financial package that’s needed at the end of the month.
4. Keep the model flexible. Doing this will ensure that you can always add a new organziation, hierarchy or measurement.
5. Build cubes! These users are smart cookies and they aren’t afraid of a Pivot Table. Give them the flexibility and performance of a cube and let them start to uncover their data.
Hmmm…what’s missing from my list? What would you add?
Happy building!
- Jodie
Comments
Got something to say?