Since there are many types of democracies, the term Information Democracy is not easily refined. Mr. Passerini discussed his idea of Information Democracy as providing the same information at the same time to all that should view that data. This Lateral information exchange has enabled P&G unprecedented access to data propelling their decision making to be quicker and based on current data.
The purpose of their Information Democracy is to provide not only one version of the truth, but the same version of the truth to everyone. This might sound like the same concept, but there is a subtle difference and it deals with the latency of the data and ability to massage results. It tries to eliminate the “My data shows…” statements made by many because the data is owned and seen by all people at the same time. There is no delay to anyone in receiving data, no standardized reports to be re-issued, no side data to be pulled into Excel to get a different look, just the data received in a dashboard/cockpit environment.
The delivery of the data in Mr. Passerini’s Information Democracy is prolific. The same pieces of information are delivered via mobile devices, traditional PCs or P&G’s Business Sphere environment (a conference room of walls with electronic displays filled with information). The same data provided at the same time to all parties involved using multiple delivery devices allows the entire P&G managerial structure to evaluate data wherever they may be. This pervasive data culture is another example of P&Gs increased ability to adapt their business more quickly in a team environment.
The Information Democracy has not come easily at P&G as they have had to overcome obstacles. It has taken a huge effort to change the culture to embrace data for data driven solutions. Security issues make the delivering of data to all the necessary people difficult. The technology to do this is available, but the governance was generally lacking. These issues must be addressed, as P&G has, prior to successfully implementing the idea of an Information Democracy.
Transparency of the data (showing the same data to all necessary parties), timeliness of the data (getting the data to all parties as early as possible), and transportation of the data (delivering the data in multiple formats for easy consumption) make the three branches of the Information Democracy much like the executive, legislative and judicial branches make up our democracy. With these branches and the appropriate data governing processes, there truly can be an Information Democracy allowing data “…of the people, by the people and for the people.”

…Doug

iPhone4S

Like most of you, I recieve a lot of publications in my inbox each day.  This morning, an interview in Intelligent Utilitycaught my attention.  The interview, IT’s Workforce of the Future, is a very interesting observation by a CIO who has been in the workforce for less than 20 years.  In the interview the CIO, Branndon Kelley reminds us that in 1999 our workplace had better, faster technology than we had at home.  Today, for most, that simply isn’t the case.  We have a new workforce emerging that has been immersed in technology since birth and want to bring that to their new post-college positions.

Branndon issued a challenge for those of us “old timers” in IT.  Certainly our experience has taught us to be cautious and deliberate and to plan our project carefully.  These new techies, however, are more likely to jump in with both feet and more optimism.  Neither is certainly a perfect strategy but their is a lot to be learned from both.  Business is changing faster and faster every day.  When evaluating your projects here are some things you may want to consider:

1. Is there truly a compelling business reason why I couldn’t move my data to the Cloud?
2. How can I inspire my technical team to think more creatively and collaboratively?
3. Why does my staff need a permanent desk at my site? 
4. Can I find the best resources in my town/headquarters?  What if I was not limited by geography?
5. What tools do I need to get in place now so that I can enable my teams to push the boundaries of location, work hours, and technology?

Food for thought indeed.  How would you respond to the questions above?

 - Jodie

BI systems need DATA and every business has terabytes of real data which can provide them with the information and knowledge they need to make the right decisions on time. But the key is to turn that data into information in a timely, efficient and effective manner once the WHAT AND WHY questions are answered i.e., what information is needed, what matters and why that is required.  In today’s market, every business is in a RACE. The race to conquer others. The race to generate more gains/profits. The race to foresee the risks early on so that they can be avoided.  So time is of the essence here.

An optimized BI system integrates large volume of external and internal near real time data to allow management to create opportunities by making intelligent decisions after performing predictive analysis of their approach on the business. A good BI System is like a GPS. An effective GPS is one that not only shows you a route to your destination but also guides you when you hit roadblock, gives up-to-date external conditions (constructions / traffic) information, provides multiple routes to choose from, suggests you with alternatives for shorter and fastest routes, predict the total time based on your driving behavior, tells you what to expect next etc. Just knowing the path to your destination is not sufficient. You need to know many other factors during the whole ride to reach destination on time and without any hurdles.

For a good integrated BI system, a good Data warehouse architecture needs to be in place.  Data warehouse architecture is “an integrated set of products that enable the extraction and transformation of operational data to be loaded into a database for end-user analysis and reporting”. Below are the pictorial representations of different “flavors” of DW architectures.

Methodologies used by different architecture:

Kimball’s DW Architecture – Is based on ‘Bottom-UP’ methodology.

Inmon’s DW Architecture – Is based on ‘Top-Down’ methodology.

Dan Lindstedt’s Data Vault DW Architecture – Is based on ‘HYBRID DESIGN’

The first two design methods have some limitations for Data Warehouse layer such as inflexibility and unresponsiveness to the changing departmental needs during the implementation phase, insufficient auditability of data back to its source system, inability to integrate unstructured data, inability to rapidly respond to changes (organizational changes, new ERP implementations) or difficult to load type 2 dimensions in real time. This is where DATA VAULT came in to rescue. Data Vault follows a ‘HYBRID DESIGN’ methodology which follows ‘TOP-DOWN ARCHITECTURE WITH A BOTTOM-UP DESIGN’.

The model is a mix of normalized modeling components with type 2 dimensional properties. In this model, the DW serves as a backend system that houses historical data which is integrated by the business keys. All data ‘good, bad, incomplete’ gets loaded into the data vault and all the cleansing and application of business rules takes place downstream i.e., out of DW. This means that Data Vault model is geared to be strictly a data warehouse layer, not as a data delivery layer which still requires physical or Virtual star schemas or cubes for Business Users or BI tools to access.

Bill Inmon in 2008 stated that the “Data Vault is the optimal approach for modeling the EDW in the DW2.0 framework.”

In Part 2 and 3, I am going to explain different components of Data Vault and it’s power with the help of some examples.  That will clearly explains why the Data Vault should be a preferred “flavor” for different businesses.

- Jyothi Kaparthi

Well, BI in the cloud just made a big leap forward.  The poster child of cloud companies, Salesforce.com, has now entered the mix.  Salesforce announced a few days ago the availability of www.database.com, a service they (salesforce) will be offering, based upon their existing architecture.  WOW…  The game should start moving even faster now, what with Salesforce now directly competing with the major Database vendors (Oracle and Microsoft specifically).  I personally find it interesting as well that of all the areas Salesforce could have brought to the cloud (vertical/horizontal solutions, ERP/MRP systems, yet another email system, etc) they chose Database.   Oh, don’t get me wrong, it makes sense relative to leveraging their existing infrastructure, but I think it’s an interesting vote on where BI, Data and the cloud are headed.

Look at that “Admin” cube!  I remember when I joined LÛCRUM we actually had someone answer the phones for us.  Does any company do that anymore?  (On an alternate tangent…I hate those phone systems that require you to say your option…just let me press a darn number!).

Anyway, we’re packing up 13 years of memories, dirt, proposals, old shirts, coffee pots, books (anyone need a slightly used Crystal Reports v5 book?), cables, monitors, obsolete servers, chairs, tables and…

PEOPLE!!!!

So, where are we taking all of these things?  We’re heading north to Kenwood.  Next week, you can find us at 7755 Montgomery Road Suite 160.  I have to say, I am soooooooooooo very excited.  In addition to heading to Kenwood, we are also sending a lot of people to become virtual employees.  That brings a new host of challenges.  GoToMeeting, conference calls, home office organization…wow!

Things will be different for sure on Monday.  But one thing is certain, we’re still focused on data and we still believe in making data visual and easy-to-understand for all!

See you in Kenwood!

Not so.   Dilbert is alive, healthy, and very much well fortified in the “partnership” between IT and Business.

Here’s 10 Telltales from a person that has both a IT and Business professional’s perspective that you really do have a Business Intelligence partnership.

1. Lunch. OK, I’m writing this waiting for one of my manager’s to bring me a “sack lunch” turkey sandwich.   But I’m serious.   Lunch.   When’s the last time you have been to lunch with your business user?   When has he or she picked up the tab for that lunch?  Communications is the key to any Business Intelligence initiative since the information requirements are dependent on the external business environment most of the time and, in today’s marketplace, the environment is constantly changing.   Frequency and intimacy of conversation not only about last weekend’s loss of your favorite playoff team but more so what’s going on in business last week that is going to affect the kind of questions you are looking to “ask your data?”
2. Mea Culpa. Saying that you made a mistake…Rework, reloads, unsuccessful night refreshes…operating a business intelligence environment is not easy work.   There’s a lot of moving parts to a mature BI platform along with updates, patches, network traffic and internet dependencies and the like.   There’s got to be daily production huddle sessions, weekly project enhancement meetings, quarterly capital, budget and funding meetings, and annual business strategy alignment sessions.   All of these meetings have to be tightly integrated between IT and the Business in order for the Business Intelligence platform to prosper.
3. Monitoring & measuring. “What doesn’t get measured doesn’t get managed” as the modified saying goes.   A mutually-agreed measurement and operational reporting system needs to be applied to any Business Intelligence initiative.  At least, the successful ones.   The partnership has proactively agreed to “what constitutes acceptable” in advance so that both parties can provide a seamless report card.
4. Social measurements, too. Not only do we want to measure “system performance” and other traditional IT operational metrics, one also wants to consider the social aspects of the platform.  Is everyone timely and present at the respective meetings?   Was everyone prepared with their part for the meeting?   Are the “partnership duties” getting deprioritized (this especially happens in the business side since the business operationally will pull the business people directly into business problems and not IT problems.
5. Cradle-to-grave Documentation. Documentation doesn’t mean to just put the information into a project plan when building the BI platform and then shove it into a drawer.  Rather, documentation of the business questions that are asked every day, week, month, quarter depending on the business problems involved.  The business is changing, thus, driving heuristic questioning.   Having an active collaborative environment to document these is extremely important to sustain the platform.
6. Executive sponsorship by both IT and the Business. Even though most of the activity is well beneath the executive offices, the business questions being analyzed and solved are most likely directly related to the profitability and the overall strategy and performance of the business.   So, do they go to lunch?   Do they understand that there’s a Business Intelligence Partnership?  Smile.
7. Show me the money!   Funding. How budgets get spread between IT and the Business can actually be the fundamental reason why a Business Intelligence initiative succeeds or fails!!!   There’s a lot to be said about the CIO that can navigate through today’s budget world.  How a CIO leverages both capital appropriations and current expense for Business Intelligence requires the involvement of the Business.  You see, building the environment with hardware and software and consulting services can all follow GAAP principles for accounting.   Where the difficulty lies is how to separate the operational overhead of running the BI platform along with the constant stream of enhancements.   If one doesn’t budget for the enhancements, the platform ends up slowly (or quickly in today’s economy) becoming antiquated.
8. A partnership of Innovation. Most of what IT does is not innovation itself.  They use innovative technology; although once deployed, it is an operational system that is supposed to run and run and run.  IT professionals are paid to execute, operate, and make budget….and most of the time at the lowest common denominator when it comes to operational availability and budget.    BI platforms are rich with innovation through new technology, of course, but more so through Heuristic Questioning about the business problems at hand that day.  Innovation comes through leveraging data and asking “Why?” and “What if?”   The BI partnership must have an innovation DNA in order to truly leverage the data to its greatest value.
9. Survived a reorganization or three? When, not if, the company/organization reorganizes, the Business and IT organization can change slightly or dramatically.  I have seen many a healthy BI partnership get destroyed over new org charts.   When you reorganize, the IT and Business leadership must have a Partner Summit of sorts in order to protect the operational care, feeding and ongoing plans of the Business Intelligence environment.
10. Internal public relations. I was with the famous Peter Drucker at the 1996 Cognos Convention out in San Diego and had a chance to ask him some questions.   Why can’t we get everyone to want to have their data in one location so we can get rid of all of these disparate spreadsheets?   “In the old days, man fought with swords, daggers, clubs, and ultimately, guns.   We are carnivores and that will remain.  Today, we fight with information.  We hide it, disguise it, hoard it, and mislead with it.   It’s our contemporary personal weapon of force.”  Based on some of the latest stories coming off of Wall Street, the CDO crisis, the Mortgage lending crisis, and the insider trader diabolical, and certainly the many Ponzi schemes that have ruined many a retirement savings plan, I have to agree with what Dr. Drucker said.  At the same time, I truly believe in the good of mankind, if the IT and Business groups have strong leadership, an active business strategy, and a general knowledge that if the team is rowing all at once you can accomplish more than if you are not, then the general support of a Business Intelligence platform will be a positive enabler for the company’s well-being.

There are probably 10 more ideas supporting a Business Intelligence Partnership with IT and the Business.  I hope that these Telltales stimulate you to advance your partnership!  Good Luck!

In this series of posts, I will discuss a number of these capabilities and will give some concrete examples of how to utilize them.

I will be using Excel 2007 for these examples.  Much of this functionality is also available in Excel 2005, it’s just not as easy to use and does not have some of the more advanced features.

Getting the Data
The first step in any effort is to get some data into Excel.  We’ll start out using a simple static list.  You probably already use lists like this regularly.  If you don’t utilize Excel in this way today, think of the reports that you work with from the various systems that you run your organization with.  In most cases, you could probably either copy andhttp://thefuturevalueofbusiness.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=745&message=6 paste or import these reports into Excel to get some data to work with.

In future posts, we’ll cover a much more powerful method of acquiring data by connecting to external databases from within Excel.  For now though, we’ll stick with this simple example.

I’ll be working with the sample database that comes with Microsoft’s SQL Server database software.  This sample database contains information about a fictitious company called Adventure Works.  Below, you can see that I have an extract of order information that I’ve pasted into Excel.

This is the most common manner in which people utilize Excel for reporting purposes: simple lists of data pasted or imported from other sources.  In most situations, this data comes from existing reports or queries.  My example above is a very simple query…you can see that we don’t even have names or descriptions for most of the data.  For example, Column F is showing us the Product ID instead of the Product Name.

The best way to solve this problem is to have the author of the report or query modify it to include the Product Name in addition to the Product ID.  Let’s imagine that this is not a realistic option though; there is a way that we can solve this problem using an extremely powerful Excel formula called VLOOKUP.

Using VLOOKUP

To expand on our situation above, let’s imagine that I have a second worksheet in my Excel workbook.  I have an image of this second sheet below.

The Product ID in column A corresponds to the Product ID in column F on the Orders List.  We are going to use VLOOKUP to take the Product ID in the orders list and lookup the Product Name in the product list.

To make the formulas a little more understandable, I am going to rename the Sheet with the order list “Orders” and I am going to rename the Sheet with the products list “Products”.

On the “Orders” sheet, let’s insert a column immediately to the right of the Product ID.  We’ll label it “Product Desc” in Row 1.  In Row 2, we’ll enter the VLOOKUP formula:

The parameters (the information between the parentheses) tell Excel how to lookup the value we want:

• The first parameter, “F2”, tells Excel what value we are performing the lookup for.  In this case, we are looking up the Product ID.
• The second parameter, “Products!A:B”, tells Excel where to go to do the lookup.  Here I selected the first 2 entire columns on the “Products” sheet.
• The third parameter, “2”, tells Excel to bring back the data in column 2 from the lookup list when it finds a match for the value from cell F2.  I know that’s a confusing sentence at best, but it will make sense in a moment.
• The last parameter, “FALSE”, tells Excel that we want it to return only an exact match for the value we are looking for.  If Excel cannot find an exact match for the Product ID, it will return an error indicator.

The Results
Now, let’s take a look at the results of our formula.  The screenshot below shows what I have now.

This screenshot shows a few rows from the “Products” sheet:

Hopefully you can see how VLOOKUP works now.  Excel took the value in F2 in the “Orders” sheet, 776.  It went to the first column of the range we gave it; that range was Columns A and B of the “Products” sheet.  It scanned through that range until it found a match for 776.  It then took the value in the 2^nd column of the range, column B, in the same row and returned the value in that cell (“Mountain-100 Black, 42”).

One thing I didn’t make clear before that I want to point out now.  VLOOKUP is always going to look in the first column of the lookup range for the matching value.  In our example, the lookup range was columns A and B of the “Products” sheet, so Excel looked in column A for the matching value.  There is no way to tell the formula to look anywhere other than the first column; so you either need to cut and paste the columns to get the right one first, or just change the reference so the lookup column is first.

To complete our list, we can just fill down the VLOOKUP formula in column G to the bottom of our orders list.  Now we can analyze our order data with actual Product Names instead of just Product IDs.

Summary
VLOOKUP is useful in many other situations…you can probably imagine a few other uses for it yourself.  It is very handy to use it as we did in this example though.  Even though we could have accomplished the same goal by having someone in IT modify the query or report, now you can be a little more self sufficient with your reporting needs.

In my next post, I’ll cover a few more features like filtering and date manipulation.  Ultimately, we’ll move on to Pivot Tables and External Queries which provide very powerful mechanisms for analyzing data and can compete with some features offered in expensive reporting software.

If your organization is using manually created spreadsheets to manage important company data or if you are having trouble getting accurate, actionable, complete and timely information, you should contact LÛCRUM.  We specialize in helping our Clients to maximize the value of their data, and we would be delighted to help you.

Does this seem like a familiar scenario?  Do you ever have difficulty getting the important information you need in time to meet your needs?  Do you find yourself having to request and schedule reports, which take days or even weeks to actually arrive? Do you wish that you could immediately generate the information you need from your data without the “help” of others?  If so, you should think about contacting LÛCRUM.   In the time it takes to get those reports the current way, we could build you a data mart with dashboards, alerts, reports, and more – enabling you to make fact based decisions about the future of your business.  At LÛCRUM, we help customers to maximize the value of their data – and sometimes we even make silly cartoons to show people how we do it.