The Magic of the Dash (BI, the journey)

February 25, 2008

My wife and I and our three daughters lived 12 hours from her side of the family and 10 from mine. Family is very important in our lives and we always have made the choice to stay connected. My daughters are all teenagers now and one thing is for sure, I have learned a lot on those drives.

Maybe it was the fact that I was the only male in the family or maybe it was personalities, but when I would look at the situation – we are in Virginia Beach, Virginia now and we want to be in Toledo, Ohio by tonight – I focused on the destination; Toledo. I focused so much that I would try anything to keep that van moving forward (and oh did we have a van, a Volkswagen Vanagon, the Wolfsburg edition with the pop-up table and rear facing seats). I figured that we would not stop for bio breaks for at least half way. Any stopping for food was strictly against the plan. We brought food and supplies. On occasion we visited the drive-thru. Of course being outnumbered, I was often outvoted. I still remember the times, having lost the vote, sitting at the rest area in the food-place of choice; Everyone was smiling and talking; sharing stories and thoughts, but not me. I was too busy looking out the window…looking at all the cars I just got done passing and wanting the chance to pass them again…wondering why in the world we are not moving towards Toledo, the common goal.

I was a slow learner but over the years, I came to understand the magic of the dash. You see in any journey, there exists a dash; that little mark between the starting point and destination. I wrongly spent my energies focusing solely on the destination. I learned that the journey, that little unassuming dash, is where most of the magic actually took place. For example, consider a person born in 1963 who lives to be 90 years old. There will be a dash on that tombstone; 1963-2053. Guess what, neither of those dates really matter much, do they? No, the real magic is that dash – for that is where living took place.

During our many trips, that dash has built our family solid. During those dashes we talked about each other’s strengths, what made them, them, we traded many jokes, described the young men my daughters would one day meet, talked about the meaning of life; we laughed and we cried, we grieved and we rejoiced. The dash calibrated our lives, helped us understand each other and best of all, built solid relationships. And when we got to the destination, we were ready. We arrived as a family united to take on the world!

The job of unhiding data is a noble venture and a good destination. However, it is also a journey and one that can end with new revelations about your business, new relationships, greater understandings about your products and services and much more. This new information can help you maneuver the business to deal with the actions and reactions of the “economy of competition” – ensuring success! The great danger is to focus on the destination without reconciling that the dash exists. Remember, the dash is where the magic occurs; opportunities where your business can be strengthen and united.

As the pursuit of business intelligence begins, it reaches the momentum of excitement quickly. However it soon comes crashing down because of the realization that; we don’t actually have customer information anywhere, or we have several versions of them, or customer information exists in many places and they are defined and used differently and they are ‘owned’ by different groups who haven’t spoken since 1981. We also find that there has been changes in the way that recognized revenue was accounted for, because Julie quit in 2006, so prior to that, partial work in progress was excluded but corporate made 7 changes within the first two quarters of 2007. From there we find that our processes are also dependent on Jose’ who must manually enter and maintain a massive spreadsheet with many tabs and hidden rows that he inherited from someone. Worse, all of production is riding on this spreadsheet and no one knows how to use it and he has not been on holiday for 3 years and is beginning to look haggard. And so on.

Welcome to the journey of BI.

Being prepared and understanding the dash before entering your BI journey is vital to your BI success. When we actually get to the destination, we want to make sure we are ready. In BI speak, ready means that you have the right information, sourced from the right data, delivered to the right people, the right way and at the right time. Where will your dash lead you? For sure, the dash will lead you to opportunities to understand, fix and ultimately strengthen your business.

Working backwards, some of the places that you might visit along the way are:

Master Data Management. It’s like the big ball of string on Route 66. You just have to stop and look at this one. In the realm of data, there exists certain core data domains that are so important that their value is abstracted above any one program or system’s use and set at the enterprise level – where there is a good chance that no one will own it! Any data that is duplicated or pivotal for analysis or just very important may exist here. As you unhide data, an MDM initiative can help to eliminate redundancies (that is often suffering from data quality issues) and elevate this data from the muck and mire of operations to the grand visibility of a corporate level asset.

Metadata Management. It’s like the Grand Canyon – it means something different to everyone and how did it really get here – could it have really been caused by that little stream? Above the realm of data, there exists a level of enlightenment, where few know the real truth. But that is just it; everyone needs to know the truth. As the complexity of the data ecosphere increases, the strategic role of metadata management must increase as well.

Data Governance. It’s like visiting Washing DC. You know what should happen inside those buildings, but you are just not sure they are really doing what needs to be done. A data governance program stood up by IT and lead by the business is key to ensuring that the business has a framework to manage the quality and strategic direction of data.

Data Policy. When you experience Niagara Falls, you know that there are massive amounts of activity happening even when you are not there. This is the point of having a data policy. When there is no ‘data evangelist’ around, what happens. A data policy sets the benchmark and is vital to extending IT’s area of influence.

Data Principles. Just like that bottle of snake oil from the wild wild west, people will buy anything. If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. Having real principles ensures that the foundation of data is real and solid. The challenge here is to lead a team to the development of these principles and having them be reflected within their DNA.

Written mathematically:

BI Value = (Anticipation of the dash * Opportunities) / Excitement of the Journey

Travel safe,

~ Scott Felten

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