Introduction:
Business Value Attainment 2:
2009 is a landmark year for all DW and BI Professionals, agnostic of technology platforms. On one side of the equation we have a deep recession on finances, corporate expenses and overall project expenses. One the other side we have 1,500 CEO’s worldwide that have said BI is their # 1 priority for the 2009 -12 period. Gartner Feb 2009
(source: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=636310)
BI was #2 in Jan 2007, it shifted to #5 by August 2008 and has resurfaced as #1 in Feb 2009.
The reason it was high until 2007 is that management thought BI imperative to the overall decision process.The reason it declined in 2008 is that numerous project did not provide anticipated BVA (Business Value Attainment)
It is now our ownership to ensure that we redefine what project success means and then extrapolate that to BI Projects.
One thing is certain we have moved away from the traditional ‘Build mode of ‘Fire, Ready, Did we Aim’ methodology towards a sustainable planning mode.
My hope is that 2009-10 will delve a lot into introspection.
Question like ROI and TCO will become paramount. BI Business Value audits, Checklists and foundation layers will become imperative. Though this sounds like common sense but we find it still uncommon by rating the customer satisfaction 4-6 months after go live.
We may have to revert to the traditional method of success – plan. ‘Plan your work and only then work your plan’ as our motto for 2009.
This note highlights the strategic, and success, components of a Fundamental Principles of BI Projects.
What are the lessons we have learned either from your implementation or from that of others? Failures should catalyze evolutionary knowledge, and successes create proven structures and processes as wisdom. The question is: Are we learning from our failures, and sharing our wisdom, professionally and not politically, to assure future successes?
Start now! Because it’s all about ‘ethics’ and ‘business value’, ‘standards’ and ‘processes’, ‘people’, ‘communications’, ‘quality’ and ‘governance’ we need to consider the solution holistically with a sound business strategic goal in planning.
All BI Projects end on a binary outcome – either they work or they do not.
Either it provides business value, the measure of which is business user satisfaction, or it do not.
Everything else, as far as these Principles is herein defined as ‘playing the game’
Ethics remain the foundation of this Principle.
Recognize short term 3rd Party providers for they might simply work on a principle of ‘Play the Game’.
Long term partners work with standards and processes and then simply govern them. Experience must be empowered to trust their own intuition more than the recommendations of profiteering 3rd Party.
Principle 1: BI must only be about Business‘’
Two thing lacking in some BI implementations are business and Intelligence’’ Alex Paleologoes, BI DataBridge Europe.
Great BI can only be accomplished by teaming with business to meet business needs. Business Value cannot be attained by keeping business in isolation.
Action: Let business take ownership, or participative ownership, of all BI projects. SOX mandates business ownership and accountability of all BI. Don’t let your vendor recommendation or beliefs steal this fundamental right from business. Someone in the company has to be accountable for business value assurance of BI projects – who better than business itself.
Principle 2: Successful business is all about People & process
Employees are at the root of all successful companies and thus BI projects. A single hour spent with business will assures more success, than the same many hours spent with concepts, apologies, ideas or recommendations. Great BI projects keep business and data as the center of their universe; average BI keeps business in the loop, and bad BI keep business and people out of the BI decision process.
Action: Trust the people that have made your company great. Trust your advisors only if your business owners fully trust and sponsor new ideas without constraints or boundaries. If business is the final ‘customer’ then let them take ownership and accountability of their BI. Build accountability if new ideas fail to add strategic business value.
Principle 3: Data Governance [1] is not possible without Data Quality
Structure defines the path to success, standards the boundaries, and processes the methodology, Data Quality the foundation of Data Governance. Only after these four are established can any form of governance take place.Great BI’s have complex layered architecture consisting of technical and business layers. There are tens of millions of data elements in any data warehouse. 1% data cleansing cannot provide global data quality. Data governance driven by MDM[2] is like monitoring only state leaders, in the fight of global terrorism, and letting all other passengers pass through unchecked.
Action: Get a Global Data Quality profiler and score every data element entering your data warehouse. This is the only way to lay the foundation of Data Governance in BI. Measure every sucker that enters your data warehouse, not just a handful of them. [1] Gartner, Forrester, TDWI and all advisors are recommending Data Governance, however currently this is limited to Master data elements only. Researching all providers we find all of them center around MDM elements only. [2]Total DQM, i.e. scoring and profiling every data element, remains the holy grail in SAP and more so in SAP BI. Data profiling is the foundation of Data qualifying, and data scoring is the key to assuring data quality, thus data quality is the foundation of Data Governance. What you can’t measure you cannot improve’ , stands true in data quality. If you do not have rules there is nothing to govern, stands true to data governance. According to SAP in January 2006 there are less than 300 MDM elements in all of SAP. The average cost of cleansing one to two of these, i.e. customer and vendor, normally runs some pretty high budgets.
Principle 4: Plan your work and only then work your plan
Very common saying, very uncommonly usage. Makes one believe that sometimes common sense can be most uncommon. All plans must be based on structures, methodologies, processes, standards and best practices. Processes must be measured, Principles governed. Data must be profiled and scored prior to letting it enter the data warehouse. Without structures and processes chaos becomes the only available option
Action: Immediately install structure, standards and processes and then follow the plan. Baseline on proven success, improve it as you go along
Principle 5: You’re not dumb. They’re not smart
3rd Parties can sometime fool companies with their jargons and complex presentations. The fact is that your business owners know, best of all, what is good for your business should be leveraged in every BI process or deliverable. Vendor recommendations must be aligned and filtered with business needs. Business must take the final fine-tuning of their analytics Final ownership must lie with your business owners. Never let your business become isolated from what is being done on their behalf. Keeping business out of any BI process is a predictable recipe to disaster - some enterprises learn early others as they mature with the technology.
Action: Business must be a willing sponsor. They must own and be accountable for all BI deliverables. When in doubt let business make the final call.
Principle 6: Control is but a momentary illusion
We have seen numerous BI implementations where the vendor controls all BI deliverables, in some worst case scenarios even prohibits business from participating in what they will finally receive. There must be no single person in any Company that believes in thrusting BI on business users as the right way to implement BI. Let 3rd Party build relationships of trust with the business, rather than a protocol of control and instruct. Control destroys trust and eliminates ownership.
Action: Business based BI relies on business leadership and trust rather than on Vendor recommendations and control
Principle 7: Data is complex, requirements confusing, still must deliver to business needs
Most companies that do not involve business early in the BI ownership normally land up in a situation ‘..this is now so complex, I don’t know where to start..’. Business does not march along nice straight lines. It meanders. Organizations are organic and grow organically. Your project must follow structure and standards in order to assure success. Stop fighting structure and eliminate ‘Quick-Fix’ options.
Action: Train business on BW checks and balances if you are new to BW. Get a mentor for your Operational management so they can become intelligent sponsorsInvolve business very early in BI implementations, and keep them integrated into the BI deployment process to assure success. Most projects that keep business isolated from BI end up with data and numbers but very little business relevant information. Build Data Warehouses and not report marts by planned Architecture and modeling checks along the way
Principle 8: There can be no secrets
If you think BI can be implemented in isolation and in a secretive way then you are only committing self cannibalism. This is akin to a cancerous methodology of BI implementation. Is most such cases the only predictable victim is the BI project itself. A project that keeps secrets loose respect of others and soon sponsor’s budgets and then success itself.
Action: View issues with a magnifying glass and successes with a telescope. Align all things near with goals of far away. Ensure that there is direct contact between business owners, users and the BW developers. Do not let any process or person insulate the key decision makers.
Principle 9: Always trust your ‘blink’ factor
‘Blink’[3] is the concept of first instinct feeling. This can professionally be eroded by sales experts and convincing arguments of big 3rd Party presentations. At the end of the day do not buy into any concept unless you personally feel the ‘Blink’ factor, i.e. personal warm-and-fuzzy feeling. Trust your instincts and those of your business owners as respect their initial concerns and negative feedback.
Action: Buy only into concepts that the company and business owners are personally confident with, and are willing to take ownership from its initial proposal. If unable to take ownership, either disassociate yourself from the process or find a mentor who will guide you through the maze or confusion and thereby enable you weed out the wool and direct you towards true Business Value Attainment (BVA). After each project add a BVA score to success measures that must be filled by business owners three to four months after go live. [3] Blink: Malcolm Gladwell (http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316172324#reader) ‘The statue that did’nt look right and other cases.
Principle 10: The only constant is change
As Einstein confirmed and with everything being dynamic we must always question every Principle here. With proven expertise new BI concepts must constantly be implemented. Scorecards and metrics are pure example of change. With emerging BI technology complex decision methods are being enhanced periodically. No decision must isolate new conceptsat the cost of business familiarity. The other way, if proven, often just works fine.
Action: Special functionalities require special assistance. Do not let 3rd Parties convince you of their version of truth. Never change the terminologies, i.e. a COE can only be that and nothing else, as you change the name so does its essence. Small minds encourage re-titles as a form of originality, only to loose the very essence of the roiginal concept in a very short time. Hire the concept expert, where possible, to provide ‘Value Drivers’ to assure concept success every time. Do not waste time with any form of apologies.
Take decisions that assure high BVA.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
IS BI Recession Proof
Is BI/BW recession proof.
Towards the end of 2009 gartner published what was most important to 1,500 CEO.
Business Intelligence came #1.
Surprising fact: in 2005-2007 BI was #2 with CEO's. By August 2008 it becomes #5 priority for the CEO's. Now in Jan-Feb 2009 it is back to #1.
(source: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=636310)
What changed - the market and the crash in October 2008.
What is the writing on the wall.
BI is necessary when times are good and all the more so when times are very bad- like right now.
The critical success factor is to lower operational costs, get the fluff out of the way and Plan, plan and Plan - not with the same partners that have taken your plane for a nosedive but a BI Business Value Architect that represents your company and your business and audit for your BVA (Business Value attainment) at every step.
[1] We collectively nearly messed up BW/BI by not delivering high BVA (Business Value Attainment) and now the ownership is on BI professionals to deliver to BVA.
[2] This is possible a second change. All BI administrators, managers and leadership need to get some critical facts together - this is clearly identified by the CEO's
a. High in priority is 'Self Service Queries. This means query performance. In the same breadth Gartner also stated that SAP Query performance is not one of BW's greatest assets. So in order to improve query performance we have the BW Accelerator or the SmartCube from erada. Without query performance Self Service is but a figment of ones imagination. (Source: Gartners magic Quardrent for 2009)
b. High BVA: Business Value Attainment is going to be the critical shift in the 2009-12 period for BI Implementations.
[1] We will need to make a quantum leap from
'Fire, Ready, did we Aim' to
'plan your work and only then work your plan'.
[2] We must see a distinct shift away from conceptual 3rd party led projects to Business Owned BI projects.
[3] Planning will need to become the fundamental fulcrum to success.
c. Business focused Planning: the third leg of success is going to be business focused BI Strategy. not just the concept and the statements but the whole nine yards.
(a) Alignment of BI Strategy to direct Business Needs;
(b) Enterprise BI Cookbook (Standards, Processes, Principles, Org Structures and governance guidelines);
(c) Architecture Framework and its amalgamation into an enterprise architecture;
(d) Source System analysis along with reporting apps and business report needs;
(e) Identifying what reports will be delivered from what source;
(f) Assuring day-to-day reports are met first;
(g) Risk Registers;
(h) Actionable roadmap;
(i) Business accountability, ownership and participation.
Priority 1 should be to get a BI Strategy in place for without a plan no wind will be a good wind, even for the best captains.
Build your BI Methodology right and everything else should fall right into place.
Get a second doctor to review the recommendations if your doctor did not provide high BVA the last time around - second opinions cost very little and can benefit one heaven of a lot.
Towards the end of 2009 gartner published what was most important to 1,500 CEO.
Business Intelligence came #1.
Surprising fact: in 2005-2007 BI was #2 with CEO's. By August 2008 it becomes #5 priority for the CEO's. Now in Jan-Feb 2009 it is back to #1.
(source: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=636310)
What changed - the market and the crash in October 2008.
What is the writing on the wall.
BI is necessary when times are good and all the more so when times are very bad- like right now.
The critical success factor is to lower operational costs, get the fluff out of the way and Plan, plan and Plan - not with the same partners that have taken your plane for a nosedive but a BI Business Value Architect that represents your company and your business and audit for your BVA (Business Value attainment) at every step.
[1] We collectively nearly messed up BW/BI by not delivering high BVA (Business Value Attainment) and now the ownership is on BI professionals to deliver to BVA.
[2] This is possible a second change. All BI administrators, managers and leadership need to get some critical facts together - this is clearly identified by the CEO's
a. High in priority is 'Self Service Queries. This means query performance. In the same breadth Gartner also stated that SAP Query performance is not one of BW's greatest assets. So in order to improve query performance we have the BW Accelerator or the SmartCube from erada. Without query performance Self Service is but a figment of ones imagination. (Source: Gartners magic Quardrent for 2009)
b. High BVA: Business Value Attainment is going to be the critical shift in the 2009-12 period for BI Implementations.
[1] We will need to make a quantum leap from
'Fire, Ready, did we Aim' to
'plan your work and only then work your plan'.
[2] We must see a distinct shift away from conceptual 3rd party led projects to Business Owned BI projects.
[3] Planning will need to become the fundamental fulcrum to success.
c. Business focused Planning: the third leg of success is going to be business focused BI Strategy. not just the concept and the statements but the whole nine yards.
(a) Alignment of BI Strategy to direct Business Needs;
(b) Enterprise BI Cookbook (Standards, Processes, Principles, Org Structures and governance guidelines);
(c) Architecture Framework and its amalgamation into an enterprise architecture;
(d) Source System analysis along with reporting apps and business report needs;
(e) Identifying what reports will be delivered from what source;
(f) Assuring day-to-day reports are met first;
(g) Risk Registers;
(h) Actionable roadmap;
(i) Business accountability, ownership and participation.
Priority 1 should be to get a BI Strategy in place for without a plan no wind will be a good wind, even for the best captains.
Build your BI Methodology right and everything else should fall right into place.
Get a second doctor to review the recommendations if your doctor did not provide high BVA the last time around - second opinions cost very little and can benefit one heaven of a lot.
Leo/Hasso 2
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE is the #1 priority of Gartner, (Feb 2009), SAPPHIRE and ASUG (May 1-14). Not a coincedence at all.
By Feb 2009 1,500 CEO's told Gartner that BI was their #1 priority for the 2009-12 period.
In May SAP reconfirmed this with statements from Leo Apotheker, Bill Mcdermott and Hasso Plattner, who is the original icon of SAP, that SAP is focusing totally on Analytics.
Their keynotes reverberated across all SAP corridors.
When talking to various customer managers, at the conference, opinions swung like a pendulum.
On one side of the swing were managers that basically wanted to hear how SAP could assist them during this time of crisis and felt that ‘Hasso just promised another pie in the sky for the future..’
On the other side of the swing were managers who realized that they needed ‘self-serive’ information to sustain the current financial crisis. A number of them are implementing the dream of Hasso – Polestar/ BO Explorer.
BO Explorer is nothing but Polestar and Polestar is kind of dependent on BW Accelerator to meet the Leo/Hasso vision with large data volumes. BW Accelerator is still dependent on SAP BW, and to BW InfoCubes. (refer to my paper on positioning the Infocube for SAP BW'
To enable the Leo/Hasso dream we need to finetune and optimize every widget in these above layers.
Within Business Intelligence there are two critical areas Leo/Hasso focused on:-
1. Business Objects and
2. BW Accelerator
Some of the key issues Hasso focused on, plus my commets
1. Business Intelligence is extremely important ( Information driven companies will be the market leaders of tomorrow.
(My comments: Information MUST be what business needs and not just reports. conduct a BVA audit on all Information Deliveries)
2. Business Needs need to drive analytics
(My comments: Business Must take Ownership, Accountability and Audit all BW Deliverables)
3. Optimize Self Service to under 1 second: Hasso took self-service to a new level. Answer any question you can think of. The managers can once again sit in a cockpit environment and get any answer to their operation. I love the concept I am sceptical as to its delivery potential based on my past experience with DW's, especially the technology promises and business delivered.
(my comment: I remember seeing something similar from Hasso and SEM back in 2008-9 so am once again skeptical to this idea. challenge the operational aspects of it. In fact Hasso had shown his hand and promised answers on your fingertips from BW – a move he repeated and confessed to repeating, in the 2009 conference. From my point of view self service analytics, and even Polestar is all about modeling. Using automated modeling we can deliver Hasso’s dream today. The issue with todays speed is not the technology it is the application, or lack of it thereof, that is the real issue. Without a accelerator or automated modeling I have personally reduced a SAP R/3 query runtime from 10 hours to under 9 minutes. Just with modeling I have reduced a query response time from 722 seconds to under 23 seconds in 4 hours flat. So we need to review business needs and modeling a little more seriously before we put all our budgets into the technology basket once again)
4. Collect all operational data into BW Accelerator: We must take all operational data into the BI environment so we can ask any question and the BO Explorer will answer it under a second. (My comment: Here is where Hasso and I have a deep devide. This is a technology data modeling answer with data as the center of the universe and very little business alignment. From a technology side hasso confessed this is experimental and if SAP invests and then it will work. From my business practical side I see three fundamental issues with this approach
(1) Management does not need simple answers which have existing attributes (Leo used Head – the system did not have Knees and could not have answered that if required);
(2) BW Accelerator has sponsored by business for Intuitive analytics (Something is not right with a number and I need to slice down, across and sideways to find answers);
(3) The issue from the beginning has been architecture and modeling and we have proven that if these are done right most of what Hasso displayed could be answered with current technology.)
(My comment2: The issue has never been technology but building a BVA (Business Value Attainment BW ). 90% of questions that can be answered by today’s technology remain unanswered due to bad design and modeling. How then do we assure that bad design is not going to mothball this dream. WE NEED TO START WITH THE BASICS AND IMPROVE THAT. Then everything on top aligns automatically)
5. Eliminate redundancy: Hasso clearly pointed out that we need to eliminate duplication of data and mainly master data.
(My comment: From a BW point of view we also need to eliminate non reporting elements from the BW. There are tolls that can do this automatically now)
6. Eliminate the need for a data warehouse as we know it: Hasso did elude, if I heard correct, the possibility to take all operational data directly into the the Accelerator.
(My Comments: I am not a supporter for Data collection and even if we did that then that would currently possibly need 70 to a 100 BW Accelerator Blades. I am more for of a modeling person that likes to select the the elements in my data warehouse and convert them into information objects rather than calculate them at the time of query. Unless Hasso and his team have found a new algorithm them I stand corrected. )
I think the Leo/Hasso have a wonderful vision and the fact that it is supported by 1,500 CEO’s across the planet who independently to Gartner in 2009 and placed BI as their #1 priority and Self Service Queries as their #1 priority in BW. (For more details read my whitepaper BI forecast for 2009-12).
I am fully committed to realizing the goals of the leo/Hasso vision as this is the quest that started me on BI 14 years ago when I was the group marketing manager for SCC a multinational cable and Wire manufacrurer.
Information is business critical, information at the speed of market change is imperative to business success.
Strategically 5 years from today the successful companies will be defined by those that have better and faster information than their competition.
Information leaders will defacto become business leaders.
If we look at 2009 then we need to support the vision of Leo and Hasso. We need business to own and audit BI developments, automate BI Modeling, automatically convert reporting DSO's into InfoCubes and make them non-reporting, get better visibility ino the BWA with a BW Accelerator Workbench, we need to automate modeling for Polestar for at that level human interpretations cannot work.
Basically we need to automate all complex human interpretations into an engineered science
Dreams yesterday, reality today and Routine Tomorrow
Leo/Hasso vision deployment
Let’s take the Leo/Hasso vision and draw an actionable map to make the vision into a reality.
However, we cannot simply go full steam ahead without reviewing the past and define our CLEAR methodology.we cannot be CLEAR if the past is muddy. CLEAR is a message Hasso and Leo communicated to all 10,000 participants on site and 18,000 online Sapphire Attendees. Global SAP is about CLEAR and Business Intelligence.
CLEAR will eliminate inefficiencies so let us start with the foundations, i.e. auditing the house for BVA (Business Value Attainment).
These audits are applicable both for New and existing customers. i.e. even if you are 8 years with BW and do not have standards and processes clearly defined then we need to do that immediately, or if your Infocube models are not optimized then we need to do that...
Here is a list of BVA Chekclist that can be used as a KSF (Key Success form) that will analyze the foundation without and possibly need a signoff from key stakeholders.
BW Audit 1: BI Strategy alignment to Business Needs
(not 3rd party alignment but pure business, by business owners only. Hasso's vision answers business questions)
BW Audit 2: Audit Business participation, Standards, Processes, Org Structures and Governance against BVA
(Lack of standards leads to duplication and redundancies something Hasso clearly pointed we must eliminate)
BW Audit 3: Check Architecture for Best Practice against BVA
(Hasso's vision did not need an architecture but right now we will need to this to succeed)
BW Audit 4: check DSO and InfoCube design and automate modeling for the dream to come true.
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling or objects but right now we will need to this to succeed. The cost of getting all data elements from Operating systems into BW Accelerator will be prohibitive for most companies so I am relying on the BW as a pass through layer for now)
BW Audit 5: Optimize InfoCube modeling: Read paper ‘Positioning InfoCube for SAP BI’ for details. Use automation as your only option for self service excellence.
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling or objects but right now we will need to this to lower your BW Accelerator considerably. Each blade reduced can save a company 1 million dollars in 10 years)
BWA Audit 6: Slim BI Footprint in BI. Note reduce 1 blade and save ($1 million in 10 years)
(Hasso's vision did not recommend for ROI, but I need to run that as I come from a business background and cannot work with a '..given infinite money and memory...' scenario
BWA Audit 7: List navigation Attributes, Restricted Key Figures, Calculated Key figures for BWA
(Hasso's vision did not need to review objects that slow BWA processing speeds, but right now we will need to this to succeed.
BWA Audit 6: More accurate BWA support and admin from customer for Polestar
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling or administration as his vision can answer any question. I tend to differ for unless the question is positioned in my database the system cannot possibly answer it. Try answering what is my current stock position for the next 4 weeks by week (consider stock, Purchase orders, returns, requisitions and give me true numbers) in a polestar environment and we see where I am coning from. I love the the vision but do not yet see the business solution and I accept the limitation may be mine)
BOE Audit 7: use of Automated Modeling InfoCubes for Polestar /BO Explorer
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling and for right now we have seen a many fold improvement in Query Performance simply with automated modeling. When the vision becomes a reality we can stop doing all this but till then....
Key Success factors:
Conduct a Polestar BVA Audit for Query Performance
1. Business participation, Ownership and Audits *****
2. Business and Information Architecture *****
3. Object duplication / redundancy audit *****
4. Automated optimization of existing Infocubes *****
5. Automated Modeling & Conversion of DSO’s into Infocubes *****
6. Automated BW Accelerator support and forecast ***
7. Automated Polestar Modeling ****
However, we cannot simply go full steam ahead without reviewing the past and define our CLEAR methodology.we cannot be CLEAR if the past is muddy. CLEAR is a message Hasso and Leo communicated to all 10,000 participants on site and 18,000 online Sapphire Attendees. Global SAP is about CLEAR and Business Intelligence.
CLEAR will eliminate inefficiencies so let us start with the foundations, i.e. auditing the house for BVA (Business Value Attainment).
These audits are applicable both for New and existing customers. i.e. even if you are 8 years with BW and do not have standards and processes clearly defined then we need to do that immediately, or if your Infocube models are not optimized then we need to do that...
Here is a list of BVA Chekclist that can be used as a KSF (Key Success form) that will analyze the foundation without and possibly need a signoff from key stakeholders.
BW Audit 1: BI Strategy alignment to Business Needs
(not 3rd party alignment but pure business, by business owners only. Hasso's vision answers business questions)
BW Audit 2: Audit Business participation, Standards, Processes, Org Structures and Governance against BVA
(Lack of standards leads to duplication and redundancies something Hasso clearly pointed we must eliminate)
BW Audit 3: Check Architecture for Best Practice against BVA
(Hasso's vision did not need an architecture but right now we will need to this to succeed)
BW Audit 4: check DSO and InfoCube design and automate modeling for the dream to come true.
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling or objects but right now we will need to this to succeed. The cost of getting all data elements from Operating systems into BW Accelerator will be prohibitive for most companies so I am relying on the BW as a pass through layer for now)
BW Audit 5: Optimize InfoCube modeling: Read paper ‘Positioning InfoCube for SAP BI’ for details. Use automation as your only option for self service excellence.
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling or objects but right now we will need to this to lower your BW Accelerator considerably. Each blade reduced can save a company 1 million dollars in 10 years)
BWA Audit 6: Slim BI Footprint in BI. Note reduce 1 blade and save ($1 million in 10 years)
(Hasso's vision did not recommend for ROI, but I need to run that as I come from a business background and cannot work with a '..given infinite money and memory...' scenario
BWA Audit 7: List navigation Attributes, Restricted Key Figures, Calculated Key figures for BWA
(Hasso's vision did not need to review objects that slow BWA processing speeds, but right now we will need to this to succeed.
BWA Audit 6: More accurate BWA support and admin from customer for Polestar
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling or administration as his vision can answer any question. I tend to differ for unless the question is positioned in my database the system cannot possibly answer it. Try answering what is my current stock position for the next 4 weeks by week (consider stock, Purchase orders, returns, requisitions and give me true numbers) in a polestar environment and we see where I am coning from. I love the the vision but do not yet see the business solution and I accept the limitation may be mine)
BOE Audit 7: use of Automated Modeling InfoCubes for Polestar /BO Explorer
(Hasso's vision did not need modeling and for right now we have seen a many fold improvement in Query Performance simply with automated modeling. When the vision becomes a reality we can stop doing all this but till then....
Key Success factors:
Conduct a Polestar BVA Audit for Query Performance
1. Business participation, Ownership and Audits *****
2. Business and Information Architecture *****
3. Object duplication / redundancy audit *****
4. Automated optimization of existing Infocubes *****
5. Automated Modeling & Conversion of DSO’s into Infocubes *****
6. Automated BW Accelerator support and forecast ***
7. Automated Polestar Modeling ****
News from SAPPHIRE/ASUG
The show was tremendous and the focus razer sharp.
In 2008 ASUG alone had almost 2 times the attendance that both ASUG & SAPPHIRE had this year. time are bad, we need to assure BVA (Business Value Attainment), and wastage is no longer an option.
Gartner announced that 1,500 CEO's had made BI their #1 priority in the 2009-12 period in january and then again in February 2009.
Leo followed Suite at Sapphire/ASUG at Orlando. Bill McDermott and Hasso followed suite. Have released a paper 'Roadmap to Leo/Hasso vision, Sapphire 2009'
What was established by Leo was stabalized by Bill and then forecasted by Hasso. As one walked out of the keynote presentation there was little else on the screen other than polestar, Oh! sorry BO Explorer on 50% of hte screens.
The message is CLEAR 'BI is recession proof'.
What Sapphire forgot to mention and Gartner clearly stated is that 'Doing it right is important to derive value from your BI Investments' & that business must now take ownership and IT, and technology, must become but an internal service provider to business needs.
If you derived 90% expected BVA after your BW project went live, whenever, then raise your hand. I dont have to be there but there are very few hands being raised.
If you thing that BW has a 90% possibility, from a technology and functionality point of view, of meeting your initial goals then raise your hands.
I can see a lot of hands probably being raised, some hesitently.
I can assure you it is possible
The key is doing it right..
I wrote a paper in 1996 on doing it right with SAP, then in 2001 on doing it right with BW and now it is 'Back to the Past' (quote Hasso) for I am forced to write the same paper once again.
Just also released a 9+3 reasons BI Fails that has 9 reasons given by gartner in 2006 and 3 of mine from the war zone that I feel compliment the paper.
Things have not changed - but they must.
Lets do it right this time
In 2008 ASUG alone had almost 2 times the attendance that both ASUG & SAPPHIRE had this year. time are bad, we need to assure BVA (Business Value Attainment), and wastage is no longer an option.
Gartner announced that 1,500 CEO's had made BI their #1 priority in the 2009-12 period in january and then again in February 2009.
Leo followed Suite at Sapphire/ASUG at Orlando. Bill McDermott and Hasso followed suite. Have released a paper 'Roadmap to Leo/Hasso vision, Sapphire 2009'
What was established by Leo was stabalized by Bill and then forecasted by Hasso. As one walked out of the keynote presentation there was little else on the screen other than polestar, Oh! sorry BO Explorer on 50% of hte screens.
The message is CLEAR 'BI is recession proof'.
What Sapphire forgot to mention and Gartner clearly stated is that 'Doing it right is important to derive value from your BI Investments' & that business must now take ownership and IT, and technology, must become but an internal service provider to business needs.
If you derived 90% expected BVA after your BW project went live, whenever, then raise your hand. I dont have to be there but there are very few hands being raised.
If you thing that BW has a 90% possibility, from a technology and functionality point of view, of meeting your initial goals then raise your hands.
I can see a lot of hands probably being raised, some hesitently.
I can assure you it is possible
The key is doing it right..
I wrote a paper in 1996 on doing it right with SAP, then in 2001 on doing it right with BW and now it is 'Back to the Past' (quote Hasso) for I am forced to write the same paper once again.
Just also released a 9+3 reasons BI Fails that has 9 reasons given by gartner in 2006 and 3 of mine from the war zone that I feel compliment the paper.
Things have not changed - but they must.
Lets do it right this time
What is a Value Architect?
Someone asked me at sapphire what a Value Architects role is in BI.
A Value Architect is a strategist for attaining the same acronym BVA (Business Value Attainment).
My primary goal has been to raise awareness of the value of good planning, knowledge, decisions based on BVA checks and balances, i.s. assure business value at the end of the tunnel.
My secondary goal is to assist customers maximize their business value benefits that can be derived from a fundamental methodology and process oriented data warehouse management and administration - review Value Attainment.
My third priority is to work directly with clients to attaine P1 and P2.
I remain technology agnostic, though frankly have a SAP bias, as have worked with SAP BIW, BW, BI, BW and probably to become BIW so its a full circle, form the last 10 years. Worked with Informaix and Oracle Data Warehouses for 4 years prior to that. BVA is my goal and technology and IT are mostly service providers.
i have a short checklist that lets you evaluate if you need a BI Business Value Architect or not.
Hope that answers the questions.
A Value Architect is a strategist for attaining the same acronym BVA (Business Value Attainment).
My primary goal has been to raise awareness of the value of good planning, knowledge, decisions based on BVA checks and balances, i.s. assure business value at the end of the tunnel.
My secondary goal is to assist customers maximize their business value benefits that can be derived from a fundamental methodology and process oriented data warehouse management and administration - review Value Attainment.
My third priority is to work directly with clients to attaine P1 and P2.
I remain technology agnostic, though frankly have a SAP bias, as have worked with SAP BIW, BW, BI, BW and probably to become BIW so its a full circle, form the last 10 years. Worked with Informaix and Oracle Data Warehouses for 4 years prior to that. BVA is my goal and technology and IT are mostly service providers.
i have a short checklist that lets you evaluate if you need a BI Business Value Architect or not.
Hope that answers the questions.
2 New BVA articles released
1. 'Roadmap to Leo/Hasso vision, Sapphire 2009
2. SCM Risk management and BI
2. SCM Risk management and BI
Friday, May 15, 2009
Roadmap to Hasso's Sapphire dream
Let’s take Hasso's dream and draw an actionable map to make that a reality. we cannot simply go full steam ahead as we must also review the past and define our CLEAR methodology
CLEAR is a message Hasso and Leo communicated to all 10,000 participants on site and 18,000 online Sapphire Attendees. Global SAP is about CLEAR and Business Intelligence.
CLEAR will eliminate inefficiencies so let us start with cleaning the house for BVA (Business Value Attainment). These are applicable for New and existing customers. i.e. even if you are 8 years old with BW and do not have standards and processes clearly defined then we need to do that immediately.
BW Audit 1: Check BI Strategy alignment to Business Needs
BW Audit 2: Audit Business participation, Standards, Processes, Org Structures and Governance against BVA
BW Audit 3: Check Architecture for Best Practice against BVA
BW Audit 3: check DSO and InfoCube design and automate modeling for the dream to come true
BW Audit 4: Optimize InfoCube modeling: Read paper ‘Positioning InfoCube for SAP BI’ for details. Use automation as your only option for self service excellence
BWA Audit 5: Slim BI Footprint in BI. Note reduce 1 blade and save ($1 million in 10 years)
BWA Audit 6: List navigation Attributes, Restricted Key Figures, Calculated Key figures for BWA
BWA Audit 6: More accurate BWA support and admin from customer for Polestar
PS Audit 7: use of Automated Modeling InfoCubes for Polestar
Key Success factors:
1. Business participation, Ownership and Audits
2. Business and Information Architecture
3. Automated Modeling & Conversion of DSO’s into Infocubes
4. Automated BW Accelerator support and forecast
5. Automated Polestar Modeling
CLEAR is a message Hasso and Leo communicated to all 10,000 participants on site and 18,000 online Sapphire Attendees. Global SAP is about CLEAR and Business Intelligence.
CLEAR will eliminate inefficiencies so let us start with cleaning the house for BVA (Business Value Attainment). These are applicable for New and existing customers. i.e. even if you are 8 years old with BW and do not have standards and processes clearly defined then we need to do that immediately.
BW Audit 1: Check BI Strategy alignment to Business Needs
BW Audit 2: Audit Business participation, Standards, Processes, Org Structures and Governance against BVA
BW Audit 3: Check Architecture for Best Practice against BVA
BW Audit 3: check DSO and InfoCube design and automate modeling for the dream to come true
BW Audit 4: Optimize InfoCube modeling: Read paper ‘Positioning InfoCube for SAP BI’ for details. Use automation as your only option for self service excellence
BWA Audit 5: Slim BI Footprint in BI. Note reduce 1 blade and save ($1 million in 10 years)
BWA Audit 6: List navigation Attributes, Restricted Key Figures, Calculated Key figures for BWA
BWA Audit 6: More accurate BWA support and admin from customer for Polestar
PS Audit 7: use of Automated Modeling InfoCubes for Polestar
Key Success factors:
1. Business participation, Ownership and Audits
2. Business and Information Architecture
3. Automated Modeling & Conversion of DSO’s into Infocubes
4. Automated BW Accelerator support and forecast
5. Automated Polestar Modeling
Hasso Plattner Keynote, Sapphire 2009
This year Gartner, (Feb 2009), SAPPHIRE and ASUG (May 1-14) have been about just about 1 thing- BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Hasso is the original Icon of SAP. In talking to various C level managers at the conferences opinions swung like a pendulum.
On one side of the swing were managers that basically wanted to hear how SAP could assist them during this time of crisis and felt that ‘Hasso just promised a pie in the sky for the future..’
On the other side of the swing were managers who realized that they needed ‘self-serive’ information to sustain the current financial crisis. A number of them are implementing the dream of Hasso – Polestar.
BO Explorer is nothing by Polestar and Polestar is dependent on BW and BW Accelerator.
Within Business Intelligence there are two critical areas Hasso focused on:-
1. Business Objects and
2. BW Accelerator
Some of the key issues Hasso focused on, and some I would like to add my commets
1. Business Intelligence is extremely important ( Right information driven companies will be the market leaders of tomorrow.)
2. Business Needs need to drive analytics (My comments Business Must take Ownership, Accountability and Audit all BW Deliverables)
3. Optimize Self Service under 1 second: Hasso took self service to a new level. Answer any question you may think of. The managers can once again sit in a cockpit environment and get any answer to their operation. I love the concept (my comment: I remember seeing something similar from Hasso and SEM back in 2008-9 so am once again skeptical to this idea. challenge the operational aspects of it. In fact Hasso had shown his hand and promised answers on your fingertips from BW – a move he repeated and confessed to repeating, in the 2009 conference. From my point of view self service analytics, and even Polestar is all about modeling. Using automated modeling we can deliver Hasso’s dream today. The issue with todays speed is not the technology it is the application, or lack of it thereof, that is the real issue. Without a accelerator or automated modeling I have personally reduced a SAP R/3 query runtime from 10 hours to under 9 minutes. Just with modeling I have reduced a query response time from 722 seconds to under 23 seconds in 4 hours flat. So we need to review business needs and modeling a little more seriously before we put all our budgets into the technology basket once again)
4. Collect all operational data into BW Accelerator: We must take all operational data into the BI environment so we can ask any question and the BO Explorer will answer it under a second. (Here is where Hasso and I have a deep devide. This is a technology data modeling answer with data as the center of the universe and very little business alignment. From a technology side hasso confessed this is experimental and if SAP invests and then it will work. From my business practical side I see three fundamental issues with this approach (1) Management does not need simple answers which have existing attributes (hasso used Head – the system did not have Knees and could not have answered that if required); (2) BW Accelerator has sponsored by business for Intuitive analytics (Something is not right with a number and I need to slice down, across and sideways to find answers); (3) The issue from the beginning has been architecture and modeling and we have proven that if these are done right most of what Hasso displayed could be answered with current technology.)
5. My comment: The issue has never been technology but building a BVA (Business Value Attainment BW ). 90% of questions that can be answered by today’s technology remain unanswered due to bad design and modeling. How then do we assure that bad design is not going to mothball this dream. WE NEED TO START WITH THE BASICS AND IMPROVE THAT. Then everything on top aligns automatically.
6. Eliminate redundancy: Hasso clearly pointed out that we need to eliminate duplication of data and mainly master data. (My comment: From a BW point of view we also need to eliminate non reporting elements from the BW. There are tolls that can do this automatically now)
7. Eliminate the need for a data warehouse as we know it: Hasso did elude, if I heard correct, the possibility to take all operational data directly into the the Accelerator. (My Comments: I am not a supporter for Data collection and even if we did that then that would currently possibly need 70 to a 100 BW Accelerator Blades. I am more for of a modeling person that likes to select the the elements in my data warehouse and convert them into information objects rather than calculate them at the time of query. Unless Hasso and his team have found a new algorithm them I stand corrected. )
I think Hasso has a wonderful dream in fact it is a necessary dream that is supported by 1,500 CEO’s across the planet who independently to Gartner in 2009 and placed BI as their #1 priority and Self Service Queries as their #1 priority in BW. (For more details read my whitepaper BI forecast for 2009-12)
In fact if you look at 2009 there is one company that Leo, and Hasso talked about without actually stating them and this company focuses only on BI. They have automated BI Modeling, They have a BW Accelerator Workbench, they are releasing a Polestar modeler so the they are clearly positioned to take Hasso’s dreams into reality.
Dreams yesterday, reality today and Routine Tomorrow
Hasso is the original Icon of SAP. In talking to various C level managers at the conferences opinions swung like a pendulum.
On one side of the swing were managers that basically wanted to hear how SAP could assist them during this time of crisis and felt that ‘Hasso just promised a pie in the sky for the future..’
On the other side of the swing were managers who realized that they needed ‘self-serive’ information to sustain the current financial crisis. A number of them are implementing the dream of Hasso – Polestar.
BO Explorer is nothing by Polestar and Polestar is dependent on BW and BW Accelerator.
Within Business Intelligence there are two critical areas Hasso focused on:-
1. Business Objects and
2. BW Accelerator
Some of the key issues Hasso focused on, and some I would like to add my commets
1. Business Intelligence is extremely important ( Right information driven companies will be the market leaders of tomorrow.)
2. Business Needs need to drive analytics (My comments Business Must take Ownership, Accountability and Audit all BW Deliverables)
3. Optimize Self Service under 1 second: Hasso took self service to a new level. Answer any question you may think of. The managers can once again sit in a cockpit environment and get any answer to their operation. I love the concept (my comment: I remember seeing something similar from Hasso and SEM back in 2008-9 so am once again skeptical to this idea. challenge the operational aspects of it. In fact Hasso had shown his hand and promised answers on your fingertips from BW – a move he repeated and confessed to repeating, in the 2009 conference. From my point of view self service analytics, and even Polestar is all about modeling. Using automated modeling we can deliver Hasso’s dream today. The issue with todays speed is not the technology it is the application, or lack of it thereof, that is the real issue. Without a accelerator or automated modeling I have personally reduced a SAP R/3 query runtime from 10 hours to under 9 minutes. Just with modeling I have reduced a query response time from 722 seconds to under 23 seconds in 4 hours flat. So we need to review business needs and modeling a little more seriously before we put all our budgets into the technology basket once again)
4. Collect all operational data into BW Accelerator: We must take all operational data into the BI environment so we can ask any question and the BO Explorer will answer it under a second. (Here is where Hasso and I have a deep devide. This is a technology data modeling answer with data as the center of the universe and very little business alignment. From a technology side hasso confessed this is experimental and if SAP invests and then it will work. From my business practical side I see three fundamental issues with this approach (1) Management does not need simple answers which have existing attributes (hasso used Head – the system did not have Knees and could not have answered that if required); (2) BW Accelerator has sponsored by business for Intuitive analytics (Something is not right with a number and I need to slice down, across and sideways to find answers); (3) The issue from the beginning has been architecture and modeling and we have proven that if these are done right most of what Hasso displayed could be answered with current technology.)
5. My comment: The issue has never been technology but building a BVA (Business Value Attainment BW ). 90% of questions that can be answered by today’s technology remain unanswered due to bad design and modeling. How then do we assure that bad design is not going to mothball this dream. WE NEED TO START WITH THE BASICS AND IMPROVE THAT. Then everything on top aligns automatically.
6. Eliminate redundancy: Hasso clearly pointed out that we need to eliminate duplication of data and mainly master data. (My comment: From a BW point of view we also need to eliminate non reporting elements from the BW. There are tolls that can do this automatically now)
7. Eliminate the need for a data warehouse as we know it: Hasso did elude, if I heard correct, the possibility to take all operational data directly into the the Accelerator. (My Comments: I am not a supporter for Data collection and even if we did that then that would currently possibly need 70 to a 100 BW Accelerator Blades. I am more for of a modeling person that likes to select the the elements in my data warehouse and convert them into information objects rather than calculate them at the time of query. Unless Hasso and his team have found a new algorithm them I stand corrected. )
I think Hasso has a wonderful dream in fact it is a necessary dream that is supported by 1,500 CEO’s across the planet who independently to Gartner in 2009 and placed BI as their #1 priority and Self Service Queries as their #1 priority in BW. (For more details read my whitepaper BI forecast for 2009-12)
In fact if you look at 2009 there is one company that Leo, and Hasso talked about without actually stating them and this company focuses only on BI. They have automated BI Modeling, They have a BW Accelerator Workbench, they are releasing a Polestar modeler so the they are clearly positioned to take Hasso’s dreams into reality.
Dreams yesterday, reality today and Routine Tomorrow
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