Business Intelligence Project Prioritization System

Transcription

1 1 Best Practice Guidebook Business Intelligence Project Prioritization System guidebook summary Firm: Enterprise IT Solutions, (EITS), a division of L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. Industry: Aerospace and Defense Headquarters: New York, New York, USA Geographic Footprint: Global Ownership: Public Parent Company Revenue (2011): $15.68 billion USD Problem: EITS Business Intelligence (BI)* struggles to prioritize its project portfolio, allocate resources, and reduce low value requests. Consequently, BI has to manage: A small staff relative to its large number of internal customers Variability in the importance and urgency of requests A disproportionate amount of time spent on reactive or ad hoc requests Redundant or repetitive project requests Solution: Business Intelligence develops a process that: Prioritizes ad hoc projects based on their business impact and resource requirements Establishes action steps commensurate with project s importance and available resources Creates a BI portal that allows self-service for low priority requests Business Results: 35% reduction in ad hoc requests 400% increase in daily visitors to BI portal Resources Required: Two months to develop and refine the prioritization system Six months to develop and roll out a self-service Web 2.0 portal. The process involved internal client focus groups Applicability of Best Practice to Executive Functions: Function Applicability Competitive Intelligence Market Research * In this Guidebook, Business Intelligence encompasses Competitive Intelligence and Market Intelligence.

2 2 Business Intelligence develops a system to prioritize requests and allocate resources accordingly Project Request Classification and Prioritization System Overview Evaluate Business Intelligence Request Objective: Determine if request is ad hoc or part of the year s baseline projects. Ad Hoc Project These unplanned projects need to be prioritized and placed in the BI project portfolio. Objective: Classify project requests as high- or lowpriority based on their potential business impact and required resources. Percentage of Projects in Pipeline: 80% Ad Hoc Baseline Knowledge Project These pre-planned projects include annual, monthly and weekly reports, white papers, or updates to previous or ongoing research. BI forecasts the number of these projects and resource needs in its annual planning. The projects topics are mostly determined through requests. Objective: Allocate pre-determined resources, place requests in project portfolio, and address as capacity permits. Percentage of Projects in Pipeline: 20% Baseline Knowledge High-Priority Low-Priority Low-Priority : 60% can be referred to the BI Portal 40% require less than 8 hours to complete ;; Business impact: Has high revenue potential or supports a strategic initiative ;; BI resources: Requires more than 40 hours to complete or has an immediate and inflexible due date Percentage of Projects in Pipeline: 30% Example Deliverable: War-gaming session High-Priority ;; Business impact: Has low revenue potential and low strategic alignment ;; BI resources: Can be addressed in less than eight hours or has a flexible due date Percentage of Projects in Pipeline: 50% Low-Priority Example Deliverable: Documents Library section of the BI Portal

3 3 key takeaway: Assess ad hoc requests through formal criteria that compare business value to resource investment BI uses a set of screening questions to make the evaluation criteria user-friendly Ad Hoc Request Evaluation Criteria Business Impact Criteria Resource Investment Criteria Strategic Fit Purpose: Determine the request s alignment with strategic initiatives Screening Questions: Is the request high profile? Is the request related to a strategic objective? What impact will the answer have on the company s objectives? BI Time Requirement Purpose: Estimate the amount of time a request requires Screening Questions: Can the answer be quickly researched and ed to the requestor? Will this request require more than eight hours to complete? Will this request require three to four weeks to complete? Tactical Value Purpose: Calculate the value that a request adds to a customer proposal Screening Questions: What revenue could this project generate? What urgent problem is the request helping solve? What financial impact will the answer have on a current project, proposal, or acquisition? BI Resources Purpose: Quantify the request s external (secondary) and internal (primary) research costs Screening Questions: What are the direct costs (e.g., travel, primary research)? What are the indirect costs (e.g., consultants, secondary research, conferences)? How will the request affect current projects and completion dates? Can the requestor cover the direct costs?

4 growth team m e m b e r s h i p 4 key takeaway: Standardize project assessments by organizing the impact and resource investment criteria into a checklist BI designs a checklist to prioritize projects based on business impact and resource requirements trade-offs and identifies action steps that are then communicated to the project requestor Using the Project Prioritization Checklist: Low Priority Example Prioritize the Request Business Impact =1 Low High Resource Investment =7 Business Impact Identify Action Steps Strategic Fit High profile request Aligns with strategic objective ;; Not aligned with strategy What is the project s impact? Business impact is low, so the ROI will be commensurately low. Tactical Value Impact on Company Revenue:: ;; < $10 Million (USD) > $100 Million (USD) $11 to $99 Million (USD) Potential to lead to more contracts with this customer The project cannot be completed in the amount of time stipulated. Resource Investment BI Time Requirements Team Hours: ;; < 8 hours Business Impact Resource < Investment ity r o i t Pr ues w Lo Req Due Date: Flexible due date Long-term 8 to 40 hours BI assigns weights to the evaluation criteria to ensure a fair comparison between business impact and resource investment. > 40 hours ;; immediate/short-term BI Resources Required Funding available by requestor: Yes ;; No External Resources (secondary research, consultants, research partnerships): Minimal ;; Moderate Extensive ;; Requires secondary research What resources are available? The project requires information that is available on the BI Portal. Extensive ;; Information available on BI Portal Internal collection and analysis Primary Research Survey Is funding available? The requestor cannot purchase secondary research or hire consultants, and the BI budget cannot accommodate the project. ;; Inflexible due date Requires travel Internal Resources (primary research conducted by BI staff): Minimal ;; Moderate When is the project due? Low-Priority Action Steps: ;; Refer requestor to BI Portal Internal focus group External focus groups Respond quickly with a brief answer Negotiate due date and place in longterm project portfolio Note: See an example of a high-priority request in the Tools & Resources section.

5 LOW-PRIORITY REQUESTS key takeaway: Establish a self-service portal to absorb low-priority requests Business Intelligence interviews internal clients to determine information needs and constructs a BI Portal as a one-stop-shop for internal clients 5 Internal Client Interviews Objective: Identify the data and information needs of internal clients to develop a user-friendly self service portal. Interviewees: Senior Vice Presidents, six Vice Presidents, and 10 Directors drawn from all the business units and functions served by BI, but with higher representation from key functions Business Development, Solution Engineers, and Executive Management. BI Internal client Sample Questions What type of information do you commonly reference? What type of deliverable format works best for you? What type of information do you consider a priority? How important is the timeliness of that information? How often should the information repository be updated: bi-monthly, annually, etc.? BI Documents Library Lists all completed business intelligence reports Highlights each document s executive summary, completion date, and author so end users can evaluate relevancy quickly or contact authors EXAMPLE SEARCH Reports on Cost-Cutting 8/4/09 Doe-Jane@BI Survey Economic Conditions Databases 8/6/09 Doe-Jane@BI Provides links to external sources, reports, and databases such as Federal Contracting Guidelines Business Intelligence Portal Illustrative The portal strives to make the library more user-friendly by posting best practices on search techniques and offering the functionality to search posted documents titles and text. Competitor Wikis The portal s tiered access to content controls who can read, edit, print, and upload proprietary information. Competitor profiles presented as Wiki pages that are updated by employees BI works with sponsors to share the responsibility for monitoring, updating and validating employee contributions to the Wiki pages. Sponsors are usually Business Development staff specializing in the competitor s industry. User Support Instructions on how to use the portal, including search function techniques Updates on new content Note: Click here for guidance on increasing portal usage.

6 HIGH-PRIORITY REQUESTS key takeaway: Tailor BI s role to maximize the value of high-priority projects For must-win contracts, BI collates comprehensive background data facilitates a war-gaming session and synthesizes the findings to create a contract-winning strategy 6 Case in Point: War Gaming Project Phase 1: Compile War-Game Prep Materials Phase 2: Manage the War-Game Session Phase 3: Create War-Game Debrief BI Responsibilities: Assign teams to represent each of the three major competitors. BI uses database and résumé searches to identify employees with in-depth knowledge of or experience with the competitors Compile and distribute a review of the opportunity to the teams one week before the war game BI Time Requirement: Approximately 40 hours BI Responsibilities: Emphasize the session s desired outcomes with clear objectives and agendas Assign separate work areas for each team, as well as a communal meeting area Stipulate the format for the presentation of findings BI Time Requirement: Approximately 20 hours BI Responsibilities: Debrief War-Game teams on their discussions and conclusions Create a detailed report for the business development group assigned to the contract BI Time Requirement: Approximately 40 hours Contract Opportunity Review War-Gaming Session War-Gaming Debrief Report Objective: Develop a competitive strategy based on strengths, anticipated actions of competition, and customers preferences. L-3 EITS s Current Market Share Past performances History of these types of contracts Targeted Customer Review Typical companies they purchase from Spending habits IT Consolidation or Centralization plans Contract staff Organizational chart of key decision makers Competitor Maps-visual representation of all competitors in this market Competitor A Review Past performance In-depth financial review including debts, key personnel, efficiency ratios, other key metrics A small- or mediumsized business may also pose a competitive threat. In those instances, BI assigns a red herring team to represent these firms. Competitive Overview: Summary of the competitive environment Summary of each competitor s potential actions Suggested responses to each competitor s moves How-to-Win Strategy Suggested tactics from BI team Best practices for implementing BI s suggestions

7 7 BASELINE KNOWLEDGE REQUESTS key takeaway: Configure baseline knowledge projects that pre-empt ad hoc requests Due to the annual nature of baseline knowledge projects BI is able to discern patterns in ad hoc questions typically generated by these projects and leverage their long timeline to include answers that anticipate ad hoc requests, thereby freeing up resources for high-priority requests Baseline Project Example: Annual Win/Loss Report Illustrative Report Contents Typical Ad Hoc Questions Supplementary Content The Annual Win/Loss Report Includes: Graphs Summaries Based on our history, what contracts should we expect to win next year? BI Includes recommendations on trends in wins and losses for: Best-fit contract types Highlights Noteworthy Wins What can we do to increase our wins with high-value contracts? How to improve strategies and go-to-market planning for specific contract types The Annual Win/Loss Report consumes significant BI time and resources. However, due to its 12-month cycle, the project can be spread out over time.

8 8 Business Results Business Intelligence s project prioritization process and portal have helped reduce low-value requests, increase capacity, and focus the team on high-priority projects BI Project (Illustrative) BI Project Portfolio (Illustrative) Number of x 2x BI 100% 75% 50% 25% 25% 75% 60% 40% Planned Ad hoc Year 0% 2007 Year 2008 BI Portal Usage (Illustrative) Average Daily Number of Portal Visitors Business Intelligence is a force multiplier when pursuing new business, and ready access to current information is the key to a successful BI program. L-3 EITS s initiative to create a knowledge management portal where information is stored, catalogued, updated, and trended has made dependable competitor and customer information readily available for every pursuit, small and large. Vice President, Enterprise IT Solutions Division, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc Year

9 9 Profiled Company Perspective Key Lessons Learned Secure buy-in from senior leadership to create and support a prioritization process. BI works with five preferred vendors, which provide extra capacity for managing the project portfolio. This flexibility allows BI to field high volumes of urgent requests that otherwise would overwhelm internal capacity and jeopardize deadlines. Vendors are selected based on their performance history, quality of work, reliability, and responsiveness. BI staff cultivate strategic partnerships with graduate business schools. Students can complete projects such as win/loss analysis and low-priority requests on basic industry and competitive intelligencegathering. These partnerships free up BI s time while increasing its capacity, and students benefit from working on real-world business issues. It is imperative to invest in a pre-launch process for the BI Portal. This includes analyzing previous project requests to guide portal content, conducting focus groups with end users, and performing Beta testing on the site. Analyzing previous project requests requires assessing trends in project types, determining the time and resources required for completion, and categorizing requests objectives and requestors. To guarantee that decisions and changes in portal user access rights are centralized and timely, BI controls administration rights to the portal. Be flexible and learn to compromise. This is especially true in a climate of limited resources. Existing projects and due dates may need to be re-prioritized and re-negotiated as new and urgent projects are added to the pipeline.

10 growth team m e m b e r s h i p 10 Supporting Tools & Resources This example shows how BI uses the prioritization criteria to identify a high-priority project and determine its action steps High-Priority Request Example Prioritize the Request Business Impact = 12 Business Impact Low High Resource Investment =7 Business Impact Strategic Fit ;; High profile request ;; Aligns with strategic objective Not aligned with strategy Tactical Value Impact on Company Revenue:: < $10 Million (USD) Identify Action Steps Project impact $11 to $99 Million (USD) ;; > $100 Million (USD) Due date ;; Potential to lead to more contracts with this customer Resource Investment Resource > Investment ity r o i Pruest gh q Hi Re BI Time Requirement Team Hours: < 8 hours Due Date: Flexible due date Long-term 8 to 40 hours There is high potential and it could lead to repeat business so there is sufficient ROI. ;; > 40 hours The answer is needed immediately, so overtime or hiring a consultant is necessary. Funding ;; Inflexible due date ;; immediate/short-term BI Resources Required Funding available by requestor: ;; Yes No External Resources (secondary research, consultants, research partnerships): Minimal Moderate ;; Extensive ;; Requires secondary research Requires travel Internal Resources (primary research conducted by BI staff): Minimal Moderate ;; Extensive Information available on BI Portal ;; Internal collection and analysis Primary Research Survey ;; Internal focus group External focus groups The requestor is able to pay for secondary research or to hire a consultant. Resource availability The project requires extensive internal and external resources, and requires a strategic partner or consultant as a resource. High-Priority Action Steps: ;; Renegotiate due dates for other projects in the timeline If important and large in scope, offer a preliminary information and plan into project timeline GO BACK ;; Hire a consultant to aid in research Identify a strategic partner to co-develop the research

11 Supporting Tools & Resources The following activities help increase BI Portal usage Driving BI Portal Adoption 11 BI Portal steps for driving portal use Roll-Out: Include other valuable information on the site: event calendars company announcements customer updates Create a sense of ownership through co development of competitor Wikis Promote and relay the value and ease of portal use at meetings Ongoing: Redirect requests for previously developed information to the self-service portal Introduce the portal to new hires during their orientation Include instructions for portal use on the site Create BI Portal links on other community or interest sites For example, a BI Portal link is included on the Business Development Portal It took approximately seven months to establish consistent portal usage throughout the division. Announcements This section is focused on company announcements including: Wins and Losses New contracts Client updates Calendars New Hire On-Boarding The calendars keep employees informed of important releases and upcoming events such as: War-Gaming Calendar Events Training Webinars Promotional package includes the following two components: Portal buy-in: details on how end users can benefit from and contribute to the BI Portal Portal use: Best practices and instructions on use of the portal