The Truth about Self-Service Business Intelligence. Andrew Rankin Lead BI Consultant, Plaut IT Australia

Transcription

1 The Truth about Self-Service Business Intelligence Andrew Rankin Lead BI Consultant, Plaut IT Australia

2 2 Agenda Overview People Data Tools Governance Value Proposition Questions

3 Self Service Business Intelligence A Definition

4 Self Service BI - Idea #1: Self-Service BI describes an activity It is not a product many things have to come together for the activity to happen.

5 Problems that Self-Service BI today is trying to solve? Typical Centralised IT Takes too long Business not involved Poor foundations New Usability Expectations The age of the customer DIY Culture More technology awareness Should be like apps Management Expectations Value from Investments Greater Agility More Data-Driven Decisions Older Technologies Ie. Spreadsheets inefficient Functionally poor Data Overload More of it More types available More sources available Want to see the data Need better tools

6 Self Service BI Idea #2: Recognise the problems self-service BI is expected to solve otherwise you may not know why you are bothering!

7 Let s Examine: PEOPLE An activity performed by business people: Using a variety of data Utilising suitable tools To create their own reports & analysis in a structured environment TOOLS DATA GOVERNANCE

8 Self Service BI PEOPLE Who are the business people performing selfservice BI? Classify BI users Describe their self-service activities Align everything back to these CHALLENGE: EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT

9 SAMPLE Classifying BI Users BI Casual User or Consumer (Class I End Users in LoB) Viewer View static reports via web or No BI skills Navigator View, Drill, Filter from interactive reports Minimal BI skills Explorer Explore pre-defined views for quick answers Basic BI skills For each user type: Activities (Skills) Many or Most Many or Most Some BI Power User (Class II - Analysts) Analyst Explore pre-defined views for detailed analysis Build own ad-hoc & reusable reports Good BI skills Lead Analyst Explore pre-defined & raw data for new ideas Design views & build reports for wider group Excellent BI skills Data Scientist Big data expert - explore any data Deep business knowledge Influential Highly qualified with statistical, predictive, coding ability Few Fewer 1-2? Jedi Source: Wayne Eckerson, Enterprise versus Departmental BI: Pulling Together Instead of Apart

10 Self Service BI Idea #3: Recognise different types of selfservice BI users consider their typical activities & needs today and in the future.

11 Self Service BI PEOPLE Who are the business people performing selfservice BI? What is the role of IT? Are Management Interested? Enablement: Provide views Administrate Assist Organise Yes: Greater agility Greater ROI Data-driven decisions CHALLENGE: EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT

12 Self Service BI DATA How do we analyse data? Think about how we perform the activity CHALLENGE: DATA AWARENESS AND QUALITY

13 13 How do we analyse data? Many Considerations: DESIRED OUTCOMES: QUALITY, AGILITY, USEFULNESS LEADING TO BETTER-INFORMED DECISIONS

14 Self Service BI DATA How do we analyse data? Which data sources are available to use? MANY! Views Raw data Big Data CHALLENGE: DATA AWARENESS AND QUALITY

15 15 Data Sources 2 Key scenarios for analysts 1: VIEWS Prepared data model w/metrics Used for published reports Agreed source of further analytics 2: RAW DATA (+BIG DATA) View doesn t exist Possible Ad-hoc requirement For Exploration / data blending View = prepared data set eg. BW cube, HANA view, Bobj Universe

16 Self Service BI DATA How do we analyse data? Which data sources are available to use? What can business people do with data? Lumira BW Workspaces Agile Data Preparation Data Preparation = Data Wrangling CHALLENGE: DATA AWARENESS AND QUALITY

17 Self Service BI Idea #4: Publish a catalogue of views, Make raw data available, Encourage exploration you can t find solutions without the data and analysts need to know what is available.

18 18 Many competitors, plenty of opinions AGILE BI

19 Self Service BI TOOLS What features should I be looking for? Understand features of self service BI tools CHALLENGE: TECHNOLOGY SUITABILITY AMIDST CONSTANT CHANGE

20 Qualitative Basic Functions Advanced Functions 20 Self-Service BI Features of Tools User Interface Interactive capability Audience Expertise/training required? Functionality richness Product maturity Roadmap for development Data integration Types of Data sources Prompts Filters Element types Conditional Formatting Chart types Page Layout Output Interoperability with other BI tools Platform integration MS Office integration Advanced Data Visualisation Cascading parameters Drill anywhere Collaboration Data Wrangling Data Virtualisation Data Mashups Geographic Intelligence Predictive capability BI Automation eg. Suggestive BI Annotations Extensions

21 Self Service BI TOOLS What features should I be looking for? Which SAP reporting & analysis tools to use? Understand tool types and SAP BI Roadmap Align to user types CHALLENGE: TECHNOLOGY SUITABILITY AMIDST CONSTANT CHANGE

22 SAP s Latest BI Roadmap Tool Type Key Products Alternatives Themes Technology Data Discovery & Analysis Dashboards & Apps Office Integration Reporting Lumira* Design Studio Apps* Design Studio Analysis Office* Web Intelligence* Crystal Reports Analysis OLAP Explorer Dashboards Bex Web Live Office Bex Analyzer Convergence Interoperability Simplify Agility Trusted BI More Use Cases Cust. Requests Extensions HANA Big Data BI Platform SAP BW SAP HANA Mobility Cloud/On Premise * = Suggested choices for self service scenarios 22

23 SAMPLE Scenarios for Self Service BI Users BI Casual User or Consumer (Class I End Users in LoB) Viewer No self-service BI? Navigator Dashboards w/drill Design Studio Apps General or personalised business data Explorer Basic Data Discovery Analysis Office Specific data views For each user type: Self Service Scenarios Tools Data BI Power User (Class II - Analysts) Analyst General Data Discovery A-Office / Lumira / Webi (copy only) Domain data views Lead Analyst Advanced Data Discovery Lumira / Webi (create) / Design Studio Many data sources Data Scientist Predictive Analysis All tools All data sources including big data

24 Self Service BI TOOLS What features should I be looking for? Which SAP reporting & analysis tools to use? What does the SAP BI platform do? Provides structure for selfservice BI CHALLENGE: TECHNOLOGY SUITABILITY AMIDST CONSTANT CHANGE

25 25 SAP BI Platform Launchpad Portal Manage Authentication, Users, Security Execute Reports Connections to Systems, Semantic Layer Store & access reports Provides Structure: Tools Engine Portal Front-end Security Connections Tuning Audit Promotion Stores Reports Publishing

26 Self Service BI Idea #5: Devise a technical roadmap for your self service BI future look at the features and tools for the different user types.. consider SAP s roadmap

27 Self Service BI GOVERNANCE How do we organise and support it? Will people come up with crazy results? What is the new reporting lifecycle? Build foundations and plan for change Training and Standards From self-service to professionally authored CHALLENGE: GETTING THE RIGHT BALANCE

28 Self Service BI Idea #6: The way you do business intelligence changes with self service BI making a plan to do it well is valuable..

29 Value Proposition: Increased support & take up of BI Unlock more value from existing BI investments Efficiencies by bringing business & IT together PEOPLE DATA Better data-driven decisions Agile BI tools enable fast visual results, creativity Clear roadmap, supports big data analytics An activity performed by business people: Using a variety of data Utilising suitable tools To create their own reports & analysis in a structured environment TOOLS GOVERNANCE BI Platform provides structure Reduce cost of maintaining spreadmarts

30 30 More Info Some relevant SAP documents & sites: Business Intelligence Solutions from SAP: Statement of Direction Choosing SAP Business Objects BI Clients SAP Roadmap Documents SAP Analytics Knowledge Centre SAP BI Resource Centre Learn Lumira & Lumira Cloud A couple of relevant organisations with standards: International Institute of Business Analysis International Business Communication Standards (IBCS) A selection of SAP Self Service BI Blogs Timo Elliot - Q&A: Self-Service vs Traditional Business Intelligence Saskia Battersby Evolution of Self-Service BI Timo Elliot - Can you trust end users with self-service BI? Jonathan Haun What the heck is self Service BI Mark Cooper The war on self service Iver van de Zand What s trending in self service BI A few other articles of interest: Wayne Eckerson Enterprise vs Departmental BI Thomas H. Davenport and D.J. Patil - Data Scientist Sexiest Job of the 21 st Century (ref: Linkedin story) My Spotify playlist of Famous bassists

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