Better Business Analytics – ten thoughts from our experts

1 Copyright © 2014 Advanced Business Solutions. All rights reserved. BIEBOOK V1.9.2014

Efficiency. Visibility. Control.

Analysing analyticsThe lessons we’ve learned over 20 years of providing business analytics solutions

Practical insights to improve your business performance

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Contents

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Analysing analytics

In a world of Big Data and even bigger claims, you could be forgiven for thinking analytics is a brand new capability: a hitherto undiscovered treasure trove for businesses. But the reality is very different. The core task of analytics – processing large quantities of information to generate valuable insights – is decades old. And Advanced Business Solutions has been involved in it for almost all of that time.

So as more and more organisations feel the pressure to respond to Big Data expectations, here are some valuable lessons that we’ve learned at first hand over the last 20 years of providing business analytics solutions. Shared by our consultants, they offer a personal perspective on some of the ways that you can make sure analytics works for you.





Clean your data first!

“When your business analytics project involves consolidating data from multiple source systems – and most now do – the temptation can be to load as much data as possible into a data warehouse, as quickly as possible. This, so the theory goes, then allows you to invest more time in application and reporting development.

In practice, this really doesn’t work. It invariably leads to complexities in report/analysis development, and significant rework which is difficult to plan and budget for. Far better to focus first on data cleansing – ensuring your data is of sufficient quality to meet your solution requirements – and then any transformation needed. It does take time, but it means you avoid complexities when modelling, and cuts out the single greatest source of errors during user acceptance testing.

This upfront effort won’t be visible to key stakeholders – so it does require careful management of their expectations, especially if they are looking for instant results. But taking that little extra effort delivers tangible cost savings during other phases of the project, particularly during testing and presentation layer phases.”

Tom Nixon, Business Analytics Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

Reports and planning models can be aesthetically pleasing and automated, driving stakeholder buy in. But projects always falter without a strong data strategy.

Tom Nixon has a wealth of multi-sector experience in the design, development and implementation of cube-based analytics systems to replace overstretched excel or relational database models. He has worked as both a system administrator and developer, giving him the experience needed to develop systems that not only meet user requirements but also minimise system administration tasks.

LESSON 1





Always think about your end goal

“The first and most important point, bar none, is that you always have to think what the end goal of your analytics is – and that shouldn’t simply be to have a Big Data analytics solution.

It seems obvious, but all too often, we’ve gone in and very smart clients haven’t really thought it through. Is your goal to improve everyday performance management across the business, transform the way you manage risk, gain richer insights into customer behaviour or ensure you’re meeting regulatory requirements?

The end goal affects not only the basic solution design, but can also impact on software selection, data models and even which users you consult. For example, when we worked with Merseyside Police, they had a really clear goal: to understand employee absence better. We recommended a solution that could help them do that, and made sure the right data was being gathered and processed. It not only helps them examine long-term patterns, but also ensures they can cover short-term absence.”

Chris Lees, Project Manager, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

Data can tell you all kinds of things: to make your analytics solution effective, focus on the things you want to know most.

A highly experienced, versatile project manager, Chris Lees has led a variety of business intelligence projects in a major international banking and credit card organisation. He joined Advanced in 2013 after working as a Consultant Project Manager for Sopra UK. Since then, he has worked on projects for organisations in the NHS, local government and the airline and insurance industries.

LESSON 2





Ask your data the right questions

“One of the most common challenges we’re set at Advanced is making business analytics useful. Organisations have dipped their toes in the water, but have become frustrated that the system isn’t telling them anything useful.

The problem is rarely the tool itself: instead, it’s the questions that are being asked of it.

Such organisations tend to start with loosely defined reporting requirements, perhaps a few printed-out charts and tables: easily replicated, but mean you just generate the same charts, a bit faster.

What they really want is the ability to look beyond top-level indicators, to understand trends or investigate dips in performance. To do that, you need to first capture and document the underlying business processes. You can then determine the questions that need to be asked, and so define the reporting requirements of the system.

That was exactly what Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys Mental Health Trust did. It wanted to improve its Payment by Results process, so documented it fully – making it easy for us to identify the reports they needed to make it work more efficiently.”

Hiren Chouhan, BI Business Analyst, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

It sounds so simple, but to get the answers you want from your data, you have to ask the right questions.

Hiren Chouhan joined Advanced in 2011 after working as a Senior Business Analyst at Northgate Information Solutions. His expertise lies in capturing and documenting business intelligence requirements, to underpin data mapping and modelling. He has worked across public and private sector, including NHS trusts, mental health trusts, police forces, retailers, airlines, supply chain management companies and pharmaceutical companies.

LESSON 3





Take a partnering approach

“When you appoint someone to solve your business analytics problems, there’s a temptation to almost wash your hands of it: you’re working with experts, so leave them to it! It’s flattering, but in all honesty doesn’t always deliver the best results.

Instead, to get maximum impact, I’d always recommend involving key team members from across your business right from the start of the project. That’s the only way to ensure that the end solution satisfies your business requirements as well as technical ones. Equally importantly, it also equips you with the knowledge and skills you’ll need to maintain and extend your solution in house in the future.

This collaborative approach proved its worth when we worked with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s financial systems team. As well as training staff to perform “Extract, Transform, Load” (ETL) development, we worked with them collaboratively to design, build, test and deploy their solution – delivering all the required mentoring and training along the way. They’re now wholly in control of the solution.”

Chris Garvey, Lead Business Analytics Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

By working collaboratively during implementation, you often need less support once you’re up and running.

Chris Garvey has over seven years’ experience designing and implementing IBM Cognos and Data Warehousing solutions. He joined Advanced in 2012, and his experience spans a wide range of industries including charity, finance, healthcare, retail, telecoms, manufacturing, police and the public sector.

LESSON 4





Review before you recode

“In many organisations, business analytics solutions are introduced as a more rigorous and reliable successor to spreadsheet-based reporting.

As a result, many vendors have developed solutions that are incredibly similar to spreadsheets in look, feel and functionality. That can encourage some organisations to task developers to simply recreate their existing workbooks in a new environment – on the basis that this will reduce disruption.

But doing so is a real missed opportunity. While the organisation might think its reports are all broadly similar, superficially slight differences can add considerably to the complexity of building an analytics platform. That can lead to longer development times and higher costs. Instead, it’s worth taking time to review existing workbooks and spreadsheets, perhaps in partnership with the developer. Are the table structures the same? Are the same calculations used? Is data being sourced in the same way?

Identifying standard tasks and processes upfront can help eliminate inconsistencies, support consolidation and reduce costs. Better still, it will make future development tasks quicker and more cost-effective too.”

Lee Beresford, TM1 Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

TM1 is an amazing analytics platform – you can customise everything. But that doesn’t mean you should: standardisation is the key to maximise efficiency.

Lee Beresford has spent over a decade as a finance analyst and database developer, working for the likes of Barclaycard and American Express. At the latter, he built a global forecasting solution based on the IBM Cognos TM1 platform. He now uses his expertise to help Advanced’s clients get the most from this powerful software tool.

LESSON 5





Budget for flexibility, not fixed reports

“At some organisations, once they’ve decided to invest in a business analytics solution, they want everything. They make a comprehensive list of every single report they currently need, plus a few they think they might need, ready for us to build them.

Of course we can do that, but ultimately over-scoping is as dangerous as under-scoping. You spend unnecessary amounts of cash building all these reports, but have nothing left in the budget when you need to change them!

A far more fruitful approach is to use that upfront budget to create a ‘self-service’ solution – one that gives users the ability to build their own reports, or customise existing ones. It means providing user-friendly tools that allow you to select and source the right data, or redefine the queries, without needing advanced coding skills.

The result is a far greater ability to ensure your analytics solution evolves with business needs – and without needing to involve consultants or IT resource, you can normally make changes faster too.”

Paul Killgallon, Business Analytics Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

Who knows whether the reports you need today will still be useful this time next year? Make sure you’re able to change them – or you risk obsolescence.

Paul Killgallon began his career in a software development background, focusing particularly on User Interface design of ETL tools. He then moved into a consultative role, focusing developing and rolling-out data warehousing and reporting solutions within the Business Intelligence and Business Analytics arena. He worked for many years at Cognos (now an IBM company) before joining Advanced in 2012.

LESSON 6





Prioritise the executive dashboard

“Business analytics only delivers its full value for a company when it’s fully adopted within the organisation. And the quickest way to ensure that happens is to get board-level buy in.

It’s not difficult: senior management are quick to see the value of accurate, consistent and relevant reporting. After all, it makes their job easier. But in implementation terms, that means it’s well worth making the executive dashboard one of the first deliverables of the programme.

We can work with you to create a dashboard that provides the right information and has the right look for your management team.

Once executives have seen what analytics can do, and have richer information at their fingertips in a way they can use it, they invariably become champions of the solution. They’ll encourage others to use it, request more reports based on it and drive uptake across the organisation.

And it generally gives plenty of kudos to the team that are behind it too!”

Paul Hamilton, Business Analytics Solution Architect, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

The more widely your analytics solution is used, the broader the range and richer the level of insights you’ll gain: it’s a win-win.

Paul Hamilton has over 20 years’ experience designing and implementing analytics solutions across all platforms. For the last three years, he has been Advanced’s Business Analytics Solution Architect, which means he oversees all Advanced business analytics projects to ensure that best practices are followed and that resulting solutions are both scalable and functional.

LESSON 7





Focus on usability to reap greater returns“If you want people to use your business analytics solution, then make it usable. Sounds obvious? You’d be amazed how often people forget it!

The right user experience is essential to uptake. Users across the organisation need to be confident that the solution will help them speed up reporting, and improve decision-making. That means first they need to be able to navigate information quickly when developing reports and queries.

Secondly, presentation is critical: the layout and style should be easy to understand and make the key messages stand out. It’s worth taking time to review existing reporting and presentation standards, and trying to align with them – familiarity helps.

But so does actually involving prospective users, at all levels of the business, from the outset. Consult them during solution design and then again during implementation and testing. What will make it easier for them to access the information they need? What will help them make decisions faster? Get it right, and they’ll be keen advocates. Get it wrong, and they won’t use your solution.”

Chris Harrison, Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

Engaging with users effectively turns them from consumers of decision-making information to creators of it.

Chris Harrison is an experienced PRINCE2, MSP and ITIL-qualified consultant, and uses these skills and knowledge of these disciplines to maximise the likelihood of project success for Advanced’s clients. His track record of delivery over the last 15 years, in which he has delivered a wide range of high-profile IT projects for both public and private sector clients, demonstrates the value of this approach.

LESSON 8





Invest in skills, not just solutions

“It’s standard practice to budget for training whenever you implement new software. But in my experience, when it comes to business analytics, it pays dividends to extend that budget to end users as well as modellers – and to invest in regular refresher programmes.

Why? Because refreshing the knowledge of key modellers means they’re equipped to maintain your solution and adapt it, without needing to rely on costly third parties. What’s more, organisations are often tied in to paying licence fees for new software releases; it’s only logical to ensure your staff are equipped to make use of additional features.

Training as many end users as affordable promotes the initial adoption of a new business analytics solution: many will be quick then to generate reports and answer questions they’ve been pondering. But then there may be a lull: unlike analysts, who work with the technology almost every day, end users might only use it once a month or even once a year. Keeping their skills refreshed ensures the positive impact of the platform is a lasting one.”

James McEntee, Head of Services – Business Analytics, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

Investing a little more in training can save large consultancy and development fees for work you could do in-house.

James McEntee has spent more than 15 years working in business analytics and has overseen the successful implementation of over 200 business analytics projects across the IBM, SAP and Microsoft suite of applications. He is also a qualified accountant and financial planning consultant.

LESSON 9





Never underestimate the impact of an upgrade“Clients often think that upgrades are just how sales teams meet their targets in a quiet month! But in all honesty, the right upgrade at the right time can be absolutely transformational – like the upgrade at Aer Lingus which saves them an estimated 40 person-days a year.

It was quite a simple task: we upgraded their financial forecasting system so it could use newer technologies and gather data from multiple sources faster. So fast, in fact, that they no longer need to spend at least 3 days a month gathering the data manually.

What’s more, because they can now complete the budgeting and forecasting so much more easily, they don’t have to close the accounts three weeks before month end – which is good news for suppliers too.

Of course, there was a bit of disruption from the upgrade, but it was far less than the client feared: we’ve done a fair few of these, so we know what the risks are. And now, they’re reaping the rewards, every single month.”

John Foxley, Support Centre Manager, Advanced Business Solutions [email protected]

You don’t have to upgrade every time a new release comes along. Talking to an expert partner can help you identify when the time is right – and provide a compelling business case.

John Foxley runs the Advanced Business Analytics Support Centre. He has extensive support management experience and, along with his team of support consultants, he ensures that all support calls are resolved within contractual SLAs. John has broad experience of implementing business analytics solutions across a range of platforms, and utilises his skills to manage the rollout of upgrades across our customer base.

LESSON 10





Putting our expertise to use

Whether you’re planning a business analytics project, or looking for ways to make your existing platform work harder, we hope you’ve found these insights of use.

We believe they’re all important factors to consider when delivering business analytics solutions, but they’re not the only ones. And in your business, there may be specific challenges that need addressing. We’d love to talk to you about those, and put our expertise and experience to work to help you achieve your analytics goals.

Our solutions and services cover the entire spectrum – from solution selection, design and implementation, to training and ongoing support. We work with clients in almost every sector, and have the in-depth knowledge and range of technical and commercial skills to identify opportunities to improve any existing solution.

If you’d like to know more, contact James McEntee, our head of services on 07785 621859 or email [email protected].

You can find solution overviews, case studies and white papers CLICK HERE




www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/abs/business-intelligence/business-analytics.php

Better Business Analytics – ten thoughts from our experts

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