How to Be Agile with BI - The BI Builders · 2019-11-12 · phases, which iterate through the core...

How Agile Should You Be?

BusinessObjects BI on SAP

LIGHTING THE WAYHOW TO BE AGILEWith SAP BusinessObjects BI

BUILDING BUSINESS IQwww.bibuilders.com

Derek Stobbart

Agenda

Intro to The BI BuildersIntro to The BI Builders

Definition and Characteristics of AgileDefinition and Characteristics of Agile


When and how to use Agile in BI developmentWhen and how to use Agile in BI development

Tools that enable Agile techniques Tools that enable Agile techniques

About The BI Builders

• Est. 2003 by BusinessObjects/Crystal Decisions employees

• Exclusively B.I. (with Business User solutions from SAP as core)

The BI Builders help organizations gain value from their corporate data by providing business intelligence solutions to enable more informed and

timelier business decisions.


• Exclusively B.I. (with Business User solutions from SAP as core)

• Focus on Western USA and all Canada.

• Over 300 Customers– Finance, Insurance, Government, Health Care, Telecomm, Wholesale,

Auto, Retail, Mining

• Recipient of multiple SAP partner awards.

• Developers of the LIQUID Methodology

Why is Agile Important

Trends and drivers for Agile

• Shrinking divide between producers and consumers of information

• BI development backlog, plus increasing data and content volumes

• Increased reporting complexity: operations, regulations

“Survey results and study conclusions support the hypothesis that agile BI —agile BI development best practices and agile BI technology — is the key to enable BI self-service for knowledge workers … and significantly reduce BI backlog.”


operations, regulations

• Need for simplicity for both IT and knowledge workers

• Competitive differentiation —effectiveness vs. efficiency

Source: Forrester survey of 200+ IT and business professionals.

Agile Defined

An iterative and incremental (evolutionary) approach to software development, which is performed in a highly collaborative manner by self-organizing teams within an effective governance framework, producing high quality software that meets the changing needs of its stakeholders in a cost effective and timely manner.


and timely manner.-Scott Ambler: author of “Agile Modeling” and “Agile Database Techniques”

“Agile BI = Agile BI development methodology + agile BI architecture + BI self service”

Boris Evelson: Forrester Research

http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileSoftwareDevelopment.htm

By Contrast: Waterfall

• Up-front requirements gathering

• Develop according to requirements document

• Long development

Requirements

Design

Implementation


• Long development lifecycle

• Testing and verification at the end of the development lifecycle

Implementation

Verification

Maintenance

Agile Characteristics

• Constantly collaborative approach• Iterative and incremental• Self-organizing teams• No formal timeline• Little planning Sprints

•2-4 weeks of development

Key Players•Owner•Scrum Master•Developers


• Little planning• Continuous testing• Process is shunned• No project documentation

– User documentation is a separate project

• Short development iterations

•2-4 weeks of development•High-level plan

Scrums•Daily ‘stand-up’ meeting•Discuss what you’ve done•Discuss what you will do that day•Check with the ‘owner’

Example: Agile Dashboard Development

• DEMO: – Fast Dashboard Development with Crystal Dashboard Design– Real iterative dashboard design examples


Best Scenarios for Agile

• Small teams (about 6 people or less)

• Technology that enables rapid development

• Stakeholder involvement


• Stakeholder involvement and management buy-in

• Volatile requirements or requirements that aren’t fully understood at the outset

BI Projects Characteristics

• Dashboard Projects– Strong executive buy in– Small number of stakeholders– Uncertain requirements– Small team– Short development time (days)

• Analytical reports– Management buy in

• Data Mart projects– Medium number of stakeholders– Relatively static requirements– Medium length development iterations

(a few weeks)

• Data warehouse projects– Large number of stakeholders– Static requirements– Potentially large team


– Small number of stakeholders– Changing requirements– Short development time (days)

• Operational reports– Potentially strong management buy-in– Clear and static requirements– Large number of stakeholders– Small team– Short development time

– Potentially large team– Medium/Long development iterations

(weeks/months)

• Data Quality projects– Poor buy in– Large number of stakeholders– Static requirements

How Agile is Agile Enough?


Select the development methodology that is most appropriate for the project!

Learn from Agile techniques

Hybrid Approach

• Executive buy-in• Iterative & Incremental

– Group by functional area

• Deliver early and often• Collaborative


Owner

• Collaborative• Medium term development cycles

– Weekly scrums?

Learning from Agile

• BI expert: “What key metrics do you need on this report?”

• Business user: “Well, what data do you have?”


• “Build it and they will come” and the BI snowball

• Enable BI Heroes

Example: Pervasive BI

• Demo: SAP BusinessObjects Explorer


Learning from Agile

• How to make Data Warehouse Projects more Agile:– Separate by functional area– Organize around 4 week ‘sprints’, and weekly ‘scrums’– Enhance Agility in requirements gathering

• Give business users (‘Owners’) SAP BusinessObjects Explorer


• Give business users (‘Owners’) SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

– Enhance Agility in Development• Use a Data Integration tool (or ETL)• Use Data Federation• Speeds up development cycles

– Test as you go

Agile Data Warehouse

• Demonstration of SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator


BI Builders Project Delivery Methodology (LIQUID)

• LIQUID allows for single or staged delivery, as well as different business intelligence (BI) development approaches such as

waterfall, prototypes, development approach hybrids and agile techniques. Longer projects can be broken in to short

phases, which iterate through the core stages. Each phase may last as little as 2 or 3 weeks, and will yield concrete metrics

and deliverables.

• LIQUID is flexible and scalable enough to accommodate any size of project: data warehousing, ETL development,

dashboards, complex and simple enterprise reporting. It has modular stages -- processes based on industry best practices

that produce consistent and measurable results


The Future for Agile BI

• Meta-data Driven Applications– Meta-data is “data about data” – the business rules– meta-data is a reflection of how data changes/flows

• Track data through the 10’s of components of a BI application

– What if changing meta-data (changing the rules) changed the


– What if changing meta-data (changing the rules) changed the way data changes/flows?

• Make one change and the effect is propagated through 10’s of components

– Technology is in its infancy– For more details: Agile BI Out Of The Box , Boris Evelson,

Forrester Research, April 2010

Summary

• AGILE is a development methodology

• It can be used in BI development

• In some situations it is not appropriate

• In all cases we can learn from Agile techniques


• SAP BusinessObjects technology allows us to be more agile

• It’s important to use methodology like LIQUID that allows you to manage all types of BI projects effectively

Questions?

• Open Q&A

• Please return the comment cards

Derek Stobbart – VP [email protected](604) 628-5691

Iain Rogers – [email protected](866) 797-8032 x3113


(866) 797-8032 x3113

The BI Builderswww.bibuilders.com(866) 797-8032

Breakdance photos courtesy of Come Correct - www.come-correct.nl/

Questions?

• Please use the chat window to ask a question

• Or un-mute your line

Derek Stobbart – VP [email protected](604) 628-5691

Iain Rogers – [email protected](866) 797-8032 x3113


(866) 797-8032 x3113

The BI Builderswww.bibuilders.com(866) 797-8032

Breakdance photos courtesy of Come Correct - www.come-correct.nl/

How to Be Agile with BI - The BI Builders · 2019-11-12 · phases, which iterate through the core...

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