QlikView Projects in Agile EnvironmentBy Saleha Amin

AgendaUnderstanding AgileLimitations of AgileChallenges in implementing Agile in QlikView environmentReuse of QVDsImplementing Agile: Cultural Shift, Business Engagement, Decentralize BIKey TakeawaysQ & A

DisclaimerThe material discussed in this presentation is my own observations and do not represent the practices promoted by Agile Alliance or Hologic

Agile ManifestoIndividuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

Scrum Process Overview

Sprint Retrospect

ive

Backlog Grooming

Sprint Planning

Sprint Execution

Sprint Review

Sprint Retrospective

Scrum Roles

Product Owner Scrum Master Scrum Team

Required functionality

Nice to have

Future release

High priority stories are broken down with details and acceptance criteria and low priority items are not yet decomposed.

Hig

h P

riorit

yLo

w to

Med

ium

pr

iorit

y

Backlog Grooming

High Priority Stories

Sprint related activities

Support/Maintenance

Sprint Buffer

Time Off

Planning a SprintTo

tal S

prin

t C

apac

ity

2-Week Sprint = 80hrs

Sprint Buffer = 10hrs

High Priority Stories = 50hr

Time Off = 2hrs

Support Maintenance = 10hrs

Sprint related activities = 8hrs

Sprint Iterations (2 weeks/ 10 Days)Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Sprint #1 Planning Work Day Work Day

Work Day Work Day Work Day Work Day

Sprint #2 Planning

Sprint #1 Demo and Retrospective

Backlog Grooming

Work Day

Work Day Work Day Work Day Work Day

Work Day Work Day Work Day

Work Day Work Day Work Day Work DayPortfolioPlanningMeeting

Portfolio Planning

2016 April May June July 2017Today

UAT7/6/2016

UAT6/15/2016

UAT6/8/2016

UAT5/25/2016

UAT5/22/2016

UAT5/14/2016

5/11/2016- 6/12/2016Where-Shipped Report

6/15/2016 - 7/17/2016Quality Trending and Instrument Reliability

5/25/2016 - 6/26/2016Related Records

5/4/2016 - 5/22/2016Quest Business Review

5/28/2016 - 6/12/2016Integrate Oracle and Agile data

4/1/2016 - 6/5/2016Introduce efficiencies for Quality Reporting

Key points so far…

Responding to changeInnovate quickly and at a reduced costHighest business value functionality is priorityFrequent evaluation of the dashboard by the businessStandard change management processBetter visibility of project roadmapEmpowered and motivated team members

Work Day

Tran

spar

ency

Inspection

Adaptation

Myths about Agile process

A development fad

Complete absence of process and change control resulting in ad-hoc changes and endless scope creeps

There is no documentation in agile

Must be implemented by the book

Example User Story: As a business analyst, I want a QlikView dashboard that gives me the current count of all instruments so I can improve inventory management

Steps in implementing Agile Methodology1) Evaluate the gaps in your current process

Prioritize requirements Engage customers Stakeholder participation Project Duration Change Control User Adoption

2) Set reasonable expectations on how agile will help you fill those gaps

3) Start with a small, focused project with high business engagement

4) Once implemented, do frequent health check

Gaps in our processLack of a standard project management process Polarized teamsHow to choose a platform for a particular business request, ex: QlikView, OBI, or Discoverer

All requests were on ad-hoc basisNo standard way to inform business about the status of their requestNo standard triage process

Common concerns when implementing Agile

What tool to use?Does the team need to go through formal agile training?Who takes the role of the product owner?How is a scrum master different from a project manager?What should be the duration of a sprint?Too many meetings

Implementing Agile in BIIn real world when we are implementing agile, first we need to create the ecosystem for Agile to thrive. There are several key points to keep in consideration

- Reuse and maintainability

- Cultural shift

- Decentralize BI- Hybrid model

- Business engagement

Re-use and maintainability

Introduce plug and play in Qlikview development No logic in the ETL layer so QVDs could be used across various QlikView

applications Avoid building LAYOUTS with tightly-coupled database schemas Data models should be extensible with minimum re-work Ability to create rule based components, so a change in one component can

trigger changes to all applications that used this component Ability to automate routine tasks

Challenge Designing and coding for reuse takes longer, and under the pressure of project deadlines and resource constraints, most developers don’t do this

Cultural Shift

Empowered, self organizing teamsPlan driven to value driven developmentEmbrace changeEncourage innovationManagement trusts the team and team takes ownershipFrequent communication of organizational goals and priorities

Decentralize BI- Use a hybrid model

Centralized BI eventually becomes the bottleneckDivide responsibilities between central and departmental teams depending on your

organization’s structure and cultureOperations and governance controlled by the IT the rest lies with the business IT and Business have different priorities; finding alignment is a challenge

Schlegel, Kurt, Frank Buytendijk, and Dan Sommer. "Create a Centralized and Decentralized Organizational Model for Business Intelligence." (2014). Gartner. Web.

Challenges with AgileSimple but not easyMaintaining the rhyme of sprintsAgile at team level but not enterprise levelLack of BRD there is nothing to go back to…dig into your inbox. Customer keeps on changing their request Challenge with globally distributed teamsResources are not 100% dedicated on a single projectFrequent requirement changes and intensive collaboration can be stressful on the team

What the future holds

BI shift from being IT centric to business centricEmpowering business users to create their own BI appsOptimally 80% of BI initiative should be self serviceIt is ok to loosen control on non mission-critical BI apps to promote self service

Boris Evelson. "Build An Agile BI Organization." Forrester. 5 Feb. 2015. Web

Q/A