Monday, December 19, 2011

BI Clarity

On a Business Intelligence initiative, much of your success will depend upon a very special word--"clarity." Here is how one online dictionary defines it:
noun: clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

When performing a BI project, everybody must be clear in their understanding of what is going to be delivered, why, when, how, and at what cost. Ambiguities in the project's mission, tactical approach, or deliverables will lead to failure.

I have recently used a low-fidelity wireframe tool from a software vendor named Balsamiq to reduce ambiguity. This mockup tool helps to quickly define the BI initiative in a collaborative approach.

Not only can business users see an example of what is going to be built, they can interact with it. The Balsamiq Mockup application has simulated links for demonstrating button clicks, listbox pull-downs, drill-downs, and other common user interface controls.

Before any real application development starts, the users can test out your plans and bless the user interface design. Issues can be pointed out immediately, not after weeks or months of costly effort.

Mockups force everybody to put ideas into a quasi-working format and validate feasibility.

I am a fan of Balsamiq Mockups. At $79 USD, it is a cheap way to bring clarity to your BI project.

2 comments:

Buy photoshop said...

I never use this type of software but after read all the given information, I want to use. And the given information is really nice.

Restaurant Software said...

Business intelligence (BI) mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting,[clarification needed] and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes.[1]
BI technologies provide historical, current and predictive views of business operations. Common functions of business intelligence technologies are reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, data mining, process mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining and predictive analytics.

About Me

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Doug Lautzenheiser is a leading subject matter expert in the use of Business Intelligence software within corporate organizations. He is one the top authorities in the WebFOCUS BI software product, from Manhattan-based Information Builders. While a vendor employee, Doug was trained and certified in IB's BI products all the way through the internal workings of the software.

During his 13-year career with IB, Doug led regional education, consulting, and pre-sales technical support services. In addition to being a software vendor employee, Doug spent 7 years with IB customers and 5 years with IB partners.

Doug has provided BI services to organizations such as Procter & Gamble, Wendy's/Arby's Group, Omnicare, TriHealth, Hormel Foods, JPMorgan Chase, MasterCard, the State of Indiana, the State of Oklahoma, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Doug is general manager of Partner Intelligence, a Cincinnati-based consulting firm specializing in BI professional services such as strategic advice, BI application development, and tools/methodologies for automating BI application development tasks.