Steps to ensure success of the BI strategy:
- Create a business case and outline the expected benefits
- Obtain buy in from stakeholders, especially the senior executives
- Have an enterprise-wide perspective
- Determine the scope by the business drivers and business goals.
- Account for the changing business requirements to keep the BI strategy aligned with business.
- Establish criteria for success
- Treat information as an asset
- Adopt best practices and standards
- Set up change management procedures
- BI strategy should align with the overall IT strategy and enterprise goals
- Do a current state, future state, and gap analysis
- Think actionable and baby steps
- Establish governance body
- Use iterative implementation approach with parallel tracks
- Work with frameworks and adopt proven methodologies
- Assess BI readiness of the organization and identify related gaps and issues
- Document and analyze the constraints and assumptions
- Consider all BI components (see ‘Essential Components of BI Strategy’ for details)
Potential Pitfalls to avoid in BI strategy design:
- Don’t fall into the trap of starting with a narrow vision. BI strategy needs to be holistic and prepared in the context of the wider BI definition.
- Don’t plan to use big-bang implementation approach. It has been proven that iterative implementation works better for BI initiatives.
- Always remember that scope of BI is not limited to just selection and implementation of technology. Often mistake is made by BI architects to associate the BI initiativesto specific technology components,such as implementing parallel processing database technology or building OLAP cubes or dimensional modeling.
- BI iterations should not be done in the haphazard manner. BI strategy document is the necessary roadmap that you should follow as you begin designing BI environment.
- Don’t just focus on data integration and state-ofthe-art BI tools. BIstrategy should be comprehensive and it should incorporate much more than a data warehouse or BI tools.
- During warehouse-centric planning, don’t lose sight of the broad vision to ensure the design of a successful enterprise-wide informational asset.
- Don’t adopt inflexible approach. BI strategy should be treated as a living artifact. It should be constantly tuned and adjusted to reflect the needs of your business.
