1st Edition

Business Analysis for Business Intelligence

By Bert Brijs Copyright 2013
    400 Pages 68 B/W Illustrations
    by Auerbach Publications

    Aligning business intelligence (BI) infrastructure with strategy processes not only improves your organization's ability to respond to change, but also adds significant value to your BI infrastructure and development investments. Until now, there has been a need for a comprehensive book on business analysis for BI that starts with a macro view and gradually narrows it down to real-world tips, templates, and discussion material BI analysts need to know.

    Covering the concepts, tools, and background required for successful BI projects, Business Analysis for Business Intelligence describes how to use business intelligence to improve your analysis activities. It outlines a proven framework for developing data models and solutions that fit your organization’s strategy. Explaining how to avoid common pitfalls, it demonstrates how to use continuous improvement to create a strategic knowledge organization and establish a competitive advantage.

    • Links proven theories with practical insights
    • Describes the questions you need to ask yourself or the client when turning data into information
    • Includes discussion items and templates suitable for both IT and business professionals
    • Illustrates the root causes behind poor performance management
    • Outlines the steps needed to get your BI project started correctly

    The book details a framework based on time-tested theories, empirical data, and the author’s experience analyzing strategic processes in dozens of organizations across a range of industries—including financial, logistics, food production, health, telecom, government, and retail. Providing you with the tools to achieve enduring success, the book can help your organization develop successful BI projects and fine-tune them to match the strategic decision making process in your organization.

    Introduction
    Why this Book?
    What I Mean by "Business Intelligence"
    What Does a BA4BI do?
    The Structure of this Book
    The Chapters of this Book

    The Increasing Cycle Speed of Growth and Its Laws
    Introduction
    First Law: the Triangle of Knowledge, Growth and the Strategy Processes
    Second Law: Your Narrow Choice between Two Options
    Third Law: Any Organisation Optimises Two Extremes
    Fourth Law: Measure Only What You Can Measure But...
    Fifth Law: There is always a Dominant Source
    Sixth Law: IT Is Here to Stay

    Balancing the Five P's of Strategic Management
    Introduction
    The 5 P’s and Their Interaction
    Managing Strategy

    Adapting BI to the organisation’s configuration
    Introduction
    Mintzberg’s Configurations
    Mintzberg’s Lessons for Business Intelligence

    Understanding the Four "C’s"
    Introduction
    Applying the 4 C Perspective on Functions
    The 4 C’s: the Foundation of a Balanced Scorecard

    The Business Case for Business Intelligence
    Introduction
    The Basics of Information Economics
    Illustrating IE with a Business Case
    Generic Advantages of Business Intelligence

    BI and Cost Accounting
    Setting up an ABC System using BI
    A Closer Look at the Source Systems for ABC
    Setting up the ABC Analysis in the Data Warehouse
    Conclusion

    BI and Financial Management
    The 101 on Financial BI Deliverables
    Keep your SOX on!
    Business Analysis for Financial Reporting

    BI and Operations Management
    The 101 on Operations Management
    Production Management and the Information Architecture
    What to measure
    Basic Supply Chain Report Requirements
    Setting up a Forecasting System Using BI

    BI and Marketing Management
    Introduction
    What Do We Mean by "CRM"?
    What Do We Mean by Behaviour Analysis?
    Can We Learn from Past Failures?
    How BI Can Contribute to Marketing Management

    BI and Human Resources Management
    The War for Talent and How to Lose It
    Managing Absenteeism
    How BI Can Lend a Hand

    Starting a BI Project
    Overview
    Creating the Need
    Gathering the Information
    Analysing the Decision Making Processes
    Producing the Documents
    Validating the Results
    Support and Maintenance

    Managing the Project Life Cycle
    Business Analysis and Project Planning
    Business Requirements Gathering
    Dimensional Modelling
    BI Application Specification
    Business Analysis and Growth – Maintenance

    Mastering Data Management
    The Major Components of Data Management
    A Framework for Data Management

    Mastering Data Quality
    Which Quality?
    An ROI Approach to Data Quality

    The Business Analyst’s Toolbox
    Overview

    Project Direction Document Template
    Introduction
    The Document’s Contents

    Interview Summary Template

    Business Case Document Template
    Introduction
    Efficiency Economics
    Revenue Improvement
    Strategic Opportunities

    Business Analysis Deliverables Template
    Introduction and Overview

    Project Charter Document Template
    Overview
    Best Practice Sharing Template

    Generic Interview Guide
    Introduction
    Generic Interview List
    Interview Guide per Functional Area
    Metadata Checklist

    Generic Business Object Definitions
    Overview
    Defining the Principal Asset of an Organisation: CUSTOMER
    ORGANISATION, a Meaningful Concept?
    EMPLOYEE or PARTNER?
    PRODUCTS
    TERRITORY

    Annexes
    Overview
    How Do You Become a BA4BI?
    What to Ask on Your Job Interview
    Business Intelligence from 1960 to Today
    The 101 on Datawarehousing
    Survey for a BI Project for the Purchase Department
    Illustrations
    Bibliography

    Books
    Articles
    Conference Papers

    Biography

    Bert Brijs is the Director of Lingua Franca, a consulting firm in Belgium.