Business Intelligence Applied: Implementing an Effective Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure

The BDID Process

In previous chapters, a number of tools, skills, and techniques were described. These included an understanding of business infrastructure design, the functional and process views of organizations, and an assessment of the business value of ICT. Steps to attain the strategic alignment of ICT, including how to analyze an organization and its environment, were also discussed. All of these topics culminated in a set of business process and ICT design documents that enable the implementation of ICT infrastructure. This chapter shows how all of the skills and knowledge previously developed in this book are integrated.

The precursor to infrastructure design is understanding which technologies are available and suitable for building an ICT infrastructure. While specific technologies have not been discussed in this book, it is assumed that if you are reading this book, you either have the technical background necessary to understand ICT or you have managed projects with staffs that have had the background.

The four phases of the BDID process are (1) analysis, (2) design, (3) implementation, and (4) postimplementation. Some overlap occurs between the phases, and it is reasonable to expect that as the business analyst progresses through the phases, new information will become available. New information will cause the business analyst to go back and update previous documents. Even though the phases are presented as a cycle, it is important to return to earlier phases to correctly ...