Business Intelligence For Dummies®

Chapter 14. BI Design and Development

Even the best-laid plans can (and often will) go awry, so the development process is an interactive phase where your most talented team members reveal themselves—where the true problem-solvers and can-do types bubble to the surface. The development process requires almost constant interaction between the technology team and the business-facing team.

Between design and deployment comes an intense testing phase that challenges all the ideas of the previous months. That leads into the deployment circus, where your new systems go into production, the old ones are phased out, users are trained, and the rubber hits the road.

Successful BI

There's no guarantee that flipping the switch will bring success and accolades for your business intelligence solution. In fact, rave reviews shouldn't necessarily even be a goal when you're starting out. The best BI deployments are compact, well-conceived, and work as expected. That gives your team an early success and a platform to build upon.

At the risk of sounding ridiculously tautological, a successful BI solution is one that ... well ... succeeds. If the system meets its business objectives—whatever those may be in your company's situation—that's all that matters. And there are certain things you can do to increase your chances of success. In fact, most successful BI projects usually share similar characteristics.

Be realistic

That means shoot for reachable goals, such as a finite domain of reports, or a single ...