Transcript
BI Blueprint: How to Map Your Project
Rebecca Gow
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Rebecca GowSolutions ArchitectProfessional ServicesRebecca.Gow@LogiAnalytics.com
ABOUT ME
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Matt Dwyer, VP Product Management
BLUEPRINT IN THE WILD:
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The Blueprint is a comprehensive product roadmap for your BI initiative.
Why do you need a map?
…if you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there...
You may not get there without one.
BLUEPRINT IN A NUTSHELL
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When you are:
Launching an enterprise-wide BI initiative
Introducing analytics into a current product offering
Rolling out the next phase of a BI project
Re-designing a current analytics offering
WHERE CAN I USE A BLUEPRINT?
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THE BLUEPRINT METHODOLOGY
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Talk to the right people
Your target audience, not just
your business stakeholdersFind out how they use
informationHow you ask
matters for the answers that define your
solutionConnect the dots
Steps 1 and 2 give you everything you
need for your roadmap
WHO NEEDS INFORMATION?Defining your audience and project support
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Your audience comes first ahead of all other stakeholders. If you don’t design for them, you risk building a product they won’t use.
To identify and prioritize your audience, ask:
Who needs this?
Why do they need it?
How urgent is the need?
WHO ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE?
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Break your audience down to highlight user personas and help identify who you’ll need to interview.
Consider:
Distinct teams or groups of users – does this solution need to serve
departments in an org? Teams by shift on a production floor?
Unique roles – these often become your user personas by default
Types of use – are there “power users” in your audience accustomed to self-
service options? Administrators who control data inputs?
WHO ARE YOUR USER PERSONAS?
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Include anyone who may be impacted by your product – whether they’ll use it or they support the people who will.
Talk to:
Technical SMEs – IT, architects, DBAs, development operations, QA
Business SMEs – people with deep knowledge of an area of the business
that needs the solution
Project sponsors – not only official sponsors, but also people from whom
you’ll need resources to launch the product successfully
OTHER KEY STAKEHOLDERS
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Two to three days of interviews with your project sponsors, audience personas, technical SMEs and other stakeholders – in that order – usually yields what you need to compile a Blueprint.
Sample Agenda:
ALIGNING INTERVIEWS
Day 1 Session Participants9 – 11AM Project Overview Project owner & sponsors11AM – 5PM User Interviews 2 – 3 people from each user groupDay 29 – 11AM Technical Interviews IT, DevOps, technical SMEs3 – 4PM Initial Findings Project owner & sponsors
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HOW DO THEY USE DATA?Learning what BI means to your audience and how to provide it
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Keep questions broad & non-technical. Some starter questions:
1. Describe your role.
2. What’s an average hour / day / week on the job like for you?
3. Who do you interact with most often? What do they need from you?
4. What systems / reports / sources do you use?
5. What metrics do you need? How do you measure performance?
6. What are some challenges / frustrations in your job today?
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR USERS
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Getting good info out of your interviews is key to a clear Blueprint.
Three tips for a successful interview:
1. Keep an Open Mind – if you go in with an agenda, you’ll miss critical info
2. Ask Open-Ended Questions – this gets you the most information possible
3. Limit Your Interview Audience – you’ll typically get better results with a
smaller, focused group (2 – 3 representatives of the same persona or role)
than with everyone from the team in the room
INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE
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Once you’ve completed interviews, review your notes for:
What metrics & key insights each of your personas uses
Databases & systems they access today for data
What they are and aren’t allowed to access
What they like today – and may be worth keeping in the new solution
Frustrations & obstacles – slow performing reports? A specific insight they
need has to come from another team and takes weeks?
DIGGING UP THE GOLD
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COMPONENTS OF A LOGI BI SOLUTION
DATA UI
INTEGRATION
SECURITY
INFRASTRUCTURE
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REFINING YOUR SOLUTION: Architecture
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DW
DB1 DB(future)
ANALYTICS
PORTAL / PARENT
AUTH
Draw it up and socialize:
Data Sources
Application
Integrated Systems
Security Frameworks
Interactions
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REFINING YOUR SOLUTION: UI Mockups
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Keep It Simple –
concept, no detail
Start Your Design Here
– mockups serve as the
basis of your design
Iterate
Completing your Blueprint and plotting your route to a successful launch
CONNECTING THE DOTS
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What you need for your roadmap:
Key Problems / Needs – what’s driving the project?
Target Audience – who needs this and why?
Key Goals – what should the completed product have accomplished?
Key Functionality – what features “make” the solution?
Solution Design – what is your solution stack and architectural design?
Timeframe – when is this needed?
WHAT ARE THE DOTS?
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STRUCTURING YOUR PROJECT
Two common approaches to balance data access with application development:
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ANALYTICS
DATA TIER
ANALYTICS APPDATA TIER
Milestone 1 Milestone 2 More Time for Dev
Balanced Resourcing
Less Time for Dev
All Hands on Deck
Parallel Dev
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Key considerations for your project schedule: involve your users, allow for design iterations and start data validation early.
DEFINING YOUR SCHEDULE
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Staffing a BI project for success:
Data Development Team – data architect, developer, DBA for modeling data,
developing data stores, designing ETL and tuning for best performance
Data Validation – business SMEs, potentially your user representatives for
defining source data and validating numbers
UI / Design Team – especially for embedded products where seamless style
and UI is required, also for designing visualizations for global audiences
STAFFING YOUR PROJECT
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Common risks and how to mitigate them:X Nice Dashboard, No Data
Don’t let your app get ahead of your data – structure your project to ensure there’s always something to show and validate at each review
X User Count = 0
Involve your audience early and often, starting with the solution design and through frequent reviews during development
X User Count = The World Monitor and tune for best performance! Log enhancements and iterate using the
Blueprint method for future phases
BUMPS IN THE BI ROAD
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A completed Blueprint delivers:
Requirements Analysis – detailed analysis of the problems / needs driving
the project, the goals of the solution and its target audience
Solution – architecture and its components: data sources, security
considerations, integration points and conceptual user interface designs
Implementation Plan – delivery plan including milestones, development
schedule and resourcing
WHAT DO YOU GET?
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Matt Dwyer, VP Product Management
BLUEPRINT IN THE WILD:
ANY QUESTIONS?
Interested?Contact your sales rep for more information or to schedule a Blueprint: salesteam@logianalytics.com
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